Random Soccer Chatter

• chicago510

  

  Laley23;940747 wrote:Ill agree that ESPN does a great job with soccer. But FOX will have way more going for them with the WC. They arent gonna have their NFL coverage team anchoring the booth like they did for the UCL Final. Id be stunned if they didnt bring over the announcers ESPN has right now and even the booth guys. FOX is superior in ability if they put the effort and money into it. With it being the World Cups, Id expect they will make it a top notch performance. The biggest thing is the stations...But FX is a big station. I actually wouldnt be shocked if they went with the morning and afternoon games on FOX with the middle game on FX and then had FSC brought to more households (even if only for a free month preview or something) and had FSC be booth analysis and recap all day long.

  
  Thats the other thing, everybody with cable gets ESPN and ESPN2. I would say fewer get FX, and almost nobody gets FSC. I'm a huge soccer nut, and I can't justify upping my cable bill $20/mo to get to the tier with FSC. Sucks, but I'm poor.
  
  But again, they have 7 years to change that. They will just never get to ESPN levels.
• NilesPacMan

  Hopefully, you're right Laley. I don't see FOX giving the performance ESPN has been doing as of right now, but we are still several years down the road from this situation.
  
  I don't wanna think like this, but there's a part of me that thinks ESPN is gonna hop off the soccer bandwagon now that they lost the WCs. They still need to go after the Euros, as I think FOX would try to keep the WC off FSC as much as possible, but they would put Euro on FSC out of convenience. NBC's budding interest is pretty good, though. I'd think they'd deliver well on one of these big tournaments given they don't tape delay anything. They have multiple platforms that are readily available to a lot of people, which is nice.
  
  The thing that scares me is that this will somehow slow down soccer growth in America. I feel that as each WC comes to fruition, that you gain followers (not everyone who watches during the WC actually keeps their interest, but there are quite a few that stay committed to the sport). Thus, the WC is simply the most important piece in the American soccer world, and a poor performance stands to hurt soccer much more than a great performance helps soccer.
• hoops23

  

  Did anybody see this stat?
  

  64140‎ people watched Seattle Sounders beat San Jose in MLS this weekend. Only Barcelona, Real Madrid & Bayern had bigger crowds

  Pretty impressive.
• Laley23

  

  chicago510;940756 wrote:Thats the other thing, everybody with cable gets ESPN and ESPN2. I would say fewer get FX, and almost nobody gets FSC. I'm a huge soccer nut, and I can't justify upping my cable bill $20/mo to get to the tier with FSC. Sucks, but I'm poor.
  
  But again, they have 7 years to change that. They will just never get to ESPN levels.

  Eh. FSC wont need games. Only 2 are ever on at the same time. FOX and FX. FOX reaches what ABC reached and FX, as of 2008, was in 90.5 million homes in US. ESPN/2 as of 2010 is in 99.5 Million homes. 2 years more, I bet FX is even closer. I dont think those couple million are really a big deal.
  
  As for FSC, they get, as of 2010, 36.5 million. Like I said though, I wouldnt be surprised if they came to a month long negotiation with Cable Companies to put it on a lower tier etc.
• hoops23

  

  I get FSC, I just wish I got it in HD as well.....
• Laley23

  

  hoops23;940779 wrote:I get FSC, I just wish I got it in HD as well.....

  Just made the switch to ATT U-Verse Wed. Now have FSC in HD, and I also get GolTV in HD. Cant wait for the Orgasmic broadcasts of Ray Hudson starting this Sunday lol.
  
  Love that guy!
• hoops23

  

  I don't think Buckeyecable will ever get FSC in HD.
• Laley23

  

  hoops23;940791 wrote:I don't think Buckeyecable will ever get FSC in HD.

  Neither do I. It took them forever to finally upgrade to AMC and MTV/CC/etc in HD. They actually have all the essentials in HD now, but FSC should be one of them. Its tough to watch soccer in SD when the production crew is shooting it for HD and thus cuts off a lot of main action for a 4:3 TV like we have.
  
  Glad I dont have that issue anymore. Drove me up a wall!
• Mulva

  

  OSH;940651 wrote:Now...I just hope that ESPN doesn't start dropping their MLS and international games. That'd be terrible for the MLS and the USMNT if ESPN abandoned soccer in the States. Some ESPN writers were bringing this topic up...maybe just to stir the pot, but it's a definite possibility -- they compared it to the NHL lockout and how ESPN hasn't gone back to hockey much.

  If this was to happen, I don't think it would occur before the 2014 Cup anyway. No reason to think that they wouldn't try to hype up the sport and event as much as possible heading into it.
• hoops23

  

  ESPN released a statement about Fox acquiring the rights. Basically said that they remained committed to presenting soccer with world class presentation.
  
  Also stated that they offer the EPL, MLS, UEFA, 2014 WC etc, etc...
  
  I don't think ESPN would drop something that is rising as fast as soccer. They may have lost two World Cups, but those are just two events in the long line of others.
  
  And I know I just posted this, but it got lost on the last page with the rapid replies so I figured I'd jsut copy it here.
  
  

  64140‎ people watched Seattle Sounders beat San Jose in MLS this weekend. Only Barcelona, Real Madrid & Bayern had bigger crowds

• Mulva

  

  ^ Where was that game played? I thought Seattle's stadium was 35-40k at most.
• hoops23

  

  Mulva;940902 wrote:^ Where was that game played? I thought Seattle's stadium was 35-40k at most.

  All I can find is that it was played in Seattle...
  
  http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/soccer/general/view.bg?articleid=1373714
  
  Supposedly though, Seattle usually caps ticket sales at around 35K, but the stadium can hold more, just as it did for ManU. They call this "premium packages" I guess.
• OSH

  

  hoops23;940774 wrote:Did anybody see this stat?

  Mulva;940902 wrote:^ Where was that game played? I thought Seattle's stadium was 35-40k at most.

  Yeah, I was watching the figures as the week went on. Probably two weeks before the regular season finale in Seattle the ticket sales were over 57,000. It's great. What a finale for Kasey Keller. They also gave him a purple ATV. Why purple is my only question?! The helmet helped save the gift, it's SSFC colors. Good for Seattle. The game was held at the typical stadium -- CenturyLink Field. It has a capacity of 67,000+ for most games.
  
  Here's what the Sounders did for Keller:
  [video=youtube;8o-kZ7PkDQU][/video]
• SportsAndLady

  

  
• OSH

  

  Yeah...sucks.
  
  Red Devils gotta pull it together!
  
  EDIT:
  As I say that...Jonny Evans gets sent off?!?!?! Sigh...
• DeyDurkie5

  

  Like rooting for the steeers vs the ravens. You hope both teams get nuked. Wish FSC would man up and show the tottenham game, much better than chelsea/QPR
• OSH

  

  Wow...this is embarrassing.
• SportsAndLady

  

  Someones gonna take out Dzeko, watch...
• OSH

  

  Wow. Yep. Embarrassing.
  
  First home loss in 37 matches and they have to do it in style.
• Laley23

  

  That was awesome. Love City.
• hoops23

  

  That was an ass whooping.
• gerb131

  

  Crew lost 3-2 to Chicago. Looks like the 3 or 4 seed in the East for the Crew depending on the Houston vs LA match.
• hoops23

  

  Barcelona had tough 1-0 win over Granada today thanks to a Xavi free-kick.
  
  Messi should have made it 2-0, but a Granada defender had an excellent save, clearing the ball away from goal at the last second.
  
  Also, Thiago Motta supposedly believes that Messi would join Inter-Milan if he left Barca....
• OSH

  

  Positive news from the MLS...Crew v. Rapids on Thursday to be streamed live online!
  
  I hope I can do this. I wish more teams/leagues would do this live free streaming...
• Laley23

  

  hoops23;945594 wrote:Barcelona had tough 1-0 win over Granada today thanks to a Xavi free-kick.
  
  Messi should have made it 2-0, but a Granada defender had an excellent save, clearing the ball away from goal at the last second.
  
  Also, Thiago Motta supposedly believes that Messi would join Inter-Milan if he left Barca....

  I cant imagine Messi leaving Barca. I really cant imagine them letting him leave. He can always leave on his own, but thats a 300 million euro buy out clause. I doubt he pays that much just to be a free agent. If he was truly unhappy at some point, maybe. But I dont see it. It isnt like Inter is "home". "Home" is Argentina, and he isnt going there. Barcelona is the closest to his "home" as he will get until the end of his career. Plus, now they brought in his good friend Cesc, so they have 3 of the guys who grew up together all on the team again with Cesc, Pique, and Messi.