This is just my prediction, but El Clasico is coming to Over the air Television in the United States for the first time. Only a couple of games left, it seems that the best two teams in Europe with the best players money can buy will be playing the Champions Final. And the Final is free. So, give me your predictions, and what type of ratings is Fox going to get for the FINAL. If Fox starts advertising the final, the ratings may go higher. This is going to be a great game and not just because of the coaches and players but because of the history these two teams bring to the Finals. Chealse and MU play a final a couple of years back, and the game was well played, but I do not think the rivalry between these two teams was as competitive as El Clasico is. What do you think?
Overall, the ratings will be higher because FOX Deportes will surely get the biggest boost. I doubt the English FOX will change though. Might even be less since FOX Deportes may siphon away some of the viewers.
I think it'll be less than Man United - Barcelona. You can't really beat that in terms of marketing matchups. Ironically, ESPN might help Fox if they start putting Barca and RM games on ESPN2. Or ... they could purposefully not put those games on
I am expecting somewhere between +5% and -20% compared to the viewership last season if the final were Barcelona vs Real Madrid. Why? Because neither brand is "Manchester United" and neither brand has a good-looking Mexican star. The "big 3" global team sports brands, both worldwide (according to Deloitte) and the U.S., are now exactly the same, though not necessarily in the same order: Real Madrid CF FC Barcelona Manchester United FC These three have not only conquered the U.S. English-language market, they have chipped away at the U.S. Hispanic market. The U.S. TV audience for the Chivas vs Club America superclasico is down 50% compared to 2007. -- Let's see whether beIN Sports USA (Qatar Media Corp.) will be crazy enough to buy time to air the two Barcelona-Real Madrid clasicos next season in the U.S. ION Media (100 million households free-to-air) has plenty of time available at a discount compared to the likes of CBS and CW. (Forget about FOX, ABC, NBC, Telemundo and Univision because their egos and pride won't allow them to sell time to a direct competitor.)
That is a leap of faith. I not as optimistic if Fox does not put a big Marketing campaign behind The Champions final. I remember when ESPN decided to market the 2010 world cup, their rating when up in comparison to prior world cups. If Fox really wants this game to be a big rating event, they need to start advertising it now. The odds are in favor of seeing the best teams in Europe in a big final. Ronaldo and Messi are the best two players right now, and some are speculating that Messi is to Football what Michael Jordan was to Basketball.
Attention spans in the U.S. are way too short. No need to ramp up advertising until the matchup for the final is known. A lead time of 24 days will be more than enough. FOX has too many weapons in its hype machine: - Saturday afternoon baseball every week - NASCAR broadcasts every other Sunday - regional baseball broadcasts in several markets: LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Cleveland, Cincinnati - Sunday night animated cartoon shows - American Idol -- The non-FOX O&O affiliates, especially those in ESS! EEE! CEE! country/NASCAR nation, don't particularly like the UEFA CL final because local advertisers in those markets have no interest in buying ads during the match.
Because Nascar nation still thinks soccer is a sport trying to spread communism. Its a pretty good reason why MLS is not in the south. They are very against anything new or different.
I dont see the relevant comparison of a suscriber based spanish tv sports channel against a over the air free tv english speaking channel. if champions league Final game is measured and compared itll be to more closely rated programming in english speaking channels(relation to the big Fox)
i dont think itll matter this yr whos is Playing, Fox does have to figure out how to Americanize the broadcast tough.
Bayern Munich will have its shot at Real Madrid soon enough. As for Chelsea: the blues have NO CHANCE against Barcelona if they continue to play the way they have been playing since February.
country vs country is much different than club vs club. Every casual fan knows that Brazil is good at soccer. They don't all know about Messi. Ask people in England in 1997 about Michael Jordan and I bet they only give you a vague answer about who he is.
I been reading alot about that a Real Madrid- Barcelona Final would most likely be the most watched television event ever in history in the world.
Too much hyperbole. Don't believe any of it. Barca-RM would have trouble drawing TV viewers on the Indian subcontinent, where cricket is king. The kickoff time of 0015 Mumbai Time on Sunday won't help. The U.S. market will be OK, but not great. 4 million viewers out of 300+ million population. Good enough to be on FOX, but not at the level of big U.S. domestic sports events. The Chinese market will be interesting. Kickoff will be at 0245 Beijing Time on Sunday. The overnight kickoff time will NOT be a deterrent for the crazy gamblers who have "action" in the match.
"You can't score a goal, if the ball doesn't cross the line" "It's bad defense, when they allow a goal" "If you keep the ball for most of the game, you will have higher possession"
Very true, especially when you take into account that Bayern has a very good shot at reaching the final.
I'm actually really worried about how much they plan to dumb down the broadcast. I still have the last CL final recorded on the DVR, and rewatched a little bit of it. It was horrible. I was cringing in my seat. I can't believe how bad it really was.
I agree, Fox will dumb down the broadcast since it will be on regular tv and not on a soccer station. I agree with some of the others, Chelsea has little chance of defeating Barcelona, but Bayern Munich does have a chance of defeating Madrid, and Bayern will have added incentive, the final will be in Munich. I have mixed emotions about the Chelsea/Barcelona game. Chelsea, along with Liverpool, is my favorite EPL club, but Barcelona, along with Valencia, is my favorite La Liga club. May the best team win, which is most likely Barcelona. As far as Munich/Madrid, I am a Barcelona fan, I don't care for Madrid, I hope Bayern Munich wins. Regardless of who is playing, I doubt the game will outdraw a World Cup Final internationally, as great as the Champions league is. Actually, in some ways, the best Champions league teams are as great, if not better, than the best World Cup teams. The same quality of players, but the Champions league professional teams play together most of the year, they are more accustomed to playing on the same team with each other. To me, the final stages of the Champions league can be the best quality of soccer on the planet. However, the World Cup is still the World Cup, there is no tournament on earth that is like it. (although The European national team championship is wonderful as well. Euro2012 this summer. It should be fantastic).
Huh? Chelsea are 8-1-2 since February, one of the losses being the dodgey one in Man City. They haven't looked awesome by any means, but your comment implies they were better pre-february when the facts show it is just the opposite.
Hes probably refrencing their poor form in the deloitte money making table...huhe has no idea what hes talking about in terms of the sport we all love other than what "media insiders" tell him. Even thats probably made up as i cant see anyone willing to talk to him.
Those 8 wins were not exactly against opposition at the level of Barcelona. Go back and watch Chelsea's quarterfinal series vs Benfica. Chelsea flunked the "eyeball test" in both matches.
The Last time I remember seeing a powerful team of the Likes of Real Madrid was when AC Milan had Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard back in the 90's. Real Madrid has a great deal of convincing to do, but they have the talent, the coach and the money to make this happen. On the other End you have Barcelona, a team that historians are already writing about. Barcelona is going to it's fight semifinal, and they have won 3 out of the last 5 tournaments. Around the World, every body knows who is Leonel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and The last time these two phenoms face each other in a Champions Final, was remarkable. The reality is that in this new Global Market, people around the world know how important this game is. Every country in Latin America Europe, and some parts of Asia, the Middle east and Africa are following. And the main reason is because history is in the making. Go back and read about AC Milan and the Holland Trio, or Real Madrid of the 50's. That is how you know history is in the making for European club Football.