Here's a telling tidbit: ESPN will televise 20 Major League Soccer matches (one is still to be determined), all but one of which will air on Sundays: Sunday, March 3 (7:30 p.m.): Portland Timbers vs. New York Red Bulls, ESPN2 Sunday, March 10 (10 p.m.): San Jose Earthquakes vs. New York Red Bulls, ESPN2 Sunday, March 17 (1 p.m.): FC Dallas vs. Houston Dynamo, ESPN2 Sunday, April 7 (5 p.m.): Chicago Fire vs. New York Red Bulls, ESPN2 Sunday, April 21 (5 p.m.): D.C. United vs. Philadelphia Union, ESPN2 Sunday, May 5 (11 p.m.): Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo, ESPN2 Sunday, May 19 (1:15 p.m.): New York Red Bulls vs. Los Angeles Galaxy, ESPN2 Sunday, May 26 (11 p.m.): Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders, ESPN2 Saturday, June 15 (5 p.m.): Portland Timbers vs. FC Dallas, ESPN Sunday, June 23 (5 p.m.): Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls, ESPN Sunday, June 30 (2 p.m.): New York Red Bulls vs. Houston Dynamo, ESPN2 Sunday, July 7 (3 p.m.): Chicago Fire vs. Sporting Kansas City, ESPN Sunday, Aug. 11 (8 p.m.): FC Dallas vs. Los Angeles Galaxy, ESPN2 Sunday, Aug. 25 (10 p.m.): Seattle Sounders vs. Portland Timbers, ESPN2 Sunday, Sept. 8 (11 p.m.): San Jose Earthquakes vs. Philadelphia Union, ESPN2 Sunday, Sept. 29 (9 p.m.): Seattle Sounders vs. New York Red Bulls, ESPN Sunday, Oct. 13 (9 p.m.): Portland Timber vs. Seattle Sounders , ESPN Sunday, Oct. 20 (9 p.m.): Los Angeles Galaxy vs. San Jose Earthquakes , ESPN Sunday, Oct. 27 (9 p.m.): Seattle Sounders vs. Los Angeles Galaxy , ESPN Revolution not on this list. I guess these are the buzzing hot properties to MLS and it stands to reason. I wonder if this will get Bob Krafty's attention.
It hasn't really gotten his attention considering the lack of televised home games the last two years, why should this one?
But hey guys, we gotta stay positive! Always look on the bright side! You are all too negative! Kraft Cares! The FO wants soccer to succeed! They are trying REAL HARD to build a stadium! Complaining will get you no where, you gotta suck up to the organization so they will give you a ton of privileges!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Their schedule shows 2 games on NBS Sports seems to be the best they can get: 3/9 away to Chicago 6/2 home to LA
The Revs don't have any stars that someone from outside New England would tune in to see, that's why they aren't on the list. Same for Colorado and Chivas. The 3 Canadian teams are missing too, but I think there is a contractual reason for that.
The Canadian teams are missing because they don't get good ratings in the US, ya know....because they're in Canada
It has nothing to do with stars. Kansas City, Portland, and many other premier clubs don't have stars that draw huge TV ratings. However, they do offer a great atmosphere that translates well on television. The product just feels far more professional in those arenas than it does at Gillette Stadium. Colorado, Chivas, and us are at the bottom of the list because we have miserable atmosphere at home games, and we've struggled on the field as well.
I realize it's unacceptable to miss an opportunity to bitch and moan about the Revs, but the absence of Real Salt Lake from that list suggests some incompetence in Bristol as well.
Not really. RSL is a tinny media market. Keep in mind folks, ESPN has access to all the ratings and facts and figures. We don't. They're going to choose the games that get them the highest ratings, and look the best on TV. It's as simple as that.
The KC market is approximately the same size as Salt Lake City, but they get a game; the Portland market isn't much bigger, and they get four games. Clearly market size isn't the only driver. Also, the implication that ESPN reliably makes good use of their data is absurd on its face. After New York, LA and Seattle, it's probably more or less random choices made by people who barely know or barely care. But as I said, I understand that complaints must be made at every opportunity; I just think there are better options.
The Canadian teams also have their own national TV contract and are featured on the Canadian equivalent of ESPN all the time. Who knows, maybe the Revs will be shown on a national TV game in Canada. Those guys have to play against someone, eh?
Losing team with no star power. This is really old news - people already used this to dump on the Revs a couple of months ago.
So three years ago, they already knew we'd be a 5-win team? Man, MLS is full of geniuses. You're giving a very simplistic reason. This team isn't that good, yes. The atmosphere at Gillette sucks, and whether or not you want to admit it, that plays a part.
What are the Portland Timbers? A losing team with no star power. Sorry, this isn't the reason the Revs aren't being shown on national television. It's a part of it, yes, but it's a much bigger than your simplistic explanation.
You can't polish a turd. Edit: Yes, the Revs SGs could do a better job. No, that has nothing to do with why the atmosphere at Gillette absolutely blows compared to most other professional sporting events.
Ineffective at what? The problem is that only 12,000 people show up in a stadium that seats 70,000. It's as simple as that.
They have the freshness factor going for them. Team and stadium. Having a rabid crowd would get us more airtime, sure. There needs to be some compelling reason to bump other potential games: crowd, winning/quality team, new team, new stadium ... If we're not going to have "atmosphere", there has to be some other reason to pick us. Did we have no national games 3 years ago? I'm not sure it took a genius to know we weren't going to be great national entertainment in 2010/2011 - especially if Twellman wasn't ready to play. Okay. But, in our case, I think it's the lack of compensating factors. I don't think it's a lack of respect - I think we'll get more games when we get better.
I think we had 2 games 3 years ago. I think we've had just one or none 2 seasons ago (and IIRC it was on a spanish channel) ... 2 last season (one on a spanish channel) ...
Are the SGs responsible for creating a professional, lively atmosphere in the stadium? Are they responsible for selling tickets?
I'm sorry but subjects like these just feed the fire for people who view us as just a bunch of NNNs. Lets look at the bigger picture here: * Of the 19 games only 5 of them do not feature LA, NY, or SEA * Of those 5 games, two of them are picked for the rivalry hype alone (FCDvsHOU and DCUvsPHI) * Take the subject line and change "Revolution" to any of: - Crew - RSL - Chivas - Rapids - Whitecaps - TFC - Impact So please, can we stop stop looking for new ways to hate on our own team. It's depressing how desperate the original post is trying to find something negative about the Revolution where there is clearly none.