Which is what I said. My point was, looking at just the MSA doesn't tell the whole story. Yes, SLC is still the smallest in the league, but it's a lot closer to some of the cities when looking at DMA's as opposed to just the MSA.
I don't have a real comment here, except that the list you're linking to has a hilarious typo in it--did they have a fire sale at the Best Buy in Pittsburgh? 1 billion+ TV households? Yikes.
You can get that one here - worth a good laugh: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6zCsRRCXiU"]Stretchers - YouTube[/ame]
I saw this via Twitter and I don't think I've seen it reposted on this thread. It's a simple "strength of schedule" analysis based upon the teams you play, and considering both their home-and-away winning percentages. You'll never guess who has the 'easiest' schedule in the West. It's LA! Would you believe it! Wow, they're just so lucky. http://www.sounderatheart.com/2012/1/5/2685284/2012-mls-strength-of-schedule The same guy also ball-parked the "Miles traveled" metric which actually works out well for RSL being kind of in the middle of the West. The comments cover most of the stuff you'd expect nerds to argue about.
Looks like I am again late to this party, only thing I want to add or say is that it's a little sad that the team that plays the best pure futbal is only going to be seen nationally five times.
Take heart my friend. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Those who appreciate RSL will find other ways to watch. I am on the east coast but have loved their brand of soccer for some time now. RSL will have the whole soccer nation watching them come December.
Not to nick pick but its worse, its only 4 times. Unless I missed something. Or your counting Playoffs/MLS Cup.
a seattle fan bitching?! this never happens! My response would be that while last year is a valid indicator, it isn't fool proof. SuKC looked to be one of the worst teams before the season started (at least that's how I felt) and at the start of the season it seemed that way. Then bam! (and add the East sucking) they jump to the top of their conference. This scheduling makes sense given how the playoffs are setup. The purists may not like it, but if we are going to stick with conference aligned playoffs, I'd rather have the unbalanced schedule
One thing to take into account is that good teams always have their strength of schedule reduced some because they don't have to play themselves. Not sure the exact amount that affects these particular ratings but it does have an impact. Same thing goes for bad teams. Their schedule usually looks harder because they don't get to play themselves. That may help explain Vancouver's toughest schedule as well.
Yes, not having to play yourself is definitely a factor - as the article outlines. At the same time, the 'random' things keep falling LA's way. We have to shore up our collusion theories whenever we can.
Nah, you won't have any issues ROOTing for RSL this year. Overall, not a bad schedule. Starting to get excited for the upcoming season.
ROOT sports (aka FSN RM) is rumored to be the new local broadcast partner for RSL (although I don't think we've seen anything official regarding this.)
If this is the case, I'm pretty stoked! The quality should be SO much better than KMYU. (Unless they decide not to broadcast it in HD, which I can't even fathom.)
ROOT sports' broadcasts are fantastic, they do a lot (most) of the Timbers and Sounders games locally and their telecasts are really good, high quality HD.
Hmmm...according to CameraMonkey in the KUTV 2.2 DirecTV thread, he is saying that ABC 4 is the new home of RSL. Hmmmm....
CW is part of ABC isn't it? If so, I'll bet this is where the majority of games would be played, if that is, crazymonkey is correct.