How is that reciprocating you can still watch the game in the USA while you are advocating blacking out a game in their country the two aren't even close to the same. Reciprocity means you respond in kind all of you seem to want to black out the game entirely en Guatemala just because you have to pay $30 why not just come up with a way they have to pay $30? This will never happen to Mexico Telemundo or Univision would buy the rights no problem central american countries always sell the rights to another party they do it as a package deal yet Mexico airs the games no problems dealing with the same companies the USA has to.
They wouldn't buy the rights if we don't sell the rights. And putting it on PPV is almost more insulting than not broadcasting it at all. This shit would never fly in Mexico. We have to take a stand to prevent it from happening again to us.
Look, the way I see it the initial fault lies with CONCACAF for allowing the rights to be controlled by the home team for qualifiers (UEFA is moving away from this starting in 2014, they've had a few similar-type issues over the years). But everyone except the US & Mexico seems to make more money under this arrangement. Stupid, but doesn't sound like CONCACAF will change. Beyond that, I think the USSF should not sell the Guatemala home game to a company that will distribute it in that country. Fire back at them once rather than just take the cash from PPV company. The risk you run is that by doing that you put all away qualifiers at risk of not being shown here if Antigua or El Salvador or someone down the line would do the same thing. As to those who are upset that ESPN or FSC or NBC won't pony up to the foreign federations, these games are not likely to get high ratings and by getting into bidding wars for these games (other than final Hex games) they are just driving up the market for no reason. However, in this day and age of web streams all over the place, these PPV tactics are more of a nuisance than anything else. 10 years ago, maybe 5 years ago, this extortion-PPV distribution deal could have worked. But the 2009 Honduras qualifier was so easy to find online IMO that it undercut the market for PPV & Closed Circuit TV (which BTW, didn't work at a bunch of bars in Houston).
It doesn't happen to Mexico because networks are willing to pay for the rights its the exact same company Mexico is buying the rights for the away game against El Salvador yet that game won't be pay per view.
What stopped the USSF from buying the rights, and then selling them to an outlet here which would ensure the game would be on tv nationwide?
The Honduras game from last cycle was one of my favorites because we had to go to a Honduran restaurant/bar and watch the game with all the Catratchos. It ended up being a great time. There was some good natured trash talking, but overall the Honduran fans were very welcoming. I don't care where this game ends up (PPV apparently), I'll be going down to a central American restaurant to enjoy this match either way. That said, I know that many people around here don't have the option of going down the street to a Central American pupusa shop to catch the game. Hopefully things will get better in the future.
They don't have the money for that, and they shouldn't have to be extorted. There should be some rights for the away country. U.S. Soccer is going to have a hard time building the sport if they keep getting screwed over by these companies.
Again with this shit, do you know if FSC, ESPN, NBC Sport, etc were not allowed to bid for the rights? Is not the fault of the Guatemala Federation that American TV Networks think American fans do not give a shit about the USA playing Guatemala, so they do not want to spend money on that game. Shit we are not even bothered to go to Tampa Bay to the the first qualifying match because we feel Antigua is not a worthy team. The market for this PPV game is Guatemalans in the USA, because they may also bitch up a storm about having to pay 30 bucks, but they will pay it and get together to cheer their NT.
Right but we also have the right to refuse to sell them rights. This is called adding a cost to choosing to sell the game to a PPV company. Then the ESPN, NBC, FSC bids become better. Soccer and the USMNT keeps getting strangled in the crib by stupid shit like this. It's within U.S. Soccer's right to protect themselves
Can someone find out first how much did Guatemala sell it for?? How much do these rights usually sell for?
I don't follow your reasoning here. They didn't preferentially sell this to a PPV company right? They sold it to them because none of the networks wanted it. US soccer can't force ESPN to buy their games. If none of the networks wanted the game, what would you suggest happens??? At least we get it on PPV this time.
I would imagine there are a lot of variables that go into that decision. A network has to decide not only if the match would attract viewers, but also whether or not it will attract more viewers than whatever else they could schedule at the same time. So it may be that the networks wouldn't have bought the game at even a decent price because it still would have been less profitable than whatever else they could show (keep in mind that the ad time they can sell during a soccer match is extremely limited). On top of that, are we suggesting that the Guatemalan federation didn't want this to be bought and distributed on a large scale? Why would that make any sense? They are in the business of making money. To me it looks like all the networks passed on this.
the ussf needs to have a policy for other federations that if these federations (the rightholders) do not make sure the games in which they own the rights to end up on a us channel with at least 3o million subscribers (fsc) then the ussf can and will withhold sell of broadcast rights in said federations home country when the ussf owns the broadcast rights. if this is policy then boom, guatemala federation, honduras federation, etc make sure that traffic has to sells the rights to a channel with subscription rates comparable to at least fox soccer channel. problem solved
How can Guatemala MAKE networks buy this game??? As far as I can tell, no one wanted it. ESPN can make more money in ad revenue by replaying a classic super bowl game from their archives than they could by paying for the rights to a game that a relatively small number of people would watch right in the middle of their prime viewing hours. It's not Guatemala's fault. Is there any evidence that a major American network wanted this game but couldn't get it because Guatemala asked for a billion dollars? And if so, how the hell did some small company that can only get it onto PPV afford it? If the price was astronomical, how could they even hope to make their money back? Again, this sounds to me like the networks took a pass, but then again, I don't really know how all this stuff works.
There are a couple of solutions here for those of you who don't want to pay the money. 1) Listen to an online stream from Guatemala. As I mentioned in another thread this was what I am leaning toward since I have to work that evening. There are also Phone and Ipad apps that provide radio from around the world. TunIn radio is one I use. 2) Negotiate with your service provider. I once got a couple of South American World Cup qualifiers because I told the accounting department I would switch over to Direct TV for the Free NFL Package (Something my provider does not offer.) If you have been a good customer for many years they are willing to bend the rules for ya and give you free stuff. You just have to ask for it and haggle. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
If not plan C is looking for Links as everyone else does. Never hurts to ask. I never thought I would talk my way into free World Cup qualifiers before but it worked. Never hurts to try. Find some leverage and focus upon it. No one wants to lose a customer over a soccer game.
I am going to pay to watch these games, even Antique & Barbary. You know you will do the same when game time approaches...
I love US soccer... ...but you would have to pay me to see Antigua. I am sure as heck not going to pay for it.
Easy. Don't pay to watch it. I'm not paying for it. And, refuse to attend any Guatemala vs US games in the US. If we don't show up, then USSF will get the message and retaliate with it's own PPV for Guatemala viewers. Normally, I don't participate in illegal streams, but, if I had the hardware, I'd buy then give the stream away to as many as possible.
