The worst thing ESPN ever did for soccer was to hire John Harkes to work in the booth. THey should replace him with Twellman, he knows the game and is a far better analyst. But I am always surprised when I hear the disdain in the voices of some of the SportsCenter when they have to talk about soccer. If they talked like that about other niche sports like the NHL or NASCAR they would suspended from the air but since its soccer nothing ever happens. All that said, ESPN is better then FSC and FOX by leaps and bounds, if for no other reason then they never let Christopher Sullivan with in a 1000 miles of a world cup game!
Ummmmm soccer gets more coverage on ESPN than the NHL. ESPN markets the sports they own, and they own soccer. The NHL barely exists to ESPN.
That's fine -- you're certainly welcome to applaud the move to Fox. I'm just pointing out that you may want to consider the whole picture here, and think about some of the other factors involved. In fact, I'm sure the folks over in the MLS News & Analysis thread (and other American soccer sites this afternoon) would sincerely appreciate your stopping by to tell them why they shouldn't be so worried about this. Because right now they're basically freaked out.
Right - have you seen the ratings of the MLS on ESPN lately? there was a post on here recently about it how pathetic is was... Not saying ratings for MLS will jump on FSC or even slightly improve but to correlate the sucess of MLS or Soccer in America to the coverage on ESPN - that's what I call misguided...
Again, I would suggest dropping by some of the other venues I mentioned above, where the various arguments and points are laid out in much detail. This stuff isn't as binary as you seem to think it is. And like I say, if you're capable of rebutting those arguments, or reassuring people that they should be happy about today's news, I'm sure they'd welcome the chance to be less stressed. I'm not sure this thread is the best spot to get bogged down in a detailed blow-by-blow about the merits of Fox's World Cup rights.
Yes, sure thing -i'll get on that right away. I'll visit every MLS and soccer board and re-assure them not to worry.. I'll report my findings tonight - please be patient and wait while i do this. thanks
Uh, that was my polite way of saying: "Your perspective is laughably simple-minded and wrong -- go to these other places to find out why, because this thread isn't the right spot for it." But since you can't take a hint, I'll drop the polite shtick.
As a TV consumer of footy, posting in the TV/Satellite forum, I'm happy to see some competition from Fox as well as Telemundo for this World Cup. Let's see what competition does for ESPN, NBC and Univision. When Fox got the Champions League from ESPN we got the CL Final on network TV and ESPN broadcasting the Premier League. But 2018 is almost a decade away. Lots of things can change during that time. I think freaking out now for what happens in 2018 is a bit premature. Could it be that maybe MLS should have held off their broadcast deal until after the World Cup deal? Or would they not have gotten as much as they did from ESPN or NBC?
So ... anyone else think that the Joe Pa firing might cause some last minute schedule interruption involving the France-USA match on Friday? Will I have to DVR 2 different channels just in case?
Between ESPN News and ESPN covering PSU, you should be fine. Any breaking news or press conferences should be on those channels. However, it wouldn't hurt to force a download of your channel guide at the last possible moment to see if anything has changed. Recording ESPN Classic in addition to ESPN2 probably wouldn't hurt. I'm prepared for a constant onslaught of people complaining about the ticker giving JoePa updates every few moments. Of course, ESPN3.com should have the game no matter what.
Given the severity of the situation, you never know. However, as I pointed out, ESPN and ESPN News should have the situation covered.
Is it going to drag on through Friday? Forgive my ignorance but I haven't cared to follow the issue at all.
It's going to drag on for quite a while. Even more horrible and disgusting allegations are rumored to be coming out today.
Not necessarily. "Even more" could also mean "more of the same", depending on how you read it. There'll also be a trip to court, and possibly jail, for several people involved. For those of with Univision, you're in luck. The game will be there from 3-5 PM ET. I'm sure they won't pre-empt.
thank god for the soccer game on Friday. I'm tired of hearing about this Paterno crap. All I see is a typical mob lynch society blowing every thing out of proportion (Paterno didn't even commit a crime). As far as the guy who actually committed the crime, let him go to trial and be done with the issue. I don't want to hear about it anymore, it's just depressing.
Yes!... the NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice!... always wanted to see that! 1:30pm to 3pm this friday! Any guesses on how much it will go over it's allotted time? 15 minutes? 30? BlackHornet and I have been telling you all for months - ESPN treats soccer as a third / fourth tier sport....
They have a contract to show NASCAR. They also have a contract to show USA v France. What are they supposed to do? Cut out of a live event early? What if that live event was the World Cup Final, or MLS Cup? Do you get Univision and/or ESPN3.com? Problem solved. If the NASCAR practice runs long (and it really shouldn't, since it's practice), just tune in to one of those outlets. We all know the policy about live events. Continually beating a dead horse in regards to it isn't going to change anything...after all, that COULD easily be a soccer game running long.
You realize this is an ESPN Stupidity Thread, don't you? What can more be more stupid to a soccer fan then having your national team being pre-empted by a Nascar practice run?
I won't forgive ESPN this time if the soccer game is cut into again. Why? Because they could have put the USA vs France game on ESPN, where there is nothing else on except SportsCenter.
Point being, there's an alternative. If you don't realize that, tough luck. ESPN is a business. They do what makes the most sense financially, combined with the general policy adopted by all sports networks of airing a live event until its completion. Even if FSC is showing a BPL game that gets delayed for whatever reason, they'll stick with it until its conclusion, even if that means bumping into another live event. If the game doesn't come on exactly at 2:55, save yourself the boiling blood and flip to Univision or bring up ESPN3. Check ESPN every 2-3 minutes, and there you go. Honestly, i'd rather listen in Spanish than get my blood in a boil because ESPN is sticking to their policy of showing a live event.
...which will probably be showing breaking news. Like I said, the game is being shown on two different TV channels and on three different outlets. Options exist. If someone chooses to sit there with ESPN2 showing the conclusion of a previous live event, instead of finding an alternative, that's on them.