Very happy with the broadcast (and a pretty entertaining game for the debut.) Picture quality was great, 4 announcers at the game, on field interviews at the set after the game, and the color/pbp split in the box and sidelines worked seamlessly. Very pleased, nothing really to gripe about at all. Commentators were competent and a well-played game.
Plus Paris-Nice. Say what you want about cycling, but the main reason Versus had the ability to take the risk of picking up the NHL was the ratings they got for the Tour de France in the Armstrong years. They clearly haven't forgotten that as they've expanded their cycling coverage this year.
I liked the NBC Sports coverage. Quality HD picture. I too thought the camera needed to be panned out at times, but the Commentators all did a very professional job. I was surprised at how well Martino and White did with one in the booth and one between the benches. I really liked Robbie Earl. Though I didn't mind the foxsoccer coverage, this is an improvement on that (especially since I get NBC in HD - and I didn't have it available on fox)
They were good, but Arlo White doesn't stop talking. Sometimes the play-by-play guy needs to let the game speak for itself and not add an adjective or a comment every time someone touches a ball. Coming from the BBC (I think) this kind of surprised me since English announcers seem to let the game be the story and they don't force the story (cough cough E$PN). Aside from that, the production was good and I'm glad they are investing in the league.
He originally was a radio BBC sports announcer, I think that's just his style. I like it. I always prefer radio play by play vs TV. I remember turning down the TV and turning on the radio when I was into baseball as a kid.
Personally, I think that all the talking is better for the league at this point. It helps new fans figure out what is going on. I really liked the broadcast for the most part. I am disappointed that they did not show any highlights from the matches yesterday. I guess that will get better as the season goes on and more story lines develop. I hope they do some coverage on SportsTalk tonight. It was coverage there that got me really excited about MLS on NBC in the first place.
I also noticed the talking - not so much that there was a lot of it, but that the pace of his delivery accelerated quite a bit during a drive to goal. Although I noticed it, I did not mind it. Yes, I could see how it could be a radio call. It actually reminded me of a hockey call. I agree to let the game breathe a little bit, but did not mind it. Only thing about the broadcast was some of the replays were slow. You could tell Arlo and, especially, Kyle, were waiting to dissect something on a replay, and the replay took forever to appear on the screen for them.
I like the way they broke down a few replays. They tried to provide an explanation for the lack of scoring punch on the NYRB side. I think NBC is on the right track with that sort of analysis.
NBC didn't do anything different from all the others. 1) They used one center camera. 2) No goal cameras. 3) No 20 yard cameras. 4) Camera angle to low. Arlo White talks to much, I didn't like him when he was with Seattle. Kyle (sucks) should go to the desk, and have have Robbie Earl join Arlo to shut him a little. Robbie Earl belongs in the booth. NBC should look at European Broadcasts to get clue. I love MLS and expct better job from NBC. I'm paying a higher premium to get this channel.
as to point 4 (Camera angle "too" low), that's just the construction reality of many MLS venues. they are small/short stadiums, for the most part. there are not a lot of physical places in MLS venues in which cameras could be positioned "higher" to give a better angle and more "birds eye view" of the match. you don't think NBC has looked at soccer broadcasts from around the world? and it really costs you a higher premium paid to your subscription tv provider to get NBC Sports Network (relative to what it costs to get Fox Soccer Channel -- the network that MLS replaced with NBCSN's package of rights)? for the vast majority of US households, NBCSN is the "more affordable/available" channel, relative to FoxSoccer.
Wow! That was a bomb. Marlo White doesn't let the game flow. Shut up a little bit (breathe, drink water....that English accent killed me). It's the same coverage we have seen on FSC, ESPN etc..... Who was the color analyst? He also needs to tone it down a bit. He didn't have anything vaulable to say. As if the play-by-play wasn't bad enough, the halftime segment was painful! Did that host ever watch a soccer game? Did NBC do any homework on these guys???? All this hype and we get another English announcer who was bad, a color analyst who must have seen that "Mechanics" video on youtube and a halftime show with guys who couldn't get names and formations straight???????????????? P.S. That dude who released the "mechanics" video had good ideas, but he has no clue about the flow of broadcasting a soccer game. All those cute little tidbits won't fly. AND for NBC analysts to buy into that..........very sad.
Well I see Bigsoccer complaining is in fine midseason form Given it was their first game, it'll be interesting to see what changes they will make to the broadcast as the season progresses. At the end of the day, they will not be able to make everyone happy lol
If the majority of the comments say that the broadcasting was good on NBC for me is good and that those who criticize are not better than those that confirm the rule. I did not see the retransmission of NBC in Spain but i am confident the majority who say that the broadcast was good or very good. With what another leap in quality for the MLS.
I don't think the viewing angle is any lower than many matches from England. Off the top of my head, Chelsea, Fulham, QPR, Everton, and Norwich all have similarly low angles.
I am very interested to see the ratings. Obviously the NBC game was up against very difficult sporting competition. I would be happy with anything north of 200k viewers. The ESPN2 game tonight faces less sporting competition and would like to see it bring north of 300k As always it will be a struggle to find ratings but hopefully a regular source will appear.
couple rough edges, especially with the replays, but all in all i was pleased with the broadcast including the announcers.
Actually, NBCSports inaugural game should register around 300K or so. ESPN'2 game tonite could register as high as high as 400K (my bet is 375K viewers on ESPN2, and 50K or more on ESPNDeportes)
I would be very happy with those predictions. The ESPN2 number will be easier to achieve than the NBC one though IMO.
Let me help you with the details. Please read the following. McCarthy's Musings: 2012 MLS National TV Preview: ESPN, NBC jockey for top billing It will describe in technical detail what each broadcast will be doing, but it does change from game to game. Note that ESPN will do 10-11 cameras or up to 17 for big games and NBC will match 10 cameras for most of its games. I'm confident NFL and EPL have double the number of cameras, in fact it quotes someone saying EPL games have 22 cameras [that's a lot of $$$]. Both their presentations are slick on TV and one reason why I think EPL "looks" better than other leagues. It's packaged incredibly well. Read this too: ESPN Innovates, Experiments, and Scores with Major League Soccer
http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/11/observations-from-last-nights-mls-firstkick/ NBC's analysis is now above that of ESPN's lets just have a round-table-and-spin-it discussion. Watch Arlo discuss the Dallas v. NYRB matchup. This is the right way to present soccer.
Hey, at least they were talking about the game! The sorry standard in American soccer broadcasting is for the "play-by-play" (ha) guy and the color guy to have a running two-man panel on topics relating to the teams and players, while a soccer game just happens to be going on. On one of the games I watched Saturday, an injury took place on the field and no one said anything about what just happened until the color guy finished his blather-in-progress on some topic. The NBC broadcast, while certainly not perfect, has set the bar for quality as far as MLS broadcasts are concerned. I loved the enthusiasm -- the entire broadcast sent the message "we're proud and excited to be covering MLS". That's not a message we've always seen consistently. ------RM
Count me as one of the fans impressed by the debut. Much better presentation than FSC had, and the commentary wasn't nearly as grating as I feared upon seeing Kyle Martino there. Don't know what White's situation was before this, but he seemed to be quite fine with calling the game on his own with very little color commentary from Martino, which was a nice change from the typical ramblings of Sullivan, Harkes, etc. I can't wait to see how they do over the course of the season!