Fox Soccer US

[Thomas Flannigan]

I am interested in how people like the new TV program about soccer in the US, Fox Soccer US. http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/3489144.
I saw it last week and I think it will harm the development of fan support for the MLS and men’s soccer in general.
If soccer is portrayed by the media as a girls’ sport it will never really take off as a spectator sport. This will turn off the core constituency, male fans. Last week’s episode was interspersed with references to new music and trends, which may appeal to the younger generation. But it had a long segment about the Farleigh Dickenson women’s soccer team. Who cares about that? The students at Farleigh Dickenson don’t even care about the team so why should that appeal to a national television audience? The segment where Heather Mitts is teaching teenagers how to chest a ball also dovetails with the impression that soccer is a girls’ sport and the boys who play it are borderline sissies.
Please keep in mind that I have no objection to TV or other media about women’s soccer. Men’s basketball and women’s basketball have coexisted and in some cases thrived, side by side, for 110 years. But I think the melding of women’s soccer and men’s soccer in the media will damage whatever chance men’s soccer has to become mass market.

[tab5g]

I remember when they let women vote in the early part of the last century. I was the first to claim that that day ruined American politics and civic life, and I stand by that.

[Spartak]

I think I tuned into this show on the weekend for the first time. And all I saw was a segment on iPods, TVs, mobile phones, etc. What exactly did that have to do with soccer? Click.

[Tom T]

Disclaimer:I agree with NONE - ZERO - of TF comments.
However, as posted in another thread, this show has....uh....'issues'.
It appears that maybe the audience that's watching (or was watching) is not the audience that the show is targeted at.

[rojojova]

I've seen moments from the show and it is obviously targeted to the sexually ambiguous.

[Len]

I just find the show unwatchable. Of course, I'm guessing I'm not in their targeted market........who(m)ever that may be.

[PJohnson]

Click.

Exactly! This show is terrible. I've watched it three times and the only segment that had any substance was the skills segment done by Christopher Sullivan.

Why can't we get a serious MLS preview show along the lines of the EPL preview? Or a well produced weekly package like Gambare? :confused:

[Thomas Flannigan]

I saw it after an exciting NE-DC game. What soccer needs in this country is more fans and you can get more fans by favorable TV exposure. The DC game was exciting. A casual fan or dial flipper might have gotten interested. Then the sequel is this awful program that appeared to be a MLS wrapup but became a happy-clappy celebration of some kind of co-ed sports activity. You would never watch an NBA game and see a post-game show talking about the Farleigh Dickenson women's basketball team would you?

[jimmyco]

Pretentious 20-somethings who don't appear to have ANY connection to the game at all (playing or otherwise).

First episode at Niketown in NYC - LOADS of shirts on display, but not one from the domestic league. That got my immediate downward-headed thumb. The female co-host (Lisa?) is easy on the eyes, but not on the brain. The other 2 guys are just useless.

Christopher Sullivan and Heather Mitts are the best things about this program.

[Freestyle2000]

None of you - unless you're under 18 and get rides to overpriced club team practice in mom's SUV - are in the target demo for this show.

RS

[SABuffalo786]

Yeah, this show is f-ing awful.


Please, FSC, put this train wreck out of its misery and give us a full hour of MLS Wrap back.

[denver_mugwamp]

Yeah, this show is f-ing awful.


Please, FSC, put this train wreck out of its misery and give us a full hour of MLS Wrap back.

Is soccer in the US doing so well that we can turn down any cable TV shows, even if they are aimed at trendy 14 year olds? I think not. Yeah, the show didn't appeal to me. But neither does hanging out at the mall with a group of friends and talking about latest hot rock stars. It can't possibly hurt our sport if teenage girls begin to get lustful young thoughts about Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson, and Eddie Gaven instead of members of the latest prefabricated boy band. Tickets sold are tickets sold. Too bad this show couldn't appear on a major US network with ads for pimple cream and over-sugared breakfast crunchies. The hosts act pretty much like the vj's on MTV. It's not my cup of horchata, but it must work for the kids they are aiming to influence since MTV seems to being pretty well. I applaud the efforts of the show's creators and hope they succeed. As usual, Mr. Flannigan has his knickers in a knot about something so trivial that it barely matters.

[PJohnson]

Is soccer in the US doing so well that we can turn down any cable TV shows, even if they are aimed at trendy 14 year olds?

Yes! There are about 50 million serious soccer fans in this country. The problem is that most of them turn their attention overseas to get their fix. And they are not likely to change unless we start to give them serious coverage of the game here. Juvenile shows like Fox Soccer US do more harm than good in my opinion. Unless they air on Nickelodeon.

If we are ever going to increase fan interest in MLS we need to make the league appealing to people that already love the game. And that means stop trying to convert the soccer moms and dads and other casual fans. If we get the hardcore fans that already exist, then todays youth players will fall in as the next generation of hard core fans for sure.

[Davids26]

See I just don't get the point of this show. Most people that subscribe to FSC aren't in the demographic that they're obviously targeting with this new show... They subscribe to see the EPL, French, Argentine, and German leagues...

[Magpie Maniac]

Pretentious 20-somethings who don't appear to have ANY connection to the game at all (playing or otherwise).

First episode at Niketown in NYC - LOADS of shirts on display, but not one from the domestic league. That got my immediate downward-headed thumb.

Exactly. And what about the segment when they asked "the people on the street" what their favorite teams are? Brazil? Italy? WTF? American kids as white as the new fallen snow and their favorite team is Brazil? Why? For the same reason they like Man Utd I guess. :rolleyes:

Sorry. I'm getting cranky in my middle age.

[seanT]

Lets not forget they also have the "Fox Football Friday" show for the soccer hard core, one must have an accent to be a soccer expert crowd.

so I don't see any harm in different shows for different folks.

[OldFanatic]

American kids as white as the new fallen snow and their favorite team is Brazil? Why?

Why do you bring race into this issue? What difference would it make if those kids were white or black?

[TonyWayne]

I haven't seen the show, but is it something that might reaffirm the perceptions that the average testosterone driven male sports fan might already have about soccer in the US??

Maybe they've given up on these guys, and are looking to the future with a trendy younger crowd...

But, I honesty don't see a lot gen-xyz'ers (or whatever it is currently...) putting soccer on the same kind street level coolness as something like snowboarding or those kind of sports. But a geezer like me, I'm no expert on these things...

[Supersuperman99]

Yeah this show is wack I watched the first of minutes of the 1sr episode and that was it switchedto GOL! on Goltv. FSUS is really wack and they keep repeating the same wack ass episodes. BRING BACK MLS WRAP 1 HOUR!!!!!!!!!

[MasterShake29]

I haven't seen the show, but is it something that might reaffirm the perceptions that the average testosterone driven male sports fan might already have about soccer in the US??

Doesn't matter, the average testosterone driven male sports fan (that's redundant, but anyway) isn't watching FSC or GolTV.

Maybe they've given up on these guys, and are looking to the future with a trendy younger crowd...

It's a mere half hour show once a week. The world isn't ending.