Yeah, now that the 3rd/4th place teams from top leagues qualify automatically into the group stage, the final playoff round is going to have the cachet of the 3rd qualifying round, with the biggest "name" teams in it likely to be Benfica, Ajax, PSV, Dynamo Kyiv and Celtic. Gone are the days of Liverpool-Hoffenheim or Arsenal-Napoli at this stage.
Well, according to a press release back in May Univision stated that their Champions League coverage will start in August so I am hoping that means the playoff round. That said, the Draw for the Group stage is August 30th so they could be meaning that in a sneaky way. We will find out soon enough.
Never underestimate the Mexican connection. I can see Standard Liege matches being broadcast for sure due to Ochoa (assuming he is still there after the World Cup.) Benfica would have made UDN for sure if Mexicano Jimenez were still on the team. They can still show Benfica and try to highlight Former Mexican league star Nicolas Castillo and team USA up and comer Keaton Parks but it would not draw the same sort of Univision buzz obviously. Ajax has prestige and history and they showed their matches as recently as a couple seasons ago because there were Mexicans in Holland so there is a chance for them to be on their broadcast airwaves due to familiarity.
The TV rights for the CL start with the Playoff Round. So no other channels can show the Playoff Round and beyond. True that it doesn't mean Univision will show Playoff Round matches but hard to believe they won't. It's a good opportunity to "advertise" the Group Stage as well as an opportunity to test commentators and graphics if nothing else. SA www.soccertvblog.com
soccertvblog.com @soccertvblog BREAKING - Streaming service @BleacherReport add Finnish @Veikkausliiga to their lineup. They will be showing @HJKHelsinki vs @FCTPS this Saturday at 12:00pm ET - http://soccertvblog.com/bestoftherest-tv/
The Finnish League match has npow been taken off the schedule. I's funny how that league has always been on the top of Bleacher's listings since they launched. My guess is that there is more negotiating being done... SA www.soccertvblog.com
Hopefully we know something soon lol So I guess they don't have a deadline on these things? It just happens whenever it happens lol
The de facto deadline is the start of the season. Last August for example, ESPN didn't get the Championship rights until a few days before the first game.
Looks like that's where we're heading again. I'm curious if Turner/BR are in the mix for the EFL rights now (not that they're all that hot a commodity)
Does anybody know how many American households get Eleven Sports? I get it. The Belgian First Division A (sponsor name Jupiler Pro League) probably gets negligible ratings, but if they add Serie A maybe Eleven Sports could move ahead of Gol TV and Fox Soccer Plus among soccer fans. Eleven Sports has upcoming friendlies with Liverpool, Everton, Hoffenheim, and Lokomotiv Moscow.
It seems like ESPN and Turner are still the leaders. I haven't even seen anything saying that Eleven is trying to get the US Serie A rights. I have it on my Direct TV. I believe it's part of the sports package tho.
Champions League 1 round qualifiers are online at: https://live.bleacherreport.com/ New Blearchereport website is owned by Turner who has rights to Champions League this year. Go on the web site and watch 2 games free. Next month it will move to pay to watch model.
The English Football League and Cup are set for another season on ESPN(+). Listings are populating for the early season, starts August 3rd w/ Reading v Derby. http://www.espn.com/watch/schedule/?startDate=20180803&type=upcoming
Based on listings, it seems that Eleven Sports have indeed lost the rights to the Belgian Jupiler League to Bleacher Report. Bleacher is showing the Belgian Super Cup today (Club Brugge vs Standard Liege - 2pm ET) and are listing 2 matches for the opening weekend next weekend. Link to the streaming site is live.bleacherreport.com SA www.soccertvblog.com
Back to the Champions League, as posted in the Turner/Univision CL thread Univision and their family of Networks will broadcast 145 Champions League matches starting in August during the play-offs round. They also will broadcast 200 Europa League matches. All matches will be streamed live on their website and digital apps. Just had to clear that up. Turner can go suck a lemon in my book. No need to pay for their matches.
According to my mathematics (which has been shown to be wrong many times, so please correct), there are only 137 champions league matches from the playoff round to the final (12 playoff round, 96 group stage, 16 round of 16, 8 qf, 4 sf, 1 final), so I don’t know where the 145 games comes from. I have 205 Europa league games from the group stage to the final (traditionally Europa league rights have started at the group stage). Including the playoff round, 247 games. So, I can’t explain the 137/145 discrepancy (probably my bad math), but it looks like Univision is showing all Champions League games, and almost all Europa League games.
Well, maybe they were basing it off of last year's competition? I have no idea. But it is good to know that they will show all the matches starting during the playoffs in August.
You’re right, Homie, that would explain it. Last year there were 8 more games (all at the playoff round). So they went with last year’s number without taking into account the format changes. As far as Europa league, fox soccer match pass had all the games in past years, but many times (for the games with smaller teams) just crowd noise with no commentary. I assume it will be the same on the Univision digital platform.
I gave both you rep for your math. When Turner/Bleacher Report bought the rights, I wonder if they were thinking about how the games would be available in Spanish.
Turner is probably stupid or arrogant. Stupid by not doing their research about their competition streaming/showing games on TV or just plain arrogant thinking that people will pay for a subscription just for English Language commentators. And what makes it even more hilarious is that they have not announced if they will take the international feed or hire local guys to do it which will make people around here even more hesitant to purchase a subscription depending on what they decide to do.