I just read a world soccer talk article about the copa america. According to the article the tv rights are up for bid again. "While it was anticipated that FOX Sports would acquire the TV rights to the Copa America Centenario for US television, the press release from US Soccer says that “CONCACAF and CONMEBOL have reclaimed their respective broadcast and sponsorship rights for this event by ending their relationships with Datisa, S.A. The Confederations will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) publicly to ensure transparency and accountability in the selection of new commercial partners.” As a result, it means that it’s likely that FOX Sports will have to bid for the rights again, but may face stiff competition for English-language rights from NBC Sports and beIN SPORTS."
I think BEIN's cash supply gets over rated on this forum. This is a property that will be in some type of demand. If it gets the full participation of both confederations and the clubs allow all the players to participate it is as competitive as the Euros if not more so. I would like this on ESPN but with Euros I see Fox and NBC being the main competitors. I would really like to see NBC try this kind of competition and it fits in their portfolio assuming it starts at the same time as the Euros they only have like five hockey games left by then.
Imo bein wont get the rights because they don't tend to bid on properties. They always make a deal with a rights company in "private".
NBC Would not make much sense unless they hired some Latin American commentators at the last second. They are all British guys and Kyle Martino. It would be kinda awkward hearing them try to analyze players they probably never see outside of Premiere League matches and maybe Champions League..
It's not like euro start times would overlap with this and espn has two channels. It would make sense for espn to go for it. They have nothing at this time and could show 4 games straight any day.
But then espn would have to split resources. I would rather have espn go all out with the euros and another network go all out with the copa america.
BeIN will not get it due to limited distribution. It will be FOX Sports, and maybe NBC Sports (this could help NBCSN getting more momentum leading to the Olympics). NBC (the flagship/mothership network) could also schedule some primetime matches.
FOX still makes more sense than NBC since they do a lot more National team broadcasts than NBC. I really do think NBC is putting all their eggs in the Premiere League and saying screw all other soccer. BEIN makes sense cause they can use the same analysts they used for the last Copa and WCQers. I think it will be those two (FOX vs. BEIN) battling it out.
I'm sure bein will go all out to get the spanish package. The Mexico games at last years copa america did wonders in the ratings department for the spanish channel.
Yeah, its feasible but I'm hoping 2 different networks cover the tournaments as that would give the viewers that best coverage. Also there probably would be some overlap, not only with matches but presumably ESPN will have some nightly recap show for the Euros which would definitely overlap with Copa.
I think the "lesser" competition would get higher TV ratings. Although I have no idea how expensive it would be to get the rights.
I don't think the competition featuring four of the top six teams in the ELO ratings (five of the top 9), and which includes the United States and Mexico is the "lesser" competition as far as the United States audience is concerned.
I feel that espn with half its resources would do a better job with this than anyone else. NBC staff is so premier league oriented that I think people could find their coverage annoying. Something like ian darke using every opportunity to remind you in which premiership team every player played.
Still no word on USA English Language coverage? The Schedule is out so you would think someone would step up to the plate soon. Also, I read on Wiki that Netflix has Portuguese language rights. Interesting if true. Can anyone confirm this?
I'm quite skeptical. The footnotes on the Wikipedia page which allegedly support that assertion are broken links, and googling "copa america centenario" and "netflix" doesn't bring up anything reliable. A couple of links that were probably relying on Wikipedia. If true, there would have been a press release of some sort.