This is a good move. You will see ads for MLS games during NHL playoffs. And in Sept/Oct/Nov ads on SNF for the following weeks MLS game. Also during the NHLseason what ever games were on NBC on Sat/Sun thos games were also streamed live on NBC sports website. So I wonder if that will continue with MLS games.
I agree all the way around. And if I wasn't working I would dig up some old posts. MLS has to get these networks paying more; because the more they pay the more money they will put into advertising and promotion to protect their investment. ESPN does almost nothing right now, because they consider MLS an add-on to the National Game rights. IF we start getting 12-20 m/year we will see a step up in ratings solely on increased marketing.
Why are a number of people bringing up things that happened 2 decades ago with NBC as some kind of proof of NBC might not take this seriously? As others have said, soccer coverage in the last 2 Olympics was perfectly fine (besides Marcelo Balboa). After the ratings that big international soccer tournaments have gotten recently, it's not remotely surprising that all the networks want in on soccer. And I sure hope you're not insulting the awesome theme song in that video. That song would fit perfectly in many classic video games.
Okay. I think you're one of those guys who just refuses to read posts before he comments on them. My point, which you just completely ignored, is that NBC shouldn't have to dumb down the commentary BECAUSE THE WORLD CUP GOT RECORD RATINGS LAST SUMMER. The game was not dumbed in anyway shape or form, and average joe blow American flocked to their tv sets to watch that instead of the NBA Finals. Except, no one here is complaining. Whatsoever. Stop while you're ahead.
Well if they do, and hopefully they dont, I pray they can at least do it in a sensible manner (stoppages of play, goal kicks, etc) on that mini-screen in the corner.
Funny that in a league where Balboa, Heaps, and the San Jose crew are commentators people are worried about the new commentators dumbing things down...
Dumbing down commentary and wanting to off yourself with a .45 BECAUSE of the commentary are two different things entirely.
You somehow forgot Chris Marlowe's "So the red card's an ejection, correct?" in your argument. Which also makes his blog that much funnier.
I'm guessing that is their plan and that is what the digital rights are. Their new deal with the NHL calls for the same thing with all their games (both NBC and NBCSN/VS). My guess is they want to launch something like ESPN3. My thoughts on the deal. It is an important deal for both sides. For MLS they get an increase in rights and wider distribution. For NBC this gives them some anchor programming their sports channel for the summer and helps them to start building relationships in the soccer world to be able to go after the big property (World Cup). It was also a deal you could see coming a mile away. There were talks last year about MLS moving to Versus. I think the merger approval got in the way of it happening sooner and that is why the Fox Soccer deal got delayed as much as it did. By the time the merger was approved it was too short of time to get everything in place for the season without there being glitches early one (See the NHL's early days on OLN/VS when they had only 3 months to get ready). Ultimately MLS signed the one-year deal with FSC. Still Garber in interviews dropped hints that something like this was coming. One stood out in particular where he mentioned having lunch with people from the NHL and discussing with them what a great job NBC and Versus was doing for them. I think NBC will put on a quality telecast. One of the brands they are trying to create for themselves is that they put out quality. If you read the ESPN book, particularly the sections of the NHL walking away from ESPN and the move on MNF from ABC to ESPN you see some of the NBC people mention that while ESPN does a lot they don't do anything well. NBC is trying to play against that rep that ESPN has and be at the opposite direction (which is the desire of the different leagues). Including matches on NBC proper is part of that. It is also a signal by MLS to ESPN to get their act together when it comes to their coverage. Stop with matches buried at 11pm at night in the East. If not the league will walk in a couple of years and maybe end up taking the FIFA rights with it. NBC is definitely after the World Cup rights. That would be a big feather in their cap as it would give them the two biggest sporting events in the world. I think NBC with this in place will look to expand their International soccer coverage as well. Particularly the Gold Cup and Copa America. They may try to throw their muscle (and dollars) to try to make the Copa Americas idea happen. If that does happen and the two tournaments end up being on different years it would give them programming that would fit nicely after the Stanley Cup playoffs and make up a bit for losing Wimbledon. Also would help them in World Cup bidding. At the end of the day though for MLS they have set up a big increase in rights in 2014 as the two big rivals try to grab the rights exclusively in hopes it can give them the edge in World Cup bidding in 2015.
First, this is a great deal and landmark day for MLS. It's not the end all, be all by any means but the league has come a long, long way. Big score for Don and the league. Second, I agree with some in that I'm not a huge fan of the Olympic coverage but I thoroughly enjoy NBC's SNF telecast. IMO, it's the best NFL telecast of all the networks. The presentation is high quality. MLS is potentially in very good hands.
The excruciatingly poor commentary is probably the single worst thing about being an MLS / US fan today. I had to watch the game on mute last night. Unfortunately, I've never really cared for Versus hockey commentators, but I at least find them tolerable and knowledgeable. So I hope they do this right and bring in the right people.
You could have watched on Univision. Even if you don't understand a word they say it's more enjoyable than the ESPN commentary. Hell, they can make a back-pass sound exciting!
Halfback passes to center, back to wing, back to center, center holds it! Holds it! Holds it! (Stupid copyright laws, otherwise I'd post the clip...)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4QBH14I6uo&feature=related"]Oh yeah? Come here a minute.. - YouTube[/ame] Personally, I don't think they have to dumb down the commentary. If NBC thinks it needs to be explained better, they have the option of creating a 30 minute show that revolves around everything soccer in discussion. If a bogus looking call happens another solution for it is the half-time show, post-game show, or going into a pre-game show for the next game as a topic of discussion. ESPN had one instance of this recently. I believe it was around the July 4th weekend either during the double header or the previous day before it. It eventually came out to be Twellman and Davis (I believe was PBP guy) coming out and saying they misinterpreted the rules wrong.
There's the internet, there's people you watch the games with, and so on. Some explanation is fine. Offside call explanations are fine (while explaining the rule every game probably isn't necessary). Weird rules that aren't easily understood from on-screen graphics are fine to be explained. Even situations where there's overtime/penalty shots or other out-of-the-ordinary soccer experiences should be explained. But people don't need their hands held for everything.
We know that the total contract value is $10-12 million. I wonder how much goes to the USSF for the Nats matches. We all know that they generally get higher ratings than MLS. 4 USMNT matches = 1 or 2 mill? More? Less? While great for USSF and will provide addional resources for a littany of programs, it reduces the revenue that MLS receives by perhaps 10 or 15%. Thoughts?
I don't mind if they dumb it down a bit. It's funny watching my old NASL games on DVD that were on ABC and they really DUMBED it down even explaining throw-ins, corner kicks and that the goalkeeper was the only one allowed to use his hands. I'd hope some bigger names will be coming over as well to add to the interest and teams can spend more (the cap will be increasing). I still don't see MLS being on NBC itself very often, but this is such great news. I can also say 100% that I will drop my sports package after the season because FSC was the only reason I had it. I only care about MLS sorry Euro guys. I'll still get a ton of sports channels including Versus and don't need The Tennis Network. Here's a funny look at the NASL on TV and what were considered poor ratings back then, ratings that MLS would love to have on NBC (but of course there is no comparison as there were so few channels back then)... CBS was the television home of the National Professional Soccer League in its first season of 1967, with Jack Whitaker and Danny Blanchflower behind the mics on Sundays. The network’s marketing slogan was “Just for Kicks!” but it could have been “Just for Commercials!” as referees were instructed to call fouls and delay play to allow CBS to insert commercials into the action. In 1968, Mario Machado replaced Blanchflower (who was deemed to be a little too frank in his assessment of the quality of play) on CBS’ telecasts of the newly-renamed North American Soccer League. He and Whitaker called games weekly, usually on Sundays. CBS got back into the game by televising Pele’s debut with the New York Cosmos in an exhibition on June 15, 1975 with Frank Gleiber and Ben Wright on the telecast from Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York. An audience of some 10 million people saw the Black Pearl score a goal and add an assist in a 2-2 draw. Well, to be honest, they didn’t see either play live - CBS was in commercial for the assist and in a replay for the goal. CBS also carried another Cosmos match and Soccer Bowl ‘75. What was supposed to be a new three-year contract with with the NASL started off with the June 6, 1976 game between the Cosmos and Tampa Bay Rowdies, seen by some 3.3 million households. CBS also showed Soccer Bowl ‘76 and was to broadcast six games in 1977 and nine in 1978. The second and third years of the “contract” never materialized. TVS Tunes In 1977-78 TVS was an ad-hoc network of stations that carried syndicated sports programming (perhaps their biggest coup was carrying the University of Houston’s upset of UCLA in basketball in 1968), and they latched onto the NASL for the 1977 and 1978 seasons. TVS carried seven games, including the Soccer Bowl, in 1977. TVS’ main NASL announcer (along with the by-then-ubiquitous Gardner) was Jon Miller, who would go on to have a great career as a baseball broadcaster. Unfortunately for the NASL, many stations in big markets didn’t carry the TVS games, and some that did shunted them off to 11:30 pm on Monday nights, well after they had been played. A reasonably consistent, live, major network television package would elude the NASL for another year. 1977 NASL on TVS Schedule Day Date Matchup Time Note Sunday 5/29/1977 New York Cosmos at Tampa Bay Rowdies 1:30pm Franz Beckenbauer’s debut Sunday 6/19/1977 Los Angeles Aztecs at Minnesota Kicks 2:00pm Sunday 7/10/1977 New York Cosmos at Seattle Sounders 3:00pm Sunday 7/24/1977 Chicago Sting at San Jose Earthquakes 3:00pm Sunday 8/14/1977 Seattle Sounders at Minnesota Kicks 2:00pm Playoffs Sunday 8/21/1977 New York Cosmos at Rochester Lancers 3:00pm Playoffs Sunday 8/28/1977 New York Cosmos vs. Seattle Sounders 4:00pm Soccer Bowl ‘77 1978 NASL on TVS Schedule Day Date Matchup Time Note Sunday 4/16/1978 Ft. Lauderdale Strikers at Washington Diplomats 2:00pm Sunday 6/11/1978 Dallas Tornado at Detroit Express 3:00pm Sunday 7/9/1978 Los Angeles Aztecs at San Jose Earthquakes 4:00pm Saturday 7/22/1978 New York Cosmos at Seattle Sounders 4:00pm Sunday 8/20/1978 Tampa Bay Rowdies at Ft. Lauderdale Strikers 3:00pm Playoffs Sunday 8/27/1978 New York Cosmos vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies 4:00pm Soccer Bowl ‘78 The post-Pele boom must have convinced someone that soccer was the new hot thing, because the NASL would take a quantum (yet short-lived) leap after the 1978 season. The ABC Years 1979-81 In 1979, the NASL landed a contract with ABC that called for 9 telecasts of league games, including the playoffs and Soccer Bowl. Below is a list of the games that ABC carried that year, with play-by-play announcer Jim McKay and color analyst Paul Gardner. The ratings were far below what ABC expected out of the “Sport of the 80’s,” and they (largely) bailed out of the contract after carrying several games in 1980. I have been able to find some information on NASL ratings: » A comment from former ABC Sports executive Jim Spence in the film “Once in a Lifetime,” who notes that ABC averaged a 2.7 rating for its telecasts in 1979, “representing about 2 million homes.” » An article in the July 15, 1980 New York Times says the 1980 games averaged a 2.6 rating (the same as 1979) and a 10 share (up from a 9 share in 1979). It also mentions that 1980’s first telecast did a 2.1 rating, while a Cosmos-Washington Diplomats game on June 1 did a 3.1. » The December 1, 1980 issue of Sports Illustrated noted that ratings for the six ABC games in 1980 averaged a “dismal” 2.6. Major League Soccer would love to have those numbers today, as they struggle to get a million households to watch their championship game, MLS Cup. 1979 NASL on ABC Schedule Day Date Matchup Time Note Saturday 5/12/1979 New York Cosmos at Tampa Bay Rowdies 3:00pm Sunday 6/10/1979 Vancouver Whitecaps at Minnesota Kicks 1:30pm Sunday 6/24/1979 New England Tea Men at New York Cosmos 2:30pm Saturday 7/7/1979 Chicago Sting at Detroit Express 3:00pm Sunday 7/29/1979 Los Angeles Aztecs at Washington Diplomats 2:30pm Saturday 8/18/1979 Chicago Sting at Ft.Lauderdale Strikers Playoffs Saturday 8/25/1979 Philadelphia Fury at Tampa Bay Rowdies 12:00pm Playoffs Saturday 9/1/1979 Vancouver Whitecaps at New York Cosmos 2:00pm Playoffs Saturday 9/8/1979 Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies 2:00pm Soccer Bowl ‘79 1980 NASL on ABC Schedule Day Date Matchup Time Note Saturday 5/17/1980 Vancouver Whitecaps at Tampa Bay Rowdies Sunday 5/25/1980 Detroit Express at Minnesota Kicks 2:00pm Sunday 6/1/1980 New York Cosmos at Washington Diplomats Sunday 6/8/1980 Tampa Bay Rowdies at Ft. Lauderdale Strikers Sunday 6/22/1980 Los Angeles Aztecs at Toronto Blizzard Sunday 6/29/1980 New York Cosmos at Vancouver Whitecaps Saturday 8/30/1980 San Diego Sockers at Chicago Sting Playoffs Sunday 9/21/1980 New York Cosmos vs. Ft. Lauderdale Strikers Soccer Bowl ‘80 The Soccer Bowl showed up on ABC in 1980 and 1981 (though the 1981 game was tape-delayed until late that night in Chicago in favor of a Love Boat re-run, and wasn’t seen in New York until the next day), but that was the last gasp for the league on ABC. In the last few years of its existence, the NASL did manage to get some games on a new cable sports network that had begun in 1979 called ESPN. The new USA Network also carried games, usually on Wednesday nights. It was too little, too late, however, as the forces were already well in motion that would lead to the demise of the league. The final NASL game ever played was also its last one ever telecast. On October 3, 1984, the Chicago Sting won the NASL title by defeating the Toronto Blizzard 3-2 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. A crowd of 16,821 saw the game in person, while back in Chicago, they watched on SportsVision, a new pay-per-view channel. Unfortunately, it was far from the biggest sports story in Chicago that day: the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres that afternoon in the second game of the National League Championship Series. The Sting’s victory ended up on Page 7 of the sports section in the next day’s Chicago Tribune.
Who wants to see Jim Rome do play by play for NBC Oh my god... a man can only dream [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s8BZjcP3qU"]Frank Caliendo - does Jim Rome - YouTube[/ame] That play was phe-nom-enal
Since Jack Edwards does do some Versus NHL games, you might get Jack to do some MLS games. Only from May thru Sept though because he is the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins PBP announcer. Sorry I have never gotten to say Stanley Cup Champs and the Boston Bruins in the same sentence.