I'm curious why the MLS decided to go head to head with the SEC and didn't try to get a prime time slot.
I like the early start. More time to party after the win...and yes...we have a very good chance of spoiling this lil "farewell" they have planned. Maybe the Gal fans will actually have a reason to start stuff outside the stadium this year with a loss. On another note, I love all the comments to columns leading up to the cup where terds are saying, "ZZZZZzzzz" and "drab" and "boring as hell". Sounds like fans on the outside looking in that wouldn't mind a 1-0 win if they were there.
They took what ESPN gave them. I think people are under some sort of misunderstanding about how time slots are handed out by the tv networks. I don't think MLS decided anything. Once again, just because you didn't get the outcome you wanted doesn't mean that the league didn't try to get something different.
They could have scheduled it on Friday. This was set like a year ago. Saturday afternoon is a TV graveyard for ratings and they are going up against essentially a college football final four game.
Once again, that seems to imply that MLS can just schedule the game whenever they want and the networks will broadcast it. It doesn't work that way.
They set this date a very long time ago, long enough ago that other than college football game dates (not times) no other sports were set on the calendar. I know they work with their TV partners but what if they said " okay play it at Noon Eastern"? Its a joint process.
Tom Dart has a pretty good piece in SI on the Dynamo coming into this game: http://m.si.com/442396/dynamo-out-of-mls-cup-spotlight-which-suits-them-just-fine/
They did say play it at noon Eastern at least once. Back in 2007, that's what we did, albeit in Washington DC. It is definitely a joint process. Which means MLS doesn't get to pick its start times. That was my point.
MLS has/had to know a year ago that any weekend afternoon time on a football weekend is a graveyard. Any weeknight would actually be better from a ratings standpoint. The ESPN dynamic is a strange one because to many, ESPN coverage screams "legitimacy", even if they bury you. My Noon Eastern comment was about a west coast game. Recall back in 2007 that was an ABC broadcast network game, which is harder to schedule around.
Its because its a Mickey Mouse league that doesn't care about growing and is trying to push away all the fans it does have now. You're welcome to please them.
OK, I give up. I think it's pretty clear that MLS doesn't have very much say in what time (or even day) the Cup gets scheduled. That's just my opinion based on years of watching how sporting events get scheduled. I was not privy to any of the discussions that went on between the league and the broadcasters. Seems to me like a guaranteed spot on ESPN on a Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm EST when you don't know where the game will be played is not so bad. The people at the SEC seem to think it's OK for their conference championship game. But again, that's just my opinion. If you prefer the idea that the MLS people who made this decision are just morons who don't know what to ask for then that's OK.
Exactly! I really think ESPN's time slot for the MLS Cup had more to do with their other football commitments and less to do with what they think about Soccer. Basically the MLS Cup is "filler" on the EPSN/ABC networks. I think the MLS could have planned better if they are looking to maximize viewers. 11:00am #11 OU at TCU - ESPN 11:00am #23 OSU at Baylor - FX 3:00pm #2 Bama vs #3 Georgia (SEC Champ Game) - CBS 3:30pm MLS CUP - ESPN 7:00pm #18 UT at #6 KSU - ABC 7:00pm #13 FSU vs Georgia Tech (ACC Champ Game) - ESPN 7:15pm #12 NB vs Wisconsin (B1G Champ Game) - FOX The College Football games in the 3pm to 3:30pm on ESPN/ABC time slots are basically duds this weekend because the SEC Champ game is on CBS. Yet that’s where the MLS Cup landed.
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They are the same people who after 30 weeks of regular season competition, thought it was good to jam 80% of their postseason competition into 12 days during November. They essentially were scheduled for their championship at the time when least likely to attract the most viewers. The marquee game of your league and season was scheduled by your rights holder as counterprogramming, much like Disabled Stars on Ice figure skating. How much again is ESPN paying MLS? I'm sympathetic to MLS' dilemma but we often shoot ourselves in the foot. This postseason the scheduling was not good