that means people on the west coast get this game at 9am. not that smart from a ratings standpoint. what is the reasoning for such an early kickoff especially for the League' s championship match? What is ABC showing the rest of the day? I am not saying Primetime, but how bout a 4:30 kickoff so in the west people are already up. Just saying. don't understand the reasoning.
oh you mean the college football thing. still doesn't look good that our championship game is practically being played in the morning. I'd rather have it on at midnight.
I hope it goes into overtime and cuts into the race. Last year when it went into overtime I think it cut into some other sporting event.
OK good i am hoping for penalty kicks then.and i hope they change the rule so every player has to take a kick.
Chivas USA fans are watching it on Telefutura. so not only are most people going to be sleeping (especially on the west) but chivas fans are not even watching it on ABC. thats funny.
Yea but they basically paid rights for the next three world cups and MLS was thrown into the mix by SUM. the negotiating arm of MLS. (or something like that)
It really doesn't help anyone's ratings having it that early. Maybe one day it'll make primetime on network tv, but that's gonna take some negotiation and higher quality production (halftime entertainment, hour-long pregame show, actually showing the trophy presentation, million-dollar corporate sponsors and advertisements) to make that happen.
Meh, I'd be hungover at 12 noon ET or at 4 PM ET. It makes no difference to me. Besides, the 12 noon ET start means that I can leave after the game without missing a day of work. I'm all for the early kickoff.
That was the deal that expired in 2006. The current deals for MLS and for World Cups are completely separate.
Thanks for the tip, did not know that! To give my opinion, I'm more likely to watch the game during that 9am time, and the entire 2-3 hour game window, than any other block of time during the day, yeah, even if in Prime Time. This is because there may be other obligations that normally crop up on a Sunday (e.g. work, family-time, NFL games, etc.) or will have to deal with such trade-offs and thus, miss parts of the championship.
If by "the NFL," you mean "NASCAR Nextel Cup racing," then yes, you're right. ABC hasn't had any Sunday afternoon NFL games in decades.
If the season is as successful as envisioned (with getting more regular fans of the league), they will watch no matter what time. If not, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Championship should be on a Saturday night. Not their choice this go around, but that should be the goal.
i dont understand why everyone is complaining. lots of soccer fans get up early everyweekend to watche euro leagues.
I am not complaining, i am just pointing out that its a championship game and it should be on later not in the morning. it hurts ratings, although now that i think about it we should beat some of those sunday morning cartoons that are on the other networks. and by the way Soccer fans get up early to watch soccer but the non fan doesnt get up early to watch soccer.