i'm sitting here watching monday night football, and their halftime show is on. they have a feature called "7 days to monday night." A camera crew follows a player or coach or team around for the week before the game, and then some of that footage is shown so people can see what a week is like in these guys lives. I think it's the best halftime/intermission feature (for any sport) going right now. So i'm thinking why doesn't ESPN do this for their Soccer Saturday games? This kind of halftime feature would be 10 times better than the current Payssee/Smyth or whatever they're showing right now. Here's the idea: send a camera guy (or crew) to each team that will be playing on that week's game. they can get stuff for the 3 or 4 days prior to the game. send rob with one team and ty with the other. what the heck else are these guys doing during the week? they could do interviews which could be used for whatever highlights show we have going at that time or in the future-Sportscenter. Screw whatever other halftime stuff they have going now, this would actually keep the viewer's attention. Right now, it's just a 15 minute break to do whatever. This would make good TV. People would watch. That's what we want. The idea probably needs refining, what do you think?
Any features that show the player's personalities and private lives are a good thing. People have long been shown to show more interest in a player, team and sport when they have more knowledge of the individuals involved. MLS needs a lot more of it and something like they are doing on Monday Night Football would be a help. "NFL Films" has played a major part in the promotion of the NFL, for one example, and perhaps someday MLS will have an equivalant. "Extra Time" with Ms Paysee is an attempt but is just too little. The day local news and the major sports networks start doing more profiles and the like on the players will be a major turning point for MLS.
sounds like an awesome idea - also sounds like a lot of money for espn to shell out to produce it...even though it would help grow the sport. personality and entertainment are definitely the way to go to get more fans involved. Lalas is a great example - really memorable appearance and every other comment out of his mouth is hilarious. His presence off the field is just as exciting as his play on the field. so many people would be excited to watch soccer after being exposed to Alexi. so do we start a petition?