https://worldsoccertalk.com/2017/08...urkish-super-lig-games-viewers-united-states/ Going to be one match per round, no word on if it'll be on Connect as well.
Here we go again (?) IF you check your listings, the beIN Spanish network was scheduled to have a Turkish league match Sunday at 1 pm. But not anymore....it has been removed.
Looks like the big games this weekend are: Goztepe v Fenerbache 245 Sat Besiktas v Antalyaspor 245 Sun Galatasaray v Kayserispor 245 Mon
the Monday Turkish League highlights show on the English network, which replaced the EFL highlights show in the TV lineup has now also been removed. Right now, it looks like the Turkish League is over at beIN before it has even begun.
beIN Connect has just added a Turkish League match for this weekend Besiktas v Antalyaspor 2:45 pm Sun on beIN3 Why they suddenly pulled Turkish League highlight shows scheduled for Aug 14 and 21 from beIIN is anybody's guess.
Where are you seeing this? It's not listed on the site's TV guide at http://www.beinsports.com/us/tv-guide
A friend who compiles listings for a website receives updates direct from beIN, so changes usually precede updates in the guide. The guide now has the game listed.
Finally, we will get to see the Turkish Derby on US TV. Those are always fun. I always wondered why there hasn't been anyone that started a network or OTT thing to show all these niche leagues. I'm sure it won't cost much to get rights to Georgia, Iran, or Northern Ireland for instance. Or the lower divisions of the top leagues. I know Laola does a great job with that. But I would certainly pay to have access to 100 leagues or more. I'm a crazy supporter of worldwide club football. I would probably be the only subscriber though. But there are networks for every niche sport imaginable. I'm sure a pioneering type could make it work. Football isn't just 10 clubs that are on TV all the time.
There was a OTT service, NGSN. Not enough people have an interest in small leagues to recoup rights fees.
They were also charging very little for the service and had like an 8 month free trial. I would play 20 dollars for something with let leagues. Plus the rights fees for these leagues is closer to zero. How much will Iran or Uzbekistan ask for?
This sounds like my idea for a uefa network. Round up all the european leagues, air their matches live (blackout wherever they have existing tv contracts), vod replay options, uefa programming, and classic champions league, europa league, uefa cup, euros. Its footage that already exists and you make some $ on it.
Does repeatedly being in the Champions League qualifying rounds (and sometimes reaching the Group Stage) make fans interested in clubs outside the top leagues? If they were on TV in their domestic leagues I might check out clubs like Dinamo Zagreb, Sheriff Tiraspol, BATE Borisov, Partizan Belgrade, Ludogorets Razgrad, Maribor, and APOEL Nicosia. Fox regional networks just replayed Champions League Final and Semifinals, so I don't know if classic Champions League rights are available.
Having traveled to a couple of the countries and spoken to people in others that are home to the teams you mention (I'm currently in Croatia), in general, the population finds their domestic leagues to be utter crap! The main sports channels live off coverage of Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Champions League, etc. Outside of Derby's (in Croatia Dinamo vs Hajduk; in Serbia Crvena Zvezda vs Partizan, for example) there is ZERO interest in any other games. As for the teams competing in the early phases of the CL & EL, again there is little interest outside of the city the team comes from. It doesn't help that the matches are taking place in the middle of summer when practically nobody bothers to be home at 8:45pm to watch soccer on TV. As for watching the teams during their domestic campaigns - I highly recommend it if you are having sleep problems. They will put you to sleep. Put on laola,tv and watch a Slovenian or Belarus match. Yes, you can occasionally come across a decent match but a vast majority are being played in empty stadiums, horrible atmosphere and the soccer is sub-par. Even in countries where the level of soccer is quite good (Portugal, Holland, Belgium, etc.) the Champions League and Premier League are kings when it comes to overall viewership. Now, if you can't "sell" these matches in their home countries, how in the world do you sell it in the US? Check them out. They are available but the big boys have the market cornered in Europe as well as the US. SA www.soccertvblog.com
Starting this season you can find a lot of Croatian league games live on youtube. Not sure if it's legal but picture quality is subpar, so I normally tune out in 10 minutes. As socceraction said, most people in these countries don't really care for domestic leagues, and that has much to do with the things off the field than on the field. Anyway, the interest normally peaks around this time of the year because of the cl and el qualifying, especially this year with all 4 croatian teams making it to the final qualifying stage. Most people are rooting for the national coefficient now.
For me, being a smaller, less polished league is a positive. One of my favorite memories of this year is during the flora v levadia Estonian derby, I saw a corner kick being taken and at the corner flag was a mom with her kid in a stroller. Awesome. These leagues make up for lack of quality by being far away from the over hyped, overrated leagues and away from the uefa/FIFA politics and match manipulation they are involved in. All these rules to compose the CL group stages are a complete disgrace. The CL always has politics pop up, a well timed red card/bogus penalty to push the glamour Spanish clubs especially. And don't get me started on the sycophantic press and or machine that accompany all these big clubs and players. An Estonian match is much more enjoyable than all that. Finally, I would rather have a stadium with a small, but passionate and loyal crowd than a stadium full of tourists that travelled there and have no connection with the club, and are just there to be seen.
I dont think anyone is arguing the point that these smaller leagues are of the quality of the prem or champions league. I find a way to watch 1-2 belgian, dutch and portuguese martches each round. I also think that many (including myself) would say our domestic league (mls) is utter crap. Different strokes for different folks. I would watch some of the bigger clubs from russia, portugal, belgium, netherlands, turkey, ukraine, poland, etc. I already do when possible. If not too pricey $10-15/month, I would subsribe to a channel/streaming service who provided those leagues in one location. If Uefa organized this and was able to kick back some of the $ to the federations they would be making more than they currently do (which is nothing)