breakfast at the WWC 2003

Perhaps. But on Saturday, they have their college football preview show which is fairly throrough at that time. Maybe Sunday mornings would be better and Friday nights.

 

Heck do it all, except maybe the final, on Wednesday nights and Thursday nights. Nothing hapening much on those nights and the ratings and attendence might even be good no real competition equals good for soccer.

I rarely watch ESPN or ESPN2 but I do not remember much on that matters in the fall during the week.

ABC, of course, would be out but the other two, and their backup chs on sat. would be available.

Full live coverage would be possible, I believe, during thos times.

 

All good ideas.....really
If we (they) think they are going to compete with pointy football, they (we) are in trouble

 

Thursday and Friday are good. Wednesday would be fine too. Better for TV then for stadium attendance. 7:00 or 7:30 et are fine. If the semis and the final are on the west coast then the semis should be on Sunday afternoon. I don't care. Those who want to watch soccer are going to watch it. Also it's what, the 3rd or 4th week of football. That should be no hinder to our ideas for TV scheduling. 4:00 ET and 7:00 ET on Sunday afternoon. Then the final would be Columbus day at 3:00 ET.

 

The reason I did not include Fridays in the first post was HS football. In some of the areas that are mentioned as venues HS football is VERY big, there are some areas where the local HS games outdraw the colleges over all.

Tuesdays I excluded because it follows the Sunday/Monday football pair Tuesdays are "family" nights for many families so that leaves Wed. and Thursdays, but Tuesdays would not be horrible.

The drawback to Wed. is church. In many areas Wed. night is a church night but I do not think that churches are a big enough draw to hurt much. (We can debate what that says about the country's morals at another time.)

Thur seems about ideal but I think they need to spread the first rounds over two days so Wed. and Thur just seem to me to be the best.

Anyone want to bet they try VERY hard to get games on Sat or Sun just because it is somehow traditional for sports? And if they do this the ratings/attendance are much lower that anyone really expects?

I believe that they should treat China as the host, since the get they bye, and let them play on Wed evening (Allow have the rest of their group’s games the same night along with Norway’s group) and the US’s group play on Thur along with the other group and go from there. Doesn’t the host always play the opening match? (I am assuming that US, China and Norway will all be in the first four seeds however I cannot choose between Brazil, Germany, maybe Sweden, Japan and even a few others, for that fourth spot [another thread for that too])

 

"The reason I did not include Fridays in the first post was HS football. In some of the areas that are mentioned as venues HS football is VERY big, there are some areas where the local HS games outdraw the colleges over all."

Once again, I note the early season precedent. One game missed for an event that comes around only once in every four years.

 

I agree BUT HS football fans are a TOTALLY different matter.

I know otherwise normal adults in the Columbus area that have not missed a HS game for their school since graduation 20 years ago. And then there are people that are actually fanatical about the sport in other parts of the country. (see Texas)

My question then becomes why beat soccer’s head against the brick wall of American football when, it seems, it could be avoided.

Of course, even if I happen to be right this time, (we all have to be right at times, don’t we?) the soccer pundits will not listen. Institutions like US soccer rarely have a creative thought and when they do it is quickly suppressed and all trace of it obliterated. Creativity in the top levels of US Soccer died with the laces in the soccer ball.

 

I just know that around here that hs football isn't that big. But again we are a soccer state. Sure it can be avoided but will it? The lack of creativity is there.

 

television coverage

i'm start worrying about the television coverage of this tournament, due to football, baseball, college football season, will there be any space at espn, abc etc ? i think tape delay will be fine w/ me better than nothing at all...

 

The plan by SUM/AEG was to do only the 3 first-round games involving the US, then full coverage from quarterfinal through the final.

Sportsnet (not CBC, CTV or TSN) will have the WWC in Canada in association with the Canadian Soccer Association.

 

Saturday or Sunday are "somehow traditional" because they're weekend days. And those are usually easier game to actually sell tickets to.

Considering this tournament has to generate revenue somehow, I think you'd have a slightly better shot at convincing your potential target audience to get out on the weekend than during the week when school is back in session.

How do you know what "anyone really expects" as far as ratings and attendance? The US games will do okay, the other games won't, if history and common sense are any indicator. If they make you buy tickets to games that don't involve the US to get tickets to games that do involve the US, that'll help, obviously.

I think the fact they've put the semis and the final in venues that aren't huge should tell you what they expect.

But they have a certain number of games and a certain number of days in which to play them. Now that you know the venues, you can tell certain dates when games probably won't be played in certain venues.

As for TV, college football is now played almost every day of the week, and usually televised by ESPN/ESPN2. Their college football contract means a bit more to them than the WWC, which they fully expected to be carrying in the middle of the night.

 

What role might ABC Family play in this tournament? Since ABC/ESPN have the rights, could they move games to the ABC Family channel? That would certainly allow for more games to be televised, albeit on a pretty obscure network. But a) it's not PAX and b) it's better than nothing.

 

And ABC Family is actually a station that tweens and teenagers watch unlike PAX.

 

SUM/AEG, not ABC/ESPN, is the rightsholder.

ABC Family is a separate subsidiary. SUM/AEG does NOT have a contract with ABC Family. Besides, ABC Family is under contract to do the 1st round of baseball playoffs.

Anything more than the 11 WWC games originally scheduled to air on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 will be a bonus.

I would be surprised if first round games not involving the US will be televised in the US. The ratings for those games during WWC 1999 were dreadful, ranging from 0.0 (i.e. less than 40000 homes) to 0.2.

The final on Sunday October 12 could be on ABC if ABC is willing to take the risk of having a game not involving the US. (Up to a 10 rating if the US is involved, otherwise the game will end up with a 1 rating or less.) Otherwise, ESPN should have room for that game.

There should be room on ESPN2 for the 1st round US games on September 20 or 21, September 24 or 25, and September 27 or 28. Obviously, there is more room available on Sunday than on Saturday, and the 10am-12noon ET slot on Saturday is available if SUM/AEG/US Soccer/Nike want it.

The quarterfinals on October 1 and 2 can be on either ESPN or ESPN2. ESPN does NOT carry the baseball playoffs, which are on FOX and ABC Family.

The semifinals on Sunday October 5 can also be on ESPN or ESPN2.

 

I figured ABC Family might be out of the loop, especially since they're airing those baseball playoff games as part of the Fox/MLB deal, back when Fox owned the Family Channel. Oh well.

 

AEG/SUM will have to PAY for those extra hours, which AEG/SUM will NOT do.

AEG/SUM bartered for 11 time slots to show the WWC and will get 11 time slots: 10 from ESPN, 1 from ABC. No more, no less.

 

Seems like they did.

32 Matches
20 Saturday/Sunday
12 Wednesday/Thursday

4 of the 12 midweek games are in the Pacific Time Zone. The other 8 are in the East and Central (Columbus is Central, right?)

 

Okay. Wasn't sure.

 

You'll notice that the U.S. doesn't play any games on Saturdays. That probably says something about TV availability for those days.