I don't doubt Gol TV and ESPN would be thrilled if La Liga ever began setting game times more than one round ahead of time. Much easier to plan schedules and sell ads.
That's exactly what I said. That fan boy mentality only has room for what they consider "the best". Since the EPL falls under the auspices of "the best league", the lower table teams have a more decent chance of getting higher ratings. For La Liga, only Barca and Real get that benefit, and it seems the soccer fanbase don't really want to give the rest of the league a chance. The EPL has already entrenched itself too deeply under the best league category (somewhat falsely, since this sport doesn't have a best league like major American sports do). At least, that's the impression one gets. Maybe it would do much better if it did what lynne suggests and create a more regular schedule. But to overcome what I said in the first paragraph, the notion of a best league has to be eliminated somehow.
If you step off your soapbox you would realize that nobody cares about Stoke, just like nobody cares about Osasuna. It is all about the elite teams. The same reason you don't watch AAA baseball or the AHL.
Are you serious? They are not even in the top 50 of European clubs. There are roughly 30 teams in a major league in North America.
They are both in the top tier of the most prestiged football leagues. Football is not like an american sport. For that matter Boca and River are not even minor, because they arent even in europe.
The ratings say differently. In comparison to American sports leagues, yeah, no significant number in the country cares about either. But the Premier League apparently does get that 0.2 regularly, while La Liga does not come close unless the top 2 are playing.
They also are cannon fodder for the big boys, have no star players and no international recognition. I have not seen the numbers, but I would be shocked if the Stoke-Sunderland game got a .2.
That was a Monday night EPL match that fits the description of a "dog with fleas". Those 12 Monday night EPL matches should be headed for FS+ for the next 3 seasons. The only valid reason for ESPN2 U.S. to have 12 Monday night EPL matches in 2009-2010 is because those matches air on ESPN U.K. BSkyB will take over the broadcast (in the U.K. and Ireland) of the 12 Monday night EPL matches for the next 3 seasons. == Now that ESPN, Inc. has signed with FSI to sublicense 83 EPL matches during 2010-2011 for broadcast on ESPN2 U.S., I would be very surprised if any La Liga match during the 2010-2011 season will air on ESPN U.S. or ESPN2 U.S. ESPN2 U.S., in my opinion, already has more than enough soccer matches on its schedule for 2010-2011.
The irony in this is that you have the Montreal Impact listed as a team you support and they are legitimately a minor league team. Get this garbage about Osasuna and Stoke being minor league clubs out of here.
Sorry, find me where I said the Montreal Impact are an elite team. Go on imagining that they are in the same class as United and Barcelona.
exactly - Brands aren't specific to leagues. Brands are brands. No one tunes in to baseball to watch the Pirates or the Royals anymore just like Stoke or Osasuna. The leagues that are more successful are the leagues that put in an effort to share some of the wealth and promote beyond the successful brands - part of that is on the teams but also the leagues. It's not like casual fans have made up their mind about European footy anyways - I'm sure if someone presented the league to them they would follow.
well - they already missed one, and the Madrid-Villareal match today took a broadband backseat to the Bassmasters and pre-tournament womens college basketball.
that's like being the tallest midget relatively. again - this is not a major market for average sports fans. the EPL is more popular because the EPL has done a better job of marketing the league, not because ESPN or fanboys have decided that La Liga is inferior. I bet a majority of spanish speaking americans who follow the sport have Barca or Madrid as their favorite team.
I am not sure about that. I am not exactly really into Hispanic culture, but most of the people I now already have clubs or at least national teams back home. Whereas English Americans don't really have that, sorry MLS. That is why they don't attach as much to La Liga, whereas Anglo Americans do with the EPL.
The sublicensing agreement between ESPN, Inc. and GolTV, Inc. prohibits ESPN, Inc. from putting the two Real Madrid vs Barcelona matches on ESPN (U.S.) or ESPN2 (U.S.). GolTV, Inc. protected itself in the sublicensing agreement so that English-speaking viewers in the U.S. can watch el clasico on either GolTV (cable or satellite TV) or ESPN3.com (Internet), but NOT on ESPN or ESPN2. == Comparing EPL and La Liga: 1. EPL on ESPN2 in 2010-2011 will be in consistent time slots 83 times for 37 weeks: Saturdays at 7:30am or 8:30am ET, Saturdays at 10am or 11am ET, Sundays at 8:30am ET, 9am ET, 9:30am ET, or 10am ET; plus a very small handful of games (less than 5) on Tuesday or Wednesdays at 2:30pm ET, 3pm ET, 3:30pm ET, or 4pm ET. Selling advertising for this product can be difficult, but not impossible (ESPN, Inc. signed the US Marines to sponsor Saturday morning EPL for 2009-2010. EPL on ESPN2 has the young male 18-34 demographic the U.S. Marines are looking for.) 2. The 36 La Liga matches involving Real Madrid or Barcelona (but not both) will be scheduled at most 10 days in advance and the kickoff times will be all over the place. Selling sponsorships for such a product is next to impossible. And you can see why it no longer makes sense for La Liga to air on ESPN or ESPN2 in the U.S. during the 2010-2011 season. La Liga fits on ESPN3.com and ESPN Deportes.
^^Or espn could be helpful and stop showing the games on espnd, and move them to espn/espn2. Then they'd get their .2 rating and everyone would get to see the game. Or espn could show the games tape delayed. Not impressed.
Again, doesn't work. La Liga mostly starts games after 12:00 ET. ESPN/2/U have wall-to-wall college sports plus NASCAR Nationwide/Sprint Cup (and to a lesser extent decently-rated PBA men's bowling) on weekend afternoons. ESPN sublicenses EPL games all with starts no later than 10:00 ET, which works perfectly for many reasons.
Maybe Sundays, but definitely not Saturdays. Pretty sure they had games including Texas-Texas Tech, Kentucky-Vanderbilt, and plenty of others this past Saturday alone...
yeah - not to mention that fishing and bowling and womens college basketball gets higher ratings and offers more ad time.