The network that some of you like to think is MLS' savior, the one that should be the primary carrier of MLS games, is bumping the broadcast of the Dallas/Galaxy game this Saturday night to 2am ET Sunday morning to accomodate the live broadcast of the USL 1st Division Final at 11pm ET Saturday night. Now, I have nothing against the USL, and I'm glad they're able to get their final on. But USL originally had the 7pm ET timeslot for their final (I'm guessing they were thinking Montreal or Rochester would be hosting, and that Seattle was quite the longshot), which they could have kept if they'd been willing to play the game at 4pm PT. That's not an optimal time, but it is what it is. If USL was able to lobby FSC to move things around, bully for them. But just remember when you go on and on next time about how much better FSC is for MLS than ESPN is, remember that besides just poaching other teams' broadcasts for their "national" games, they bumped an MLS match to 2 in the morning to accomodate a game that will maybe have 5,000 people at it and maybe another 5,000 more watching back in Richmond.
They should have used FSC to show one match live, and Fox Sports en Español to show the other match live concurrently (assuming the Español channel was not commited to showing something else in that timeslot).
I do believe MLS has done this before. I can't tell you when, but I seem to remember it happening for one of the finals. Also keep in mind the game will air live on the local channel(s), Direct Kick, and the internet, so most anyone who wants to watch it live can do so. The Dallas/Galaxy game is also rather meaningless. The important game of theirs is tomorrow on GolTV.
It's a regular season MLS game being bumped for the final of the USL. I don't see why this is such a big deal. Most people agree that most MLS regular season games don't mean that much and as was posted above it is available in other forms. Has this happened with FSC before? I don't remember it happening and with ESPN the MLS games are bumped for all sorts of useless stuff so I don't think it's quite the same thing.
If it were an Eastern Conference game, I'd be ticked off. However, seeing as all four of the Western Conference playoff spots have already been decided, I have no problem with it.
This could have been avoided I suppose by FSC telling the USL that your final kicks off at 7:00 ET no matter where it is (since it's on Saturday, that's not unreasonable), but they didn't. Maybe in the future.
I think you all are missing the point. USL buys it's time on FSW just like MLS does with ESPN. So who would you listen to: someone who will buy a time slot and do there own producing or having to go out and find advertisers to pay for a program that you'd have to produce yourself. It's a no brainer.
FYI: MLS will air live on FS en Espanol and delayed on FSC. USL will air live on FSC and delayed on FS en Espanol. That's the way it should be done: multiplex coverage with both games available LIVE.
Not sure what you're saying, exactly. FSC doesn't produce any MLS games - they poach the local team's broadcast and add their own announcers in the studio and their own graphics. that's not the same thing. I'm sure USL buys the time and I know FSC does pay MLS, so perhaps that played into it. FSC has to go out and find advertisers, but they have a sales force for that, and they don't produce much programming themselves. They can always run infomercials that they don't have to produce at all. Point being: If FSC took the money and ran, they're no better or no worse than ESPN, despite the FSC lovefest that routinely goes on around here, seemingly mostly because FSC isn't ESPN.
Well, it is a final. And as nicodemus, everything has been decided in the west. So it's basically "Lets not get injured" instead of "We gotta win".