Murdoch Ponies Up the Bucks so US Military Can Watch the World Cup

Trackman20 · Jun 15, 2006

Excellent....News Corp. HQ is right across the street..I'm going over there now to shake his hand.

Wahoo · Jun 15, 2006

Bill Archer said:

Sorry I can't make the links work. From Stars & Stripes and Strategypage:

June 15, 2006:

FIFA, the international sports organization for football (soccer to Americans) refused to allow U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (and warships at sea) to view any of the current World Cup games being played in Germany.

The U.S. AFN (Armed Forces Network) has no budget for sports programming, and usually gets a free feed for major sporting events, in the same spirit that movie studios and TV networks provide free access to their product for troops in combat zones. FIFA demanded money, and would not budge on that.

While soccer is not a major sport in the United States, it's estimated that a quarter or more of the troops are fans, and would enjoy seeing some of the World Cup matches.

However, once this situation became known, several wealthy Americans stepped forward to correct the situation. The first one to make a move was media magnate Robert Murdoch, who ordered his Fox Network to make arrangements, and pay whatever FIFA was demanding, to get the soccer games to the troops, as soon as possible. This was accomplished in 24 hours.

However you feel about Murdoch, Bravo to the man for this.
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Agreed.
This was a class move by Murdoch.

JaredSS07 · Jun 15, 2006

I guess I need to post again and hope no one calls me names. As an added bonus, I will rephrase my comments, since comedy and satire isn't appreciated

I am glad Fox is being patriotic.
It’s a shame that competitors like other major networks or CNN didn’t do anything.

Dirt McGirt · Jun 15, 2006

As a combat vetern of the US Army (2/2 ACR 13FOX)I'll be the first to say Rupert Murdoch can go choke on

dark knight · Jun 15, 2006

I have a feeling this thread isn't going to last. Politics do not belong in this forum please.

Morpheus1271 · Jun 15, 2006

I won't get political here (but it's hard to gloss over the underlying theme).

Great show of support for our troops and a boost to soccer in the U.S. Now all we have to do is beat Italy and Ghana and give these troops another few weeks of World Cup soccer.

Morpheus1271 · Jun 15, 2006

Jaypro said:

As a combat vetern of the US Army (2/2 ACR 13FOX)I'll be the first to say Rupert Murdoch can go choke on

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...and why is that my fellow veteran?

Dirt McGirt · Jun 15, 2006

Morpheus1271 said:

...and why is that my fellow veteran?
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Do you need to ask?

Sachin · Jun 15, 2006

I think everyone, including myself at first, missed the major point:

According to that article, about 25 percent of US troops are soccer fans. That's a huge number, and probably far out of proportion with the rest of the American population.

Sachin

JaredSS07 · Jun 15, 2006

I think the real point is that FIFA is a bunch of a**holes for not giving every countries' troops a free feed.

Morpheus1271 · Jun 15, 2006

Sachin said:

I think everyone, including myself at first, missed the major point:

According to that article, about 25 percent of US troops are soccer fans. That's a huge number, and probably far out of proportion with the rest of the American population.

Sachin
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which is ironic in that many people on these boards seem to suggest that "most soccer fans are liberal".

Trackman20 · Jun 15, 2006

I love soccer and I'm certainly not Liberal.

Anyways.......let's all kiss and make up.......but no getting married!

Let's kick Italys butt baby!

Belgian guy · Jun 15, 2006

JaredSS07 said:

I think the real point is that FIFA is a bunch of a**holes for a billion different reasons
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Fixed your post.

FlashMan · Jun 15, 2006

Sachin said:

I think everyone, including myself at first, missed the major point:

According to that article, about 25 percent of US troops are soccer fans. That's a huge number, and probably far out of proportion with the rest of the American population.

Sachin
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Guessing and generalizing are never good but I'll do both: a disproportionate number of servicemen are Hispanics; that may have a little to do with the allegedly high percentage (which I suspect may even be low) anyway.

btw, I hate Murdoch but this is indeed a class move, and I salute him.

Li mu bei · Jun 15, 2006

Trackman20 said:

I love soccer and I'm certainly not Liberal.

Anyways.......let's all kiss and make up.......but no getting married!
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Awesome.

Sachin · Jun 15, 2006

FlashMan said:

Guessing and generalizing are never good but I'll do both: a disproportionate number of servicemen are Hispanics; that may have a little to do with the allegedly high percentage (which I suspect may even be low) anyway.
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I used to think the same thing, but this article presents some different numbers.

Releveant paragraph:

While the military emphasizes that it works to enlist all qualified people, not just Hispanics, military experts say that bringing in more Latinos is overdue. Hispanics have long been underrepresented in the Army and in the military as a whole. While Latinos make up 10.8 percent of the Army's active-duty force, a better rate than the Air Force or Navy, they account for 14 percent of the population as a whole.
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Sachin

bigredfutbol · Jun 15, 2006

Whatever else I think of him, this is a class move.

Now beat Italy, boys, and really give the troops a reason to watch.

Chicago1871 · Jun 15, 2006

Good show by Murdoch.

:::::: · Jun 15, 2006

Yeah, we need to do a gondola job on them.

EDIT to MOD: Yes there is totally a need for that.

gswitatrophy · Jun 15, 2006

The reason for the rather high percentage of service men who want to watch soccer is 1. They are KIDS like me 25 years old at most and 2. Lots of Latino kids from the western US join the millitary for college money and signing bonuses. The galaxy lost a fan in Iraq about a year ago (he was a young hispanic man from the Inland Empire.)

IntheNet · Jun 15, 2006

Bill Archer said:

However you feel about Murdoch, Bravo to the man for this.
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Bravo!

Here's the NYT's story...

"Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation completed a deal yesterday that would let the American Forces Network carry the remaining United States team's games in the World Cup and the event's semifinals and final."

bright · Jun 15, 2006

gswitatrophy said:

On another note I think the reason that other liberals like myself feel that most people who follow soccer are liberal in this country is because I picture soccer bashers as fat middle americans who really dont understand or want to understand the sport because it takes fitness and skill and not outrageous amounts of muscle or blubber to play.
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Don't worry. We're starting to get the ignorant jingoistic fans jumping on the US Nats bandwagon these days, too. They are extremely obnoxious and embarass the rest of us. And they are totally unapologetic about their idiocy.

- Paul

Ikari · Jun 15, 2006

http://army.laser.net/article.asp?section=104&article=37936
Murdoch-brokered deal puts some World Cup matches on AFN

Ikari · Jun 15, 2006

Jaypro said:

^-- Frightening avatar
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That guy is gonna be in my nightmares tonight...

gswitatrophy · Jun 15, 2006

That guys is a super famous ref...his name I do not know though.