This all may be true, but the WC showed there is a market for soccer in this country if it is packaged properly. The show is already being produced so any thing they make from advertising is profit. Why not have it as the run in to the weekly champions league game?
How about trying to do something about this as opposed to just talking about it here. I'm up for calling them on the phone and asking about it. There is a profile on the show on Soccernet.com Why not ask if they'd show it stateside, even if it were late at night?
No, in the eyes of the execs at ESPN it showed that Americans like to watch big events . They see the World Cup like the Olympics . They don't view it as soccer per say . Yes the program is already made but possibly they use highlights in the show they don't have rights to show here . Also where are they going to put it in the Schedule that would improve the ratings . There would be no point of even having the show on if it ran at say 2AM . The way I look at it is that if it can't be shown at a time where it has a shot to be successful , then don't bother . Because if it fails the likelihood of getting another chance for a soccer show would be lessened .
Your point about rights is well taken. But what about my idea of having in the slot before the Champions League games? You don't think they could get some "decent" ratings at that time, or even after the CL games? You're expressing somewhat of a defeatest attitude. Certainly surprising for a New Yorker.
I guess it's the Scot in me . But seriously the show would need to be put in a spot that could be successful . Before or right after CL matches might work . I have pretty good contacts at ESPN that are telling me that the management just doesn't care about soccer . If ESPN really wanted to they could put together a channel that could knock FSW out of the box . The problem is they don't really care to .
Well your contacts are probably a little more reliable than my optimistic thinking, so I'll take your word that they don't care. Disappointing, to say the least.
Which shows are you referring to? MLS ExtraTime wasn't produced by ESPN. ESPN didn't pay any fees to broadcast it as well. This show was purely an MLS production. The other show mentioned in this thread - World Wide Soccer (I think this was the name mentioned, though the title may not be correct I remember this show as well. It was the precusor to MLS ExtraTime and went off the air when ExtraTime started) - was produced and paid for by Winner Communications. Again, ESPN didn't pay for it, either with production costs or rights fees. Are they other shows that I've never heard of produced and paid for by ESPN for the U.S. market that have failed? As far as I know, ESPN has not done this. Going back to what someone else has said - ESPN doesn't care about the television value of soccer.