NY Times: Guatemala vs USA WCQ on June 12 only on PPV for $29.95

Here is the official release:

GUATEMALA VS USA WORLD CUP QUALIFIER TO BE PRESENTED LIVE ON PAY PER VIEW

http://www.integratedsportsnet.com/article.php?article_id=227

 

Dumb, beyond dumb. Won't watch, rather just watch via "stream"

 

Blame Guatamala on this. Sometimes I wished the United States was in UEFA. This shit wouldn't fly.

 

in this day and age, this is absolutely ridiculous. if the us' only weapon to prevent this is to reciprocate and not sell the rights to guatemala when it is our turn to host then we need to do that in order to nip this in the bud. it is becoming a trend and needs to be stopped. i understand why it is happening, but the USSF needs to use whatever weapons necessary in order to set a precedent and stop this from happening.

So, if you can't/won't work out a deal to get game available on our shores, we won't either. violla problem goes away

 

I would absolutely LOVE to know the final buy figure on this one after the game. The 2009 Honduras WCQ didn't work for the same reason - folks will just hunt and peck for streams of the game on line rather than dropping $30. This type of rights arrangement may have worked 10, even 5 years ago. But folks are so used to just fishing for streams of events that they won't buy it. And this isn't a big enough event for legal teams to be out in full force to try and get streams shut down.

 

or CONCACAF could centralize the rights ... ehh who am I kidding lol

 

No way Guatemala sees the return leg. I don't care if the Guatemalean Fed is poor. Again, I will use the analogy of the Guatemalean Federation Holding these rights hostage.

Can't believe that US Soccer allows this. They should call the Guatemala Fed and tell them not to expect to see the game here.

 

Plus, seeing the game on the internet is no consolation.

 

the ussf would be very foolish to continue to take whatever small penitence they get for selling broadcast rights to guatemala, honduras, or whatever nation is involved if the away match rights are not guaranteed to be on a channel with at least 30 million subscribers (FSC).

the money they get from selling the rights to these central american nations in no way makes up for what they lose by having their away games in central america on ppv

 

Easy solution to getting banned from CONCACAF. Join CONMEBOL and get Mexico to join us too there. CONCACAF would then be only rewarded 1/2 spot in the World Cup like Oceania. While the spots that used to go to them would most likely go to CONMEBOL.

 

and then the US wouldn't be essentially assured a World Cup spot every time, and the economic model for the USSF might collapse

 

how in the heck could the us be banned from any competition by exercising their rights not to sell the broadcast rights they own???

fifa would just LOVE for the us national team to get banned from WCQ which would cause us tv rights to severely decrease in value....that is just not going to happen.

how would the ussf be in the wrong if they had a stated policy that foreign soccer federations run the risk of the ussf not selling broadcast rights to a television station in their home nation if away us games are not guaranteed to be on a channel with at least 30 million subscribers (i.e. no lower than fox soccer channel). that would put the pressure on foreign soccer federations to ensure that traffic sports has to sell the us games to a widely available us cable station and not hoard them on ppv. the foreign soccer federations now just shrugg their shoulders and blame traffic sports. this would put the ball in the rightholders court on the front end, and would prevent issues like this from even occurring.

it is no different than your suggested bein sports-comcast partnership where a minimum number of epl games have to be available to the masses on a widely distributed channel.

 

Financially it might be better to be part of CONMEBOL because World Cup qualifiers would be of more value because we would have to play Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Ecuador. Also MLS teams would play in the Copa Libertadores which is the 2nd most prestigious continental tournament for clubs after the UEFA Champions League. We would take part in Copa America instead of the Gold Cup. The only reason why I don't think USSF wants to join NOW is because the US is not as strong as they like them to be and would fear not qualifying for the World Cup but I imagine the long term goal of USSF and the Mexican Federation is to join up with CONMEBOL and leave the smaller nations behind. IMO I think US, Canada, and Mexico should join CONMEBOL while the Caribbean and Central America form their own federation and be awarded only 1/2 a WC spot.

 

Why isn't Guatemala banned? Isn't that what they are doing to the US. Go ahead and ban the US from CCL. Who cares? Ban the country that is the biggest payday for all other clubs outside of Mexico for World Cup Qualifying. That is something CONCACAF would do. CONCACAF would be Oceania if they did that.

 

IMO no chance that happens. It would be great from a fan and competition standpoint (at least for the NT, not so much for MLS that can't even handle travelling to Mexico) but it is a huge financial risk compared to the situation they have now. There is no guarantee that the US (or Mexico) would consistently be one of the 5/6 best teams in CONMEBOL. Mexico and the US can rule the roost in CONCACAF whereas if they go to CONMEBOL they're just one of many. And Canada?? Why would CONMEBOL want them?

Just imagine for a minute what happens if the US misses the World Cup (like the Olympics this year) - the value of the World Cup broadcast immediately drops by a third. The buzz that usually builds is gone. You don't think that would have a cascading financial effect? The USSF relishes the power that they have to ensure financial certainty especially in this era of money in football. They don't care about competition until they're sure they can compete all the time, even with the backups.

 

It was posted here that USA World Cup rights were worth something like three times more in Spanish than in English (I don't remember the exact numbers). If that's the case then even if the World Cup wasn't on TV in English and none of the people who wanted to watch it in English watched it in Spanish instead, it would only be one quarter fewer people. You might have only been referring to interest in the World Cup among English-speakers, but keep the Spanish-speakers in mind.

As for the Central American and Caribbean countries having the opportunity to ban the USA from WCQs and the CONCACAF Champions League, if FIFA let that happen then any country that was unpopular in its confederation could get banned.

 

The English language rights COST 3x less in the last cycle. In this cycle it's only like 80% (too lazy to calculate). But more people watched the English broadcast than the Spanish broadcast IIRC.

What I was talking about was the value of those broadcasts (which would already have been paid for) And, if the same risk of the USA not participating continued to exist, I contend that the value of the rights would go down. Which is why FIFA would never let the US leave CONCACAF unless/until we become on the same level as Brazil and Argentina. They want our TV money. And I'm sure CONCACAF would do all they could to keep the US.

 

heh maybe the US and Mexico SHOULD leave CONCACAF