Olympic TV Soccer and the WUSA FIFA has announced that the gold medal game at the Athens Olympics has been moved from 12 p.m. on Saturday, August 28, 2004 to 10 A.M. The reason given for the change is to avoid the intense heat. The women’s gold medal final has been set for 9 P.M. on Thursday, August 26, 2004. http://www.fifa.com/en/display/mrel,70970.html I wonder how FIFA knows that it will be hot on August 28. If it is really concerned about the heat, why not put the final at night? I doubt that it is the heat because many Olympic events will be staged in the afternoon. All strenuous events can’t be played at night or early morning. Most of the world cares very little about Olympic soccer. However, in the U.S. there is tremendous hype about the Olympics. The U.S. men and women are strong medal contenders, having placed 4th and 2nd respectively in Sydney. Curiously enough, NBC has announced it will show no men’s soccer from Athens, and it will only be shown on Spanish TV in the U.S. Since NBC has a policy of airing all medal ceremonies involving the U.S. I wonder how they would explain why they didn’t have time to air one minute of men’s soccer if and when the U.S. takes the gold. After all, they will have 24 hour a day coverage and have lots of exposure for sports that have diminishing interest or no interest at all. Soccer is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. and would certainly be a candidate for prime time exposure, if market forces were at work. This does, however, bury the men’s final between 3 and 5:30 A.M. on Spanish TV, assuring that hardly any American fans will see it. By contrast, the women’s gold medal game will air on NBC between 2 and 4.30 P.M., a pretty decent time slot considering potential USWNT fans are on summer recess from school. The replay in prime time would not be stale, as it would only be a couple of hours old. The same sort of placement was made at the Winter Olympics, where women’s hockey was aired on NBC again and again in prime time while then much-anticipated men’s rematch between Russia and the U.S. was on the late, late show, starting at 11:30 P.M.
NBC gets rid of football, then basketball, and now this. have to say their NBC Sports isn't making too many good choices.
Re: Olympic TV Soccer and the WUSA Greece + August = heat. Outside of the marathon (which is also started in the morning), most other Olympic events don't feature virtual non-stop running. And most other Olympic events didn't recently feature a high-profile player die in the midst of a game played in extreme heat. I'll ignore the rest of your insipid post, as it has been dealt with on occasion after occasion. But not without saying this:
Re: Olympic TV Soccer and the WUSA The Olympics is not the World Cup, I realize that, but it is around the same time, and if just a fraction of the fans that saw USA-Mexico get up to see the gold medal match (provided it involves the US men) I'll be happy. Understand that NBC does not view the Olympics as sport, but rather an endless supply of drama and theatrics for two weeks. And it's an entirely different demographic; women are more likely to watch the Olympics than other events. There are other considerations for those circumstances. USA-Russia in men's hockey was great from a sporting perspective, but USA-Canada in the women's final was just a great story. There's no doubt what NBC chose to go with in primetime.
This is a ridiculous statement to make. NBC didn't dump basketball. Basketball dumped NBC for more money for less exposure, which might have been the natural decision at the time, but the NJ-SA finals ratings showed how wise a choice that was.
And the men's hockey final (USA-Canada) was on a Sunday afternoon. The USA-Russia hockey game was in the afternoon, not late-night -- I WATCHED THE GAME! What planet are you on, Tommy?
Re: Olympic TV Soccer and the WUSA Will you please relax? If the US Men's Soccer Team makes the Gold Medal game, you can bet your house that a special LIVE telecast will be available in English on MSNBC in addition to live Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo. With so many channels available in the NBC family (NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, CNBC World, Telemundo, Telemundo Internacional, and mun2), NBC has almost infinite flexibility in making changes to the Olympic TV schedule. Just because Olympic men's soccer is currently ticketed for Telemundo, that doesn't mean that NBC will not have an English-language broadcast should the US men advance into the medal round. Telemundo is the logical channel of choice for Olympic Men's Soccer, Boxing, and Baseball. These products do NOT attract the desired demographic for English-language advertisers during the Olympics (mostly suburban women), but do attract the desired demographic for Spanish-language advertisers during the Olympics (mostly blue-collar males.)
TOTC, the rematch was on a Friday night, in the preliminary round. I watched it. NBC had no way of knowing the U.S. would make it to the gold medal game, and buried a rematch of the "Miracle on Ice" beyond midnight. Da Cfo, I think you are right, that a last minute change may air the game on MSNBC or some other affilliate. But at 2 A.M., while we were sleeping. Heat is a pretext for burying the men's game in a lousy time slot. The tragic death of Mr. Foe in France will not make FIFA put all hot weather games at 10 A.M. or at night. Don't kid yourself, come qualifying, the U.S. will have to play afternoon games in hot hellholes like Mazetenango and lots of other countries will be in the same boat.
Don’t underestimate the power of TV on the American people. This morning, did you see lots of people jogging? Of course you did, in almost any town in the U.S. It was not always that way. Thirty-five years ago, Americans rarely jogged. What changed it was two things: Frank Shorter winning the marathon gold in 1972 in Munich and Roone Arledge featuring the marathon on TV. If Arledge had buried the Shorter footage at 2 A.M. the running boom in the U.S. might have never started. Women’s soccer, like women’s Olympic hockey, continues to get the best time slots and endless hype. Men’s soccer gets buried in the middle of the night or on Spanish TV. Can you imagine the outcry if women’s soccer was not broadcast by NBC in 2004?
I know I started jogging because of TV featuring Frank Shorter in 1972. Granted, I was -3 years old but it still had a tremendous effect.
Well, figure out what you're going to do about it, find something tangible instead of hoping to get into Ebersol's face one day with a "Trust me, soccer works" argument.
1. No need. I'll get to it later. 2. Thomas - check your private messages. 3. http://www.holiday.com/guide/city/athens__gr_overview If you can't understand the whole forecasting the weather gig, there's no hope. 4. Regarding scheduling, you want the match that night? Good luck getting attention the same night of the men's hoops final, the 4x100 relay, the 4x400 relay and the 800. 5. The women are so powerful and mighty, they got their format changed so they couulddo doubleheaders with the men to make sure a few people are in the stands and their final got moved to Thursday.
If they were worried about the heat they would not have put the games in Athens. Most cities in the northern hemisphere have hot Augusts. That doesn't mean you schedule big events at 10 A.M. You schedule smaller events at 12 or perhaps 11. Think back about the Olympics held in North American time zones; LA, Montreal, Atlanta (sometimes known as Hot 'Lanta", especially in August). Did they have top events, Gold Medal events, on at 10 A.M. You know full well that they did not. Soccer fans should be disturbed by this development because the possibility of a Gold Medal game involving the USMNT could go a long way towards building ratings and fan base. But you won't get that with the championship game aired at 2 in the morning.
I've said this before, but just in the interest in keeping Mr. Flannigan in check, here goes again. NBC and the IOC cared so much about women's hockey that it put the women's final a) on a cable channel, b) opposite the network's prime-time show, c) which just happened to be live coverage of the women's figure skating long program, the most popular event in the Games. If that's your idea of "getting the best time slots" ... The USA-Russia first-round game aired at a relatively bad time for East Coast types (11:30 pm EST), but it was on NBC. And the men's gold medal game was aired live on the network on a Sunday afternoon
I for one stand with Mr. Flannigan. I am absolutely appalled that NBC and their USOC cronies are burying the United States Men's Soccer Gold Medal Match (hereafter referred to as USM'sSGMM) at a time when most Upstanding Red Blooded Americans (URBAs) can't view it. Another alarming facet of this discussion is that because the USM'sSGMM is going to be aired solely on a Spanish Language Air Broadcast the URBAs will not be able to understand. I am further confused as to how the United States Radical Feminist's Gold Medal Match will be available to watch. I'm sure given the choice, most URBAs would choose to view the USM'sSGMM instead of the USRF'sGMM on a channel other than SLAB. I believe, however, that the Olympics issue is only the symptom of the chief problem. And that chief problem is the Radical Feminist Love Of Title IX And Screwing Men While Not Screwing Men. If it wasn't for the RFLOTIXASMWNSM's then we wouldn't have to watch the USM'sSGMM on SLAB but could take the USRF'sGMM spot on ELAB. I'm sure all the URBAs would be happier if that came to pass.
Women's hockey was featured in the opening rounds on NBC in prime time, not the entire matches but plenty of plug. There was no guarantee that the US Men would get to the medal round and 2 preliminary round games were on Monday afternoon and early Sunday morning, respectively. Since ice hockey is one of the 3-4 premier events in the winter Olympics and the U.S. was the host, the scheduling was most odd. It did, however assure than women's hockey got the TV exposure and men's hockey did not. I believe the IOC cannot stage soccer without the consent of FIFA, otherwise Blatter would not be issuing press releases about 10 A.M. games.
Maybe so, but FIFA doesn't dictate where the Olympic tourney is going to be, only when it's going to take place. Please familiarize yourself with Olympic protocol before you speculate on what you believe.
I will wait with great interest to see if ANY soccer games in Athens will be played in the afternoon. If any are the heat theory goes out the window. Do you think they are going to schedule the many distance events, including walking, at night? of course not. Please recall that men's and women's soccer were played in the after noon during the 1996 Olympics and no one cared about the heat. Foe's death is not the reason because it if was the Gold Cup's schedule would have been altered to avoid afternoon games.
FINAL WARNING: Lying will result in posts being removed, Thomas, per the Terms of Service. http://olympics.hiasys.com/olympics...stv02082002.htm Here is when women's hockey was shown from Salt Lake (all times EST): Mon. Feb 11: MSNBC, 1-6 p.m. block Tue. Feb 12: MSNBC, 1-6 p.m. block Wed. Feb 13: MSNBC, 1-6 p.m. block Thur. Feb 14: CNBC, 6-midnight block Sat. Feb 16: NBC, 1-6 p.m. block Thur. Feb 14: CNBC, 6:30-midnight block Tue. Feb 19: MSNBC, Semifinal, 1-6 p.m. block Tue. Feb 19: CNBC, Semifinal, 6-9 p.m. Thur. Feb 21: MSNBC, Bronze game, 1-7 p.m. block Thur. Feb 21: CNBC, Gold medal game, 7-10 p.m.
Look, your point was "If they were worried about the heat they would not have put the games in Athens." I need for you, for my sanity, to acknowledge that this is a bonehead statement. Just do it, please? Don't argue this time, just say it and I'll be happy. Admit that it was stupid and move on. Please? I'm begging you. I'm pleading with you. I'm on my knees right now. Just admit the freakin' thing already. Christ.
here is the Winter Olympic Viewing Guide From CNN. It's a sign of the liberal media that they didn't put it into an easy to use spreadsheet. what's the definition of prime time again? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2002/news/2002/01/25/printable_tvschedule_ap/