How much would it cost them to run the world feed of the World Cup on FS+? I can't imagine that would negatively effect Fox's ratings too much.
Fox in fine form in preparation for the WC. They are losing feeds to friendlies that other networks in other countries are not losing (e.g., Switzerland-Jordan and Wales-Ghana) and then the engineers don't seem to pay any attention to the sound. Czech-Guatemala started with stadium sounds during pre-game, then the feed commentary started during the walkout, then all sounds were gone for 4 minutes. Luckily for me, I'm not very interested in this bloated WC so I will dip in and out of games that seem of interest during the mostly meaningless group stage given how many teams advance out of this stage. But between these foolish engineers and the expected nonsense of the studio analysts, 2026 should be an all-time low.....Until the next Fox low.
Two days away from the WC and the weather people are excited to interrupt broadcasts with giant weather maps but pissed that some game will be on FS1 where they can't show off their annoying and unnecessary interruption talents. Alexi Lalas is prepped and ready to tell us that set pieces win games and penalties are not a lottery. And most of the rest of the Fox crew is ready to tell us depending on US results that the team either has heart or lacks heart while showing that the only watch MLS and have no real clue about the global game. Derek Rae and Rob Green / Ian Corcker and Danny Higinbottom will be good announcing teams and solid. Jacqui Oatley and Darren Fletcher will have to make up for their analyst team members.
The weather guys always get flack via email, social media, etc. They're definitely not looking forward to the nasty part of their job. OTOH, a VPN is a free workaround.
I rarely watch live but the tournament being in North America changes how I will watch. And I'm an old dude so I prefer watching on a TV versus casting from my computer via my VPN. If I do watch on delay then I'll try to download games when possible to watch world feed or BBC/ITV files via Roku's media player.
Day 1, Match 1. Weather beeping during the national anthems. Granted, a tornado warning is a big deal. Weather guys are excited. WC audience for their graphics.
My Fox affiliate had a "blinking" square (on, off, on, off) in the lower corner. The most annoying thing about it was the blink. It seemed to disappear after a few moments.
Fox certainly failed to abide by the second rule. During both mid-half stoppages in the opening match between Mexico and South Africa, Fox returned to live action well within that 30-second window. In fact, Fox returned from the second-half hydration break after play had already resumed on the field. https://awfulannouncing.com/fox/botches-hydration-break-world-cup-returns-late-commercials.html
Fox Sports announced they have rights to the 2027 and 2029 Gold Cups as well as the 2026-27 and 2028-29 Nations Leagues.
Gold Cups is business as usual. Nations League is new though. I hope they show more matches than CBS did on television.
Fox weather crew in Chicago decided to use a read letterbox square box around the image with a note about severe weather. It's been there for most of the second half during Scotland-Brazil even though the thunder only lasted for 10 minutes max. I assume someone fell asleep or it's taking the weather director some time to feel like he or she has got their deserved attention. Maybe there was flooding somewhere but I doubt it, so I don't know how thunderstorms in the midwest would be considered severe weather. On the plus side, no giant weather map and loud beeping sounds.
It was pretty bad in the West burbs/ Dupage county where I was eating dinner. I think there could be flooding in that area.
Alexi jumped from ESPN. Anyone who thinks "getting away from Fox" means "no more Alexi" is setting themselves up for disappointment.
OK, but at this point it's hard for me to fathom Lalas ever leaving FOX. Let's just say he fits that company to a T.
Fox aired a documentary about the 1994 USMNT. I didn't have cable or satellite until 2000 but was able to watch some of WC 1994 at that time. The doc was interesting in terms of learning how a team was built but the overdubs of after-the-fact announcers' calls was so annoying. I'm sure ESPN didn't make it easy to get audio rights but this addition felt like watching a Disney fictional sports movie. Big letdown.
Are the FOX commentators physically in the stadium? It seems like they aren't judging by their lack of awareness about what's going on (e.g. don't realize a play is offside until the linesman is shown on TV raising his flag, etc.). In some of the bigger matches they seemed like they were in the stadium.
There was a recent game (England? France? Spain?) where the Fox announcers (probably Taylor Twellman or John Strong) said something about being able to see the announcers for one of the countries involved in his peripheral vision. Speaking of announcers and locations, something about Rob Stone needing to stay at least 500 feet from Zlatan at all times. (I kid!)
Fox Deportes has decided to fill content with stuff other than endless news programs. They have added a couple Argentina and Colombia league games each week.