Tv news

Are you saying even the local Washington and Boston sports reports didn't mention the WPS games?? They both had historic home openers too. I'd be shocked at that.

Is FSC showing highlights on Fox Soccer Report? I doubt it because they are male-centric there and are so obsessed with Euro leagues that I could care less about. There is an identity problem identifying with teams from places you have never been and have no connection to.

 

Actually, some of the news stations in Washington did show highlights from the game but not all of them. From the clips I have gathered Fox, Channel 8 (which shares its news with the ABC affiliate Channel 7) and CBS all mentioned the game on the news Saturday night.

Now, they may not have posted the stories online but they did air stories Saturday night.

 

Fox Football Fone In on FSC (every Monday night) did talk about WPS during week 1 and week 2 but they have not said a word about them since. They even interviewed that lady who does the games on FSC the first week.

In a 2 hour show you would think they could talk about WPS for 2 minutes or something. Those Euro leagues might as well be playing on Mars because you have no way to identify with teams in cities that you've never been to and are so far away.

I know other people follow them but I just can't get into them other than watching a few minutes of EPL once or twice a year. You just don't have a connection to them being so far away unless you are from there or something.

 

Can't speak to Washington's tv coverage but I know why the Breakers weren't on in Boston. Hockey and College Hockey are huge up here. BU won the NCAA championship that night in one of the best games in a longtime. They came back from losing 3-1 in the final minute to tie the game and won it in overtime. Needless to say that took up most of the coverage. Throw in the Red Sox snapping a 9 game losing streak against the Angels, Bruins playoff preview and Tiger at the Masters and that exhausted all the time. You can watch highlights on NESN they had a segment on Monday's sportsdesk.

 

FSC is re-airing the best game of the year so far during prime time, 11 PM ET tonight. This is of course the FC Gold Pride/Freedom game. I don't consider this truly prime time unless you are in the Pacific or Mountain time zones but it's still a good chance to watch the game for anyone who didn't.

http://www.womensprosoccer.com/news/general/090428-fox-soccer-instant-classic

 

Have any of the supporter groups in the local viewing areas of the teams tried to organize a "write in" to both local tv, radio, online, and print news sites? If local media outlets hear from their customers a demand for WPS coverage, they might be more likely to cover it.

 

Tiffany Weimer's goal againt the Freedom did make #9 I think on the Fox Soccer Report Goals of the Week. That's something I guess.

 

That's good but it would really be something if they made the ESPN list. I doubt that would happen UNLESS it was a great goal or great play in the WPS final.

 

WPS and/or FSC clearly missed the ball on this one because they have not televised TWO marquee matchups of the 2 best players in the league and maybe the world, Marta vs. Kelly Smith. The game in front of 8,000 plus was not televised last weekend and neither will the game between them in L.A. this weekend. WPS should not be missing out on chances like this to showcase their 2 best players head to head.

Also on Fox Football Fone-In they devoted an entire SEGMENT to WPS which has never happened. Clearly the male hosts were impressed with the bravado of the hotly contested St.Louis/Washington game. It showed them that the women in WPS are "not messing around". It showed them that the players in WPS go out and really take this very seriously. You can tell Eric Wynalda and Nick Webster liked that and seemed somewhat surprised by it.

 

I seem to recall that a diving block by Freedom defender Jennifer Grubb on a ball that was about to go in made the ESPN highlights. Or maybe it was the time on a wet field that she cleared the ball, fell down, and did a little breakdancing move on her back. Or maybe both. It was a while ago....

 

WPS/FSC would do well to never show a Boston home game - a viewer can go blind trying to find the soccer pitch on that awful turf. Why we're getting Chicago-Sky Blue again this week instead of LA-BOS at the HDC is a very good question.

A question I have is whether WPS has flexibility as to what game is FSC's every week, esp later in the season (similar to NBC for the NFL)? This would be the perfect place to tell LA to move their game back two hours so FSC could broadcast it - I'm sure virtually all fans (and esp all neutrals) would rather see this one.

 

She cleared one off the line against San Diego at RFK early in the match, I believe in July 2002. Freedom went on to win 1-0 on a second-half Abby goal.

 

EXACTLY. All fans who don't have a favorite yet would rather see this game and many of those who have a favorite team would STILL rather see Boston at LA.

Someone needs to contact WPS and let them know to broadcast the BEST matchups when they can. It's a totally bonehead move to have 2 games in a row with Marta vs. Kelly Smith and neither of them are televised.

Instead we get Sky Blue which is probably the most boring team to watch in the league!

 

That's the one. Extremely boring game (as I recall) except for that one play. I'm trying to remember if that's the doubleheader with DC United that I thought afterwards, "Boy, we didn't convince anybody to become a fan of women's soccer today!"

 

It was a DH, though I can't remember for the life of me who DCU's opponent or what the result was (I'm sure we didn't win, pretty sure no DHs ever had both teams winning or losing).

Yeah, the Freedom match wasn't much of a pretty game to watch - we were fighting for the playoffs and 'got the result'.

 

Here you go:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4801-NY-Soccer-Examiner~y2009m5d6-Sky-Blue-FC-to-have-two-games-televised-on-Universal-Sports
Two more games on national television

Also, if you look at Chicago's schedule there are the two "WEB" dates and then a home and away games with FC Gold Pride that say "TV," although I do not know what that means.

 

I've never even heard of Universal Sports network and most Americans don't get that. WPS should try for networks that everyday people have greater access too.

I bet even most in NY/NJ don't get Universal Sports and I bet most on BS have never heard of it.

 

I think that is a bit of a stretch.

It is a division of NBC, which is huge. As its website shows, it is carried by every major cable provider in the area except for New Jersey's division of Time Warner, assuming that exists. I don't think it is anything to gaff at.

 

Okay so it's good for NY/NJ but that article said "national" televison which is not true since most of the country doesn't get Universal Sports tv.

 

Excellent news cobi13. Expanded tv coverage is great news. RFR, you can check here to see where to watch Universal Sports. Call your cable provider if you do not see your area listed. I am pleased to see that my area should have it (providing that the major city they list also includes smaller areas in the region).

 

Thanks for the link but if you notice that channel is only carried in ONE or TWO cities in entire states!! Many times it's not even a major city! In Missouri it is not carried in the 2 largest cities, St.Louis and Kansas City, but they have it in the much smaller central Missouri area.

It would have been nicer if WPS could've gotten a deal with greater access to the public but since they are a growing league I understand they may have too settle for less until they gain a stronger foothold.

 

Right. It still has a national footprint. Maybe it is not everywhere, but I think that Universal can deal with not being in Missouri when they are in LA, Chicago, NY, Philly, Seattle and other major places. It means Sky Blue fans can watch this road game in LA LIVE. It means that people around the country can watch Marta live instead of on stupid Matchtracker. It is a necessary step.

 

A) Call your cable provider if you want the channel. They won't add it unless they think their customers want it. Get people you know to call.

B) Getting coverage at all is a very good step for the league. Basically, SkyBlue just increased the number of their games on tv by ~40% (if my basic math skills aren't total crap). This partnership w/ and NBC owned channel is a good thing. People in the SkyBlue local area can see the games. Perhaps that will lead to more people buying tickets to other games. I think the next step needs to be a big effort to host viewing parties in the SkyBlue area for that away game.

C) "It would be nice...." A lot of things "would be nice" for the league like, say, staying in existence for more than 3 years. To that end, buy a ticket and buy team merchandise. If you do not have the money to do either thing, then write emails to all the league and team sponsors telling them how much you like the fact that they sponsor WPS and that you think so much better about their product b/c of their WPS sponsorship. Work proactively to support WPS. Get out your sales hat & sell the people you know on the league and get them interested & going to games.