us "soccer"

It's great. We can watch games from many different countries.

Do they have Television in your part of England?

 

If you're talking about on TV, it's much, much easier than it was five, 10 or 20 years ago. 20 years ago, we only had the occasional World Cup broadcast, a show called Soccer Made in Germany and one other English highlights show whose name escapes me at the moment, and both of the last two were shown on public television only.

Nowadays, we have Fox Sports World which brings us matches from around the globe, and while ESPN is maligned by many, they're still showing MLS on ESPN2 as well as US team matches for both genders. It takes some doing to get through to unaware customer service reps, but this year it's going to be possible to watch all MLS matches for just $50 on cable.

In person, MLS is in its eighth year and while virtually all the other professional sports on this side of the pond are experiencing declining attendance, MLS is slowly building its attendance figures despite a nasty recession. At the lower levels, franchises still come and go, but it's heartening to see that there are still plenty of investors determined to make a go of professional soccer at the lower levels in this country.

Hope that answers your question.

 

I met a United supporter last month who is here till summer as an intern. He's very impressed the amount of football shown here. We get 5-8 EPL matches a week, as well as 2 to 3 Serie A and La Liga matches each weekend. He seemed extremely impressed how knowledgable some of the supporters who live over here are. And is quite happy with the enthusiastic cheering and singing at the pubs we watch the games at. I think we do quite well over here actually.

 

Many folks have FoxSportsWorld which is available throughout most of the country if you are willing to pay for the top drawer cable/sattelite service. Those lucky enough to be able to afford this and have it available enjoy FSW coverage of matches from the UK and Germany at least and maybe others. They also have covered domestic cup matches during the MLS season and occasionally the Junior National teams (U-17, U-20 etc.) when they are participating in a tournament. FSW is the life-line for the soccer fan in the US. However it is worth noting that FSW does not carry any of the MLS games. Our domestic league play is covered by ESPN/ESPN2/ABC. Both ESPN channels are available with most basic cable packages and ABC is available for 99% + of all TV's in the US.

For those of us without FSW things are grim. The only coverage of the world game we get is one Champions League match on ESPN2 for every leg of the tournament. It is broadcast live (I think?) which makes it 2:30 pm here when most of us are at work. So we set the VCR and watch it in the evening. Some of the cable stations that broadcast is Spanish will carry a game from the Mexican Football League each weekend. And some places carry a game from Serie A each weekend. So if you can catch a few more games if you are ready to listen to Spanish or Italian commentary (or none at all). But again these stations are not avaiable for everyone across the country.

During the MLS season ESPN2 has one game a week, ussually a live broadcast on Saturday afternoon. The few games that are played on weeknights or at night are not covered nationally. The MLS has a playoff structure where league standings determine which teams will play in the year end tournament to determine the league champion. Oddly enough TV coverage seemed to dissappear last year as the playoffs progressed. I can only guess that there were difficulties planning ahead regarding which games would be played where. The end result is that most fans could not watch their club's most important matches of the whole season. Changes have been made to the playoff system with aims at providing a more secure schedule and hopefully better coverage.

Many markets have a "local" sports channel on their cable. Many of these channels will carry the local MLS games and even the WUSA games. But coverage is spotty and soccer gets a very low priority in the programming schedule. When I lived in Washington DC I remember that once the Hockey PRE-season games started, the hockey would get coverage over the soccer on the local channel.

If one wants to see more MLS games, some of the top drawer cable/sattelite systems offer "package" coverage of the MLS season, where you pay a lump sum (maybe $150?) and you have access to a majority of the league's matches throughout the season. I haven't ordered this in the past (but want to this year) so maybe someone else has the specific details. But even this package is not available to everyone and my cable provider still doesn't know if they will offer this deal for the upcoming season which begins in 4 weeks!

The World Cup saw every game covered, almost all were broadcast live, again on the ESPN/ESPN2/ABC networks.

Many of the US friendlies are covered on ESPN2, but not all. The ones that aren't covered are sometimes shown on the spanish speaking networks mentioned above.

Other notes:
1) When there is actually a game on the TV, many people seem to agree that the commentary is horrendous.

2) Even during the MLS season, almost all sports highlights shows ignore soccer completely. You will almost never hear or see anything about soccer in the TV media. An exception was during the World Cup when they may show the goals from the day. The US's run this summer earned them some more air time than usual and even a 3-4 minute highlights clip complete with inspiring music that was played on ESPN's SportsCenter program, which is far and away the most widely viewed and influential sports news show in the US.
Another exception is that goals from the campionship match my be shown on TV a bit.

 

You have to go to bars and pubs to see that many EPL matches but they're here. (it's easier than searching all over London for a pub that has a pirated feed from Norway or something)

As for MLS games. I've been to several matches in Los Angeles and Washington DC. The Los Angeles matches are predominately Latin American in feel. Drums, whistles, et al. The support is pretty good - when they have Mexican players on the pitch anyways. The DC matches are a refreshing mixture of both the Latin and European style support. Most fans get along with other pretty well, with "friendly" banter being more the norm than brawls and fisticuffs.

 

Supercilious Bastid…!!!

As an expat scouse I get to watch a lot of games here. Recorded 3 yesterday Lasio/Wisla Manure/Leeds (AKA Scum/Thugs) and one I slept through.
Welcome to BS pjuk.

 

for more on the american game

http://www.dansoccerzone.com/SoccerGuide/

It's a Travel guide to US soccer. YOu can also read the story on soccer365.com

 

ESPN had FIFA Player of the Year on the little tracker at the bottom.

Yippity-yee-haw-yea. (Note no exclimation point)

 

Watching live US soccer is great. It's easy to get great seats, you get to know the players since they aren't huge stars like Barry Bonds or David Beckham, and the refs stink so you always have something to yell about.

 

All I can say is that MLS is the most entertaining league in the world to watch.

 

This pjuk, is what we call an infant geting at the computer when mother isn't looking.

With some practice he may even get to troll status.

Satellite TV and FSW- i see more games on them over here than i used to on the beeb and utv back home.
The FSW games are fantastic and cover both South American and European leagues.They usually have a direct feed from the country they are airing from and have native commentators speaking in English.
ESPN tries it's best to keep up in this department, but they are usually dire.No slight intended but the yank commentators are the worst of the lot.
Although that Irish clown gives them a run for it most weeks.

Overall i would say league matches are aired at the same level as back home.

The MAJOR difference over here is the Internationals.Their airing of them is pathetic.Unless the USA is playing you're pretty much out of luck.PPV will show England games from time to time, but, if you wanted to watch any of the others--well you're shit out of luck to be frank.

 

an american wish

abouve all, my wish for US soccer is that the play by play commentary gets better...when watching the nats play a latin american team, i will often look for a spanish channel that is showing the game to be able to see and hear the spanish commentary. it is way better, and it really helps to get you into the game....


i hope MLS, and the tv networks do a better job of hiring top soccer broadcasters...

they should also practice saying GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL, in their commentaries..instead of the dumb stuff they say, which sucks out all of the exitement of the game...on the other hand, i prefer to watch the games live, and enjoy them on a different level....


anyways, enough of my ranting...

sincerely,
iowa007
from california

ps- say hi to every brit in england for me. just kidding..

 

Re: an american wish

It's people like you that kill off soccer in this country. Instead of watching an American channel, you decide to watch Telemundo or Univision. Why must all commentators be the same and yell "GOOOOOOAL?" All we ever do is want a soccer game in English. Now when we get it, you turn it away. Very smart. This is also a reason why no one will consider soccer American.

 

Any of our broadcasters are better than any Latin American or European broadcaster. Just appreciate the fact that we have soccer games in English and watch it in English. But then again, either way you're going to find some way to complain of how our broadcasters are horrible regardless.

 

$59.99 for all but about 10 of 150 league games (with ESPN and ABC) and all playoff games except the Final (ABC). Combine it with TIVO and you have 6 mo. of pretty cheap entertainment anytime. If you count bar tabs you will probably miss, this package seriously pays for itself.

 

They are horrible; they don't yell GGGOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!
When I watch a game in any of the spanish channels I always have a beer by my side and enjoy the game. On the other hand, watching with our broadcasters is like having seltzer-water by my side; by the 15th minute the fitz is gone!

 

See, I might be in the minority, but I watch soccer for the soccer, not for the commentary. Personally, I prefer the subtle, dry humor of the English commentators who let the game do the talking.

 

One thing that really impressed me about attending MLS games is that no one leaves early. I once went to a USMNT and Revolution double-header. It was getting late, much of the crowd traveled far to see the US team play, including myself, but no one left early. Even with the Revolution losing the game everyone stayed. You won’t see that at a baseball game.

 

Sometimes They have special PPV deals for single EPL games. Back in August you could order the Charity Shield game between Liverpool and Arsenal for $20.00

 

5-8 EPL games a week? Jesus Christ, that's probably just where you live. Where I live I get one EPL game a week, except it's five days after the game, and EPL highlight show on thrusdays, one CL game every week there is one, one italian game a week in italian, mexican soccer on the spansih channel i don't know how often that is, MLS once a week on ESPN and all metrostars games on MSG or something, and most of the USA MNT AND WNT games

 

You can't be serious...!!! [Oh wait, that's tennis.]
During WC I had to watch a lot of games with the sound off because I got so tired of being triple teamed by Idiots who don't understand the nuances or the terminology of the game and often talk among themselve about anything BUT the game. "Oh by the way somebody scored!"
You're probably young enough that it's all you know. But the America love it or leave it attitude is all wrong.
Why do we have to put up with second rate comms who just like the sound of their own voices and not let the game itself do the talking.

 

First we should learn to appreciate what we have. It will get better with more people watching. I get tired of British announcers not understanding the game. They give credit to players that make costly mistakes. Or sometimes they don't give credit to someone who starts it. Maybe I don't want to let the game do the talking. English commentary is what puts me to sleep. Plus, it most certainly will not attract new fans.