What channel will USA v. Mexico WCQ be on?

Hey I watched the first three Team Mexico matches on UNIVISION. So there are more choices, and my brother could watch any match on is cell phone. Though he probably won't do it, option is there with a .tv.

 

I emailed Sunil Gulati with this:

Dear Mr. Gulaty,

It has been a pleasure to be a United States soccer fan in the last month. Watching the team beat Spain and almost beat Brazil was very enjoyable to watch and give me hope next year for South Africa. Today I email you because on August 12 we have a very important game against our rivals Mexico in Mexico City. This is a place we have never won and with the play we showed against Spain and Brazil I think most people who follow the team think we can beat Mexico, and I am surely confident in our ability to beat Mexico. However it has been reported that the game will be broadcast in English through NBC's small channel of telemundo 2. Mr. Gulaty this leaves a lot of United States fans with out a channel to watch the game as they are usually on the ESPN family of networks. Can you get the game moved to the ESPN family of networks as I know a lot of American fans would be disappointed not to be able to witness history on August 12.

Thank you,

Tyler Layton



This is what I got back from him:


[FONT=&quot]Tyler:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thanks for your email and your support of the MNT. Unfortunately this decision is in the hands of the Mexican Federation and they have sold the rights to Telemundo, so it’s impossible for us to force a shift. As of a day or two ago, ESPN was still working diligently on securing English language rights.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Sunil Gulati[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It looks like ESPN is really trying to get this game that would be great if they did.
[/FONT]

 

I'd like to know what Telemundo is asking for in exchange for the right to this game. I hope they're not being bastards and putting a price so high that it's out of reach. What would they gain by excluding easily accessible English language coverage?

 

I don't even speak Spanish but I prefer to watch the Spanish language broadcasts.

 

Harkes is a good color guy because he explains the simple parts of the game to people who aren't familiar with soccer. I watched the game against Spain with my father who is a soccer newbie but is interested, and he kept commenting on how Harkes helped him understand the strategy.

 

Not sure if this has been posted...

BUT

if you want to email NBC....here are the addresses:

brian.walker@nbcuni.com, adam.freifeld@nbcuni.com, Lyndsay.Iorio@nbcuni.com, dick.ebersol@nbcuni.com, Perkins.Miller@nbcuni.com, Jeff.Zucker@nbcuni.com

 

Yes arswift you are right those are the correct addresses if you can't think of anything to send those people at NBC send them this:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am an American soccer fan. Yes, we do in fact exist, and we are likely more numerous than you might believe.

As an American soccer fan, I was distressed to learn that the United States Men's National Team's upcoming World Cup qualifier with arch-rival Mexico will not be broadcast on a widely-available English-language network.

This is unacceptable. Soccer, and in particular the USMNT, are growing in popularity at a rapid clip. The team's recent strong showing in a tournament last month has drastically increased their profile, and more Americans than ever are following them. USA-Mexico is not only a crucial game for World Cup qualification, it's also the most compelling, intriguing, and attention-worthy game on the 2009 calendar. The soccer community is anxiously awaiting the match, and will watch in larger numbers.

Broadcasting the game on a network few of us receive or would be forced to pay added cost for is not only unfair, it's bad business. Cutting the potential audience for the game off at the knees does not seem the best way to maximize it's potential worth to NBC Universal.

Therefore, I respectfully request that you move this match to one of your other more widely-available networks. USA Network would seem to make the most sense, though I am not picky. Please allow us, the American soccer community, see the game that we are so looking forward to. I'm convinced that this move makes sense for your company as well; aside from the millions of eyes tuned to your one of your networks, the PR ramifications are obvious.

Sincerely,
(Your Name)

 

Thanks for providing the email addresses arswift. My message has been sent.

 

Why the hell would US soccer agree to this?

Is there something I'm not understanding? Doesn't US Soccer get to give the rights to their games? How can NBC's agreement with the Mexican NT override any agreements the US NT has in their own home country?

EDIT: Never mind, I found the thread that explained the whole cluter-f. I know sorta sadly understand it all.

 

Yeah, simply put the country that hosts the game holds TV rights, including within the opposition's country. Hopefully one day FIFA gets involved, as they are the organization that is overseeing this game. I don't know - it's a complicated issue - but how it is done just does not seem fair.

 

The problem isn't who holds the rights. It's that NBC/Telemundo is for some reason refusing to make English language viewing more accessible. It might be for contractual obligations to the shows in NBC's other channels, but at 3:00 in the afternoon, I don't think there's anything on that would get higher ratings than this match.

The least they could do is put it on USA network. That channel is often the highest rated cable network, and they often only show repeats in the afternoon.

 

it's really sad that this can't be put on a network like USA, NBC owns alot of networks, think back to the olympics, and this is easily the biggest match of the year.

I would thnk a live sporting event in the afternoon would take precedence over some Law and Order reruns that have probably been shown 5 or 6 times already but I guess I'm wrong.

because this mun2 is not very popular it will force some people to subscribe to it and upgrade thier systems and apparently there's more money in that for Telemundo than just offering it in english language to NBC.

 

That time frame my local NBC affiliate airs Dr. Phil and Oprah. There is no chance that the NBC affiliate pulls Oprah for soccer.

 

Do you all really need someone speaking English to tell you what you are watching?

Telemundo spent a lot of money to secure the rights. They will make more money having the exclusive US broadcast than they would re-selling it to ESPN who would want to run their own ads.

I remember the days when no soccer was on TV or we would have to go to a convention center and pay to watch it on closed circuit TV. I can miss JP Delecamera for one game.

 

I'll probably just watch the telemundo broadcast with no volume and then turn on the english radio broadcast and listen to that.

 

Not very many people are going to suck it up and watch it in Spanish? I've learned a lot of interesting Spanish by watching games on Univision, Telemundo and Telefuturo (though the latter always screws up the sound on SuperLiga games).

My sister actually has mun2, which is weird.

 

More people should think like you. It's always better to expand your horizons and learn a new language.



Hey saucysalesman, since when are usmnt games broadcast on radio?

 

Ehh, I'm just learning more of a language that I already know. I'm going to Spain next week, and I get to practice.

 

This game is already being advertised on mun2 so it doesn't look like it's going to change networks.

http://holamun2.com/usavsmex