I was watching today a soccer game from the Premier League and it reminded how I met a lot of people in the US that tell me that they watched a soccer game from the Premier League and they really enjoyed it. So then the obvious question comes up, why doesn't ESPN show Premier League games? Is it because fishing is more exciting than soccer? http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tv/news/story?page=g_tv_desc_bass_reairs It would be exactly the same as La Liga in LatinAmerica, a huge market with no need for translation, all that they have to do is show the games.
Sounds like politician-speak, but so far, even with their ownership rights to broadcasting Champions League, ESPN has shown that they just don't get it. Wynalda was right: ESPN has the power, they are pulling the strings, they have the influence now to say, “You want to market this thing, let’s market this thing.” ESPN have proven so far that either, a) they don't want to market this thing, or b) they don't have someone in a decision making position who wants or knows how to market this thing. Sad, really.
I think the original poster realises that Setanta and Fox hold the rights so a better question would be, Why haven't ESPN ever tried to buy the rights to show them? And he is right, why the hell haven't they?
Because the Fishing and hunting shows rights are cheaper than the premier league rights especially when you consider the time the games take place.
Why doesn't ESPN air the Super Bowl and World Series? Those are much more popular in the U.S. than either MLS or EPL.
it would extemely hard to sell andeven find a decent time spot in the espn schedule.. most EPL games are on Saturday and sunday around 12 to 3pm london time which translates to 7am to 10 eastern time... during the fall season it would clash with College football and college gameday which is oneof the most popular pregame shows. and oh yeah sportscenter.
ABC-Disney owns ESPN, plus the super Bowl and WS and other Championship games are better shown on Regular(over the air) television, they have the highest ratings because most people with tv have access to over the air before cable.
i beleive that is for the european division of espn. i wouldnt be suprised if they are persuing it though.
really wynalda isnt right, the game times dont compliment american times, even if espn would lets say get the rights to show games Espn would want the FA to change the times of games to little later to compliment american time zones.
I believe they bought an American Sports Network based in Europe and are planning to rebrand it and purchase Premier League rights. Which COULD potentially lead to them looking into the North American rights.
No need for ESPN to cover football at all. After seeing the ESPN coverage of the World Cup, I never want to witness such thick commentary again. The Fox Soccer Channel have done well as of late and can continue to do better. Also it seems that more people have the ability to watch this channel than a couple of years ago.
It will be a beautiful day in America when people finally grasp the fact that ESPN is not the end-all, be-all of US sports broadcasting.
I'd think if ESPN showed any EPL games they'd be on a delay. It'd probably only be worthwhile for them to buy rights for the biggest teams, too.
Yes I know that Fox and Setanta have the rights to those games. I was just comparing it to "La Liga" which I bet is shown in every single country in Latin America because there's no need to translate anything. I guess ESPN likes fishing more than soccer.
I would assume most of the ESPN crowd are probably not fans of football and tune in for American sport. Better off having it the way it is and allowing time for the channel to grow itself more of a crowd.
Wynalda is referring to the marketing of soccer in general in the USA and more specifically to MLS...so yeah, he is right. Course Nike and Adidas need to step up to the plate with much more funding imo
Not necessarily true. There are more soccer fans in America than one might think. And these fans commonly also watch ESPN for college sports, NBA, NFL, etc. I think serious soccer fans get turned off by ESPN's presentation of games or their lack of promotion of others. It seems like their is a tug-of-war in Bristol between those that get soccer and those that don't. Those that get soccer and understand their is a fanbase will eventually win out. At that point, ESPN will start to just show the game with no fluff attached. ESPN needs to realize that non-soccer fans aren't going to get pulled in by human interest stories during the game. ESPN should just start showing games and fans will follow.
what u mean you also have FSN and Comcast which have immpact in sports too, soccer just have to find its lil area in the american sports map... obviously here it would be spring summer.. as for euro games being broadcast it would very difficult on espn.... unless you have a tv channel thats english speaking ofcourse like USA Vs or one of the turner networks which is on more homes than fSC..... setanta and gol tv and even fsc isnt in alot of homes.