Both Fox Soccer and ESPN are finally confirming that Fox Soccer Channel has beaten ESPN to the American broadcast rights to the Champions League. Or…I guess you could say Fox Soccer is confirming it. ESPN has released an official statement, which was picked up by the AP, who also note that FSC hasn’t officially confirmed anything. However, the FSC website is running that same AP story, including the part about how FSC is refusing to comment. Weird, yes. But surely they wouldn’t include it on their own website if it weren’t true? And I guess it’s to be expected in a story that’s already seen the ruthless silencing of Jeremy St. Louis’s Twitter feed.
Anyway, if ESPN is making the announcement, it doesn’t really matter when the people at FSC decide to confirm it. All you who hated Tommy Smyth, prepare to live in the world your wish has made.
Read More: Champions League
by Brian Phillips · March 30, 2009
yeeaeaaaaaaaa baby
This is great news for the channel. Although I’m a bit worried that ESPN would dump this…what does it say about it’s views on soccer. To grow the sport we need in on basic cable coverage, surly. I wonder if it says more about ESPN’s finances as much as its desire to air soccer. Lets hope its for the better…more games? Better commentary? I hope so.
Am I right in saying FSC has also won back some (if not all) of the tanking Setanta coverage? Or is it on the horizon? 745am kick offs back on FSC again?
Is Tommy Smyth the Irish or Geordie co-commentator?
The terrible Irish one that proffers the phrase “the auld onion bag.” Good riddance.
As someone who used to get FSC and no longer does, I’m still fairly excited. ESPN is years away from prioritizing soccer coverage so a strong, independent soccer-specific channel is our best bet to growing soccer coverage in the US. This is a huge coup for FSC–more programming, more advertising dollars, etc. They must be giddy thinking of programming back-to-back Champions League fixtures Tuesday & Wednesday followed by UEFA Cup Thursdays.
I suppose I’ll begin exploring my cable options this summer.
This is unfortunate. ESPN in HD but not FSC. In fact the quality of FCS broadcasts is rather amateurish.
I TiVo the Champions League from standard-def ESPN. I was not aware that they actually broadcasted in HD. Is that new this season?
Speaking of HD, I love how during EPL games on FSC they constantly run commercials for HDTVs (I think from Sharp) touting watching the “beautiful game” in HD or some such when it’s not possible considering Fox Soccer doesn’t have an HD option.
Anyway, I’m a little upset about the change. ESPN has been covering these games for like 15 years. I’ve grown accustomed to it. And from everything I’ve heard, ESPN is making a major push to increase soccer coverage: the EURO 2008 coverage was a success, UEFA scores make the Bottom Line on matchdays, and increasing soccer highlights on Sportscenter. I’d consider this a major coup by FSC to the detriment of soccer consumers.
For all you people saying your going to miss the HD on ESPN…Im wondering if you’ve ever seen HD!!!
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HD IS TERRIBLE compared to any other broadcast. Take a DVR of MLS on ESPN2, and then compare it with the quality of any foreign broadcast, and you’ll see the difference in quality (like watching Hedjuk vs. Evra).
Its all about the cameras they use, and the feed; and neither of them are as expensive or nice as the ones we use here. Get over the HD crud…it wasn’t even HD in the first place.
I can understand the comments on FSC being a bit amaturish; and being used to ESPN; and the possible coverage loss. Those are things I can see as healthy debates. But surly no one can claim that the espn2 HD was the HD we’re accustomed to on MLS days, or any other day for that matter.
Fox Soccer is purportedly going to be broadcasting in HD by the end of this year, so the HD argument is neither here nor there, really.
What seems much more pertinent to me is the argument about commentators. This could also be obviated if Fox uses the international commentary feed for the games, as rumors suggest they will, rather than their own in-studio announcers. But if they use their own people (i.e., if we’re forced to listen to Max Bretos calling Inter-Barcelona next year), this is going to turn out to be a really depressing move.
The other argument is access, and if you care about the popularity of soccer in the US, it’s a big one. ESPN reaches three times as many households and is included as part of most people’s cable packages. FSC typically requires a subscription and a cable box. On top of that, ESPN—via SportsCenter, in-game promos, etc.—promotes their coverage to a degree that FSC can’t approach. The more soccer moves from ESPN to FSC, the more it cements its status as a coterie sport.
I’m generally in favor of anything that lessens ESPN’s stranglehold on American sports culture, but I don’t know, I think this is the exception. Any insight into what UEFA is thinking with this deal?
This is terrible news. First of all, it is my understanding that Fox Soccer HQ records football matches on VHS Tape. In fact, the only explanation for the terrible quality of their broadcast is that it is the SAME VHS tape simply being recorded over and broadcast. Forget about HD, their quality is garbage by standard-def… standards. Although, there is hope that this sort of license will help them upgrade their equipment and maybe relocate from beneath the local Denny’s.
The other thing that worries me is that I know a lot of people who were starting to develop an interest/basic knowledge of soccer just because it was ON. Once it is moved to FSC, it will be again ghetto-ized to those willing to pay to see it. I’m surprised no one else is worried about this… I know quite a few people who were really starting to get interested, but I don’t think they will see much CL once it is moved to FSC. For shame.
That’s why I’m so confused about what UEFA is thinking. Surely FSC’s bid wasn’t so much greater than ESPN’s bid that it offset what UEFA stands to gain if soccer keeps growing in America.
It is a strange move considering the increase in football (soccer) highlights on Sportscenter over last several months. Looking ahead, this could be a case of ESPN transferring the money spent on the Champions League into their bid for U.S. rights to the Premier League.
I agree that my biggest concern at the moment is the announcing team. If they go with the British teams, fine. If it’s Max or anyone currently at FSC, then we have issues.
You couldn’t be more right about forcing an already cornered sport, into a dark cave. I LOVE FSC as Im sure just about everyone here does. Bobby McMahon and the rest of the guys on MON/FRI are awsome. BUT, don’t we also have to admire all that ESPN has done for soccer in the States in the last few years?
All to often something good goes unpraised. MLS Thursdays…UEFA…EUROS…WORLD CUP! We were on a roll there. On tues/weds they had 3 freaking games on!!! We should wright to ESPN and ask them…WTF?
Max might be a retard, but at least he is a retard who loves football, and not a baseball masturbator like the yahoos at Every Stinking Pitch Network …
You mean like Derek Rae?
re: commentators
Say what you will about Tommy Smyth. I don’t like him at all. But I like him better than anyone at FSC. And considering that Derek Rae is exceptional compared to Max Bretos, and almost anyone is better as an analyst than Christopher Sullivan, I’d say there is no upside whatsoever to the move to FSC unless they use the international/anglophonic feed. Although ever since the typical Premiership broadcast went to two-man booths the commentary has gotten progressively worse.
I think the point about ghettoization is a serious point. Shoehorning soccer coverage to the triple-digit channels of premium cable packages is a huge detriment to growing the sport in this country.
I’d really love to know how ESPN was outbid. Did they neglect to make a serious push because they are going to snake the EPL from Fox? Or does FSC really have the money to outbid the Worldwide Leader? And if they do have that money, couldn’t they have spared a few nickels to upgrade their studios first? [yes I know they upgraded them recently but they still look amateurish, outdone only by GolTV and the highschool football report on Sunsports in Florida]
The saddest thing about all this is that the complaints about FSC’s coverage are likely to fall on deaf ears. Anyone who’s watched college sports on the Fox cable channels knows that their coverage is awful and has complained about it for years. The issues everyone has brought up with FSC extend to their other channels, too.
Given that college basketball and football are bigger draws than soccer in this country, I’d be shocked if they address the complaints of soccer fans. I’d get used to the amateurish sets and pray they use the British announcing feeds.
Good Lord, people will complain about anything.
But daaaaaady! My new Ferrari is yellow, not REEEEEDDDD!!!!!
Better to be with people who care about the sport than a channel that would rather broadcast poker and spelling bees than give it the respect it deserves
Hey, I’m the last person to look to for a defense of ESPN in general. And their MLS announcers drive me at least as crazy as the FSC guys. But their big-match coverage—of the Champions League, of Euro 2008—is miles better than FSC’s in-house stuff.
So I don’t see this as a comparison of two Ferraris so much as a comparison of one decent midsize sports sedan and a well-meaning but ultimately slow-moving horse that adds $5 to your cable bill and just relentlessly censors Jeremy St. Louis’s Twitter account.
That said, I do think FSC is getting better, and one possible silver lining to this deal is that the exposure it brings them could force them to improve faster. Although as Ty points out, what Fox thinks of as improvement and what the viewer thinks of as improvement aren’t always convergent.
At FSC won’t preempt the a match for over-runs timber sports and monster trucks …
Derek Rae, even on mute for the past 3 years, still haunts my dreams. But if Max Bretos calls the CL games, I’m throwing out my television. And I will replace it with with an old onion bag.
The Fox Soccer Report anchors have just the one show each day, right? They always seem to be caught unaware when the show starts. Jeremy St Louis, Carlos Machado, and Derek Otherguy–all seem as befumbled by the light on top of the camera as they are by the syntax of the English language.
In regards to all this will Fox Sports en Espanol be broadcaston CL games aswell? I hope so…because It really sucks that I would have to pay extra just to get FSC.
why !!! espn has so much experience. So far i do not like the fox soccer commentators and such. And the spanish espn was great for the spanish people. Wow.
Very dissapointed.