Letting Product Spoil
So the U.S. National soccer team just stole a victory at the last second and defeated Mexico 1-0 at the Cotton Bowl. They dominated Los Tricolores all night but only managed their goal off a free kick deep into stoppage time. It was a great match, exciting throughout between two squads that have really become bitter rivals in the last 5 years. The hate and bitterness on the pitch was palpable. You gotta love it.

But of course, if ESPN shows it on SportsCenter, it’ll just be a quick 5 second highlight squeezed in towards the end of the hour. And that’s still a pretty big if that they’ll show it at all.

This makes no sense. Why would a network which has millions of dollars invested in the MLS, the National Teams (both men’s and women’s), and the UEFA Champions League continue to ignore their property? Tend to your garden, fuckwits!

How are the ESPN execs expecting the ratings and interest in their soccer telecasts to increase? Having the SportsCenter anchors disparage the sport 90 percent of the (rare) time a soccer highlight is shown won’t do it. They’re sitting on a gold mine, and shitting on it.

I know more people who regularly watch soccer than watch the NBA and the NHL. I haven’t watched a single NBA game this year, and maybe 3 NHL games. But MLS, English Premier League, Argentine Liga Primera, German Bundesliga, I’m addicted. And most of those matches are on Fox Sports World. Rupert Murdoch may be a completely evil douchebag, but if I met him in a sports bar I’d buy him a beer. Soccer, rugby, Aussie Rules Football, these things redeem him from being a total fascist bastard in my skewed mind.

Would it kill ESPN to give MLS a few more minutes’ attention each night, especially after the NBA and NHL playoffs are over? I certainly would rather see Freddy Adu, Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, and Fabian Taylor goalscoring highlights instead of more Kobe Bryant rape trial bullshit. Wouldn’t you?

I know ESPN already makes a killing on soccer telecasts on their International networks overseas, but why let the sport rot here at home? I guarantee if they showed 5-10 minutes of MLS highlights on game nights, within a month they would double their ratings for MLS matches. And I might watch SportsCenter more often (i.e., nine times a day) outside of the NFL season.
- posted by Liebs @ 8:00 PM