~Soccer Thread~

[utee94]

USWNT is playing in Austin in a couple of weeks, we're taking my daughter and niece who are both very into the sport.  The USWNT will actually be playing at the new stadium for Austin FC, before the home team ever does.

[ELA]

USWNT is playing in Austin in a couple of weeks, we're taking my daughter and niece who are both very into the sport.  The USWNT will actually be playing at the new stadium for Austin FC, before the home team ever does.

I've always said, ESPN is pushing the wrong women's sports.  Volleyball and soccer are just so much better than softball and basketball IMO, as far as the women's game goes.

The last WWC was also the first time that it felt like the field was really deep enough for me to get engaged with the entire tournament.

[ELA]

Chicken and egg... Do you devote primetime major channel resources to a sport that nobody cares about, with an opportunity cost of pushing off programming that might generate higher dollar value today, in an investment in growing the game for the future? Or do you put it on the off channel [where anyone who actually cares already knows how to find it] and know that you're going to reach the die-hards regardless?

That game could have been on ESPN or ABC and I would have tuned to something else. It wouldn't have grown the sport, at least with me. Despite clearly ending up to be an exciting contest.

Yet I record every MotoGP race on NBCSN on DVR because that's what I'm into... Someone else, if MotoGP was on ESPN or ABC, would tune elsewhere, and the sport would be unlikely to grow significantly from that exposure.

I was thinking more from a U.S. soccer perspective.  CBS acquired all of the CONCACAF national team english language broadcast rights, and slapped them on CBSSN and Paramount+.

CBS' sports network has less traction than the other major networks' (ESPN, FS1, NBCSN), and you get very little cross promotion.  I'm just not sure taking the short term larger payout (granted I don't know what the other bids were) is worth the limited exposure.

And selfishly, as someone who loves international soccer, I hope all of these WC qualifiers and Gold Cup games, aren't relegated to Paramount+

[rolltidefan]

Chicken and egg... Do you devote primetime major channel resources to a sport that nobody cares about, with an opportunity cost of pushing off programming that might generate higher dollar value today, in an investment in growing the game for the future? Or do you put it on the off channel [where anyone who actually cares already knows how to find it] and know that you're going to reach the die-hards regardless?

That game could have been on ESPN or ABC and I would have tuned to something else. It wouldn't have grown the sport, at least with me. Despite clearly ending up to be an exciting contest.

Yet I record every MotoGP race on NBCSN on DVR because that's what I'm into... Someone else, if MotoGP was on ESPN or ABC, would tune elsewhere, and the sport would be unlikely to grow significantly from that exposure.

disagree. the only thing competing with this game was an absurd wwe-style "boxing" match and wcws softball. this one should have been promoted as a big deal and put on major network. soccer is now just behind bb and baseball as americans favorite sports and it's growing fast. it's also way higher than golf, tennis, boxing, gymnastics and a myriad of other sports that routinely get prime tv spots for their tournaments and finals/major games and events.

[rolltidefan]

I was thinking more from a U.S. soccer perspective.  CBS acquired all of the CONCACAF national team english language broadcast rights, and slapped them on CBSSN and Paramount+.

CBS' sports network has less traction than the other major networks' (ESPN, FS1, NBCSN), and you get very little cross promotion.  I'm just not sure taking the short term larger payout (granted I don't know what the other bids were) is worth the limited exposure.

And selfishly, as someone who loves international soccer, I hope all of these WC qualifiers and Gold Cup games, aren't relegated to Paramount+

i think i read that they'll have 6 matches on paramount+ and 8 on cbssn. but i can't find that source anymore.

[ELA]

Considering the lineup they rolled out there, tonight may have even been more impressive. They just beat the third best team in concacaf by four goals, with a bunch of kids

[utee94]

Considering the lineup they rolled out there, tonight may have even been more impressive. They just beat the third best team in concacaf by four goals, with a bunch of kids

Yup, that was fun to watch.

Also heard the broadcasters say that the Costa Rica team was able to get the vaccine whilst here in the USA, which is pretty cool.

[MaximumSam]

Really concerning situation for Denmark right now...

[TyphonInc]

Really concerning situation for Denmark right now...

Sounding like cardiac arrest. Game suspended. 

[MaximumSam]

Sounding like cardiac arrest. Game suspended.

Reports are he's in stable condition now. I was very worried he had died.

[rolltidefan]

I'm a spurs fan and Eriksen's been one of my favorite players for a while now. Terrifying to see what happened and heart warming to know he's made it out ok.

[utee94]

Yeah I was shocked as I watched that unfold.  Really glad he seems to be recovering.

[MaximumSam]

Been having a blast watching the Euros, outside of that. Getting all my World Cup feels up. Today was near perfect weather wise, we got the pool finally filled, and the kids had fun while I had the games on. I wish pro sports would take the hint that it's ok to have games at times other than 9 pm.

[ELA]

Been having a blast watching the Euros, outside of that. Getting all my World Cup feels up. Today was near perfect weather wise, we got the pool finally filled, and the kids had fun while I had the games on. I wish pro sports would take the hint that it's ok to have games at times other than 9 pm.

The Euros are great.

I wish they could incorporate the continental tournaments into the WC qualifying.  Aside from hating the expansion of the World Cup for formatting purposes, I also hate diminishing the qualifying process, which IMO is underrated.

I wish there was a way to make the entire qualifying process a bigger deal, and selling the World Cup as truly just the finals.