NBCSN already have a big impact on EPL ratings

This past weekend kick off the start of the Premier League on NBCSN and it has been a success at least from a ratings point of view. According to Richard Deitsch, the media reporter for Sports Illustrated, NBCSN saw a 67 percent increase in ratings over last years opening weekend, which was broadcast on ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel. That is an amazing number and shows the continued growth of the sport in this country.

Premier League Coverage is No Longer a Joke

For years American fans of the Premier League have had to deal with low budget Fox Soccer Channel, now that has all changed.  Premier League is making inroads into American culture and that is expected to continue as NBC Sports Network takes over coverage of the League in America.

Live Blog: FA COMMUNITY SHIELD

David Moyes leads Manchester United in his first trophy against Wigan in the Community Shield, live coverage tomorrow starting at 8:30 a.m.

You don't know what got till its gone

For the last decade and a half Fox Soccer has been the voice of the Barclays Premier League in this country and that ended on Sunday. It's going to be sad not to have the EPL on FSC. While FSC has made it's mistakes over the years if it was not for them the EPL would not have the footprint that it has in this country.

I remember the days of the premier league having one match a week on pay per view I remember having to watch the games on my girl friend fathers chipped box and that was less than a decade ago. The one game that I remember from that pay per view era was the game that Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira getting into their tunnel bust up at Highbury. That seems like a lifetime ago at this point.

On the last Sunday of the season, you could watch every game that played. That just seemed like a dream 10 years ago. 

Next year the Premier League will be on NBC Sports.The plan is to show every game on a bunch of devices. So good luck to them next year, but lets not forget what FSC has done for soccer in this country and the impact that they have had on Premier League in this country. Because of them names like Rooney, Terry, Wenger, are as well known as James, Brady and Kane.

Maybe Gus Johnson is not that bad; I'm just a Euro Snob

Its been three months Fox unveiled Gus Johnson as its voice of soccer and it has come with mixed reviews. Some say he is ok, while other say he is terrible. I think that I sit somewhere in the middle between disaster and good start.

Here is my question, is the issue with Gus Johnson tied to the fact that most American soccer fans are Euro Snobs and I include my self in that. Will any American voice be treated with the respect that we give people like Ian Darke or Martin Tyler. The answer is simply no. Hey look the voice of American soccer is Ian Darke, not exactly your typical American. American soccer fans don't want Dick Vitale on the call and that is exactly what Gus is doing. We like announcers to take it slow and allow the game to breath because most American soccer fans are just Euro Snobs.

I listened to Gus's call of Ben Watson 91st minute winner in the FA Cup final vs Manchester City and it was a good call. It was not your typical English call with flowing pros, it was a call full of emotion and gave you an idea of how much of an upset it was.

While Gus has some work to do, he is getting better. Maybe us Euro Snobs who love European soccer should maybe give Gus a chance.

This is Gus Baby

This is not Dave O'Brien at the World Cup, but I was afraid that it would be. Gus Johnson became the voice of soccer on Fox Sports when he called the first leg of the Champions League epic clash between Real Madrid and Manchester United.

For a first outing it was not that bad. I was at work for the game, so I listened to it on Sirius and they used the Fox Sports audio featuring Johnson and Warren Barton. To be honest, I'm not the biggest Johnson fan to begin with. Never been a huge fan of his over the top style.

But to his credit he was a true professional during the game, he seemed to do a great deal of research in preparing for the game and that showed during the broadcast.

My concern about Gus was that he would not let the game breath and he allowed the game to breath, which was good to see. What makes English announcers so good is that they don't talk over everything and Gus did not. Fair play to him.

Gus said a couple of little things that annoyed me, the main one being when he called the ball a "football"

I think that Awful Announcing summed up Gus's performance perfectly.

"Gus didn't sound like a basketball announcer calling soccer, he sounded like a soccer announcer,'' Awful announcing wrote. "The rhythm of his calls and his excitement as the action reaches a crescendo is a fantastic pairing."

Comcast Fail

I know soccer in the United States is not at the level of other sports but the least Comcast could do is get the names of the teams playing right. On Sunday, Comcast put on their guide Manchester United vs. Tottenham. Small problem it was not United playing but rather their arch rivals Manchester City. How could you mess that up. It would be like putting the Cowboys when the Eagles are playing the Packers. Lets hope Comcast sorts this type of stuff out.

Fox Soccer Fail

First it was ESPN.com screwing up now it's Fox Soccer. During the Spurs Newcastle game, FSC said that Emmanuel Adebayor was coming on to replace Gylfi Sigurosson. Small problem Adebayor is still a Manchester City player even though he spent last season on loan at Spurs. I know it's the first week of the season but this can't happen.

Super Sunday EPL Style

The defining Sunday of the Season

Fox Soccer has been promoting this Sunday Premier League games as "Epic Sunday,'' for once this is not over hype. The doubleheader of Manchester City vs. Spurs and Manchester United vs. Arsenal will go a long way toward telling us who will be lifting the trophy in May.

A City win in the early game and a Arsenal win in the late game could all but end the title race. If that happens, City would have a 6 point lead over United and an 8 point lead of Spurs. If Spurs and United both win the title race could still have a long way to go, then United would be level with City on points and Spurs would be two points back of the top two.

I can't remember a day of games that has the potential to impact the Premier League title race like this one can. This is shaping up to be a classic day. At the end of the season, we will look back on Jan. 22 as either the day the title race ended or the day it was blown wide open.

Fox might have something

More then a week ago, Fox tried something new and they were rewarded for it. After showing the Manchester United vs. Chelsea game live on FSC, the network decided to show the game on their regular Fox stations after the local NFL was over.

In Philly it was during the 1 p.m., while in other cities it was the 4 p.m. slot. While showing soccer games on tape delay sounds like a bad idea, it did not turn out that way for Fox. According to industry reports the game had 2.5 million viewers making it the most watched Premier League game ever.

Now here is the question, would Fox be willing to do that every week. So lets the Eagles are playing at 4 p.m. on Fox would they show the Sunday 11 a.m. game on tape delay on that Fox station at 1 p.m.. Traditional stations that have a late game  show infomericals during the time leading up to game and the same thing with an early NFL game with respect to the late slot. Now the ratings might not be the same for a game that features Aston Villa and QPR, but it would increase the footprint of the league on network television and might drum up a lot of interesting. So what's the risk.

MLS deal shows NBC/Comcast is ready for primetime

I know a secondary Major League Soccer television package is not a big deal, but for NBC/Comcast it shows that they are ready to get involved in all sports.

On Tuesday Major League Soccer announced games will be televised by NBC's networks starting next season, doubling the number of homes that dozens of games will be available in.    The package currently on Fox Soccer Channel will move mainly to the NBC Sports Network, Versus' new name beginning Jan. 2. The cable channel will air 38 regular-season games, three playoff games and two U.S. men's national team matches each year. NBC will broadcast two regular-season MLS games, two playoff games and two national team appearances under the three-year contract announced Wednesday.

In addition to the Major League Soccer deal, NBC/Comcast has been rumoured to get involved in the bidding for the Big East football rights package that is up after the year. I know its only the Big East, but it shows that these two giants are ready to really get involved in big time college football and challenge the ABC/ESPN group.

Anytime you create competition for something its a good thing and in tv its no different and these two moves show that NBC/Comcast is committed to being a player in sports television. 

Craig Burley owes Nani something

While yesterday was not the greatest day to be a Manchester United fan, it was made worst by  the action of TV Commentator Craig Burley on FSC. During the game Jamie Carragher slide into Nani with studs showing creating a huge gash on the Portuguese winger leg. After the tackle Nani went down and check then injury and then went running over to the ref asking for a red card and then falling down again in pain.

While this was all going on Burley went off on the winger questioning his tactics and basically calling him a cheat. After the match was over photos came out that showed the severity of the Nani injury, it looked like someone took  a knife to his leg.

The one thing that got lost on Burley was the fact that Carragher should have been shown the door for his tackle, it was studs up and high, not at one point during this rant did Burley go off on Carragher for the irresponsible challenge. I think that has something to do with Carragher being English, but that is another story for another day.

While I'm not saying Nani was in the right in his actions, but Burley was not right to question the players injury and he should apologize for his comments. 

Is the Premier League Coming to ESPN3.com?

During halftime of the Netherlands vs. Uruguay World Cup semifinal yesterday, I was looking at the ESPN3.com schedule for soccer during the upcoming months and one thing that I found surprised me. Listed on Aug. 14 at 7:30 a.m. is the Barclays Premier League, there were no teams listed but same type listing was also scheduled for Aug. 21. Last year, ESPN3.com, then ESPN360 was not able to show the games on their Internet network because of an agreement with FSC, but if they worked this out, it would be a great service for fans. With the Barclays Premier League on board, the streaming network now features the German League, Italian League, Spanish League, Dutch League, and Portuguese League. Now that is a network for soccer.

I don't know if this is a misprint or something like that, but bringing the Premier League would be great for people who don't have access to a tv during the game and have to be by a computer. I was wondering if anyone out there had any further information about this.

The Growth of Network

For the last couple of years, Gol TV has been thought of the third network of soccer in the United States, but over the last couple of months that appears to be changing. Gol TV has updated its network a lot in order to rival Setanta and FSC.

The biggest change for Gol TV has been the updating of their graphics. In the past it looked like a middle schooler did all of the graphics on a Commodore 64, but that all appears to be a thing of the past now. The graphics on shows such of Gol TV news seem to be cleaner and more eye catching.

In addition to the updated graphics the network has decided to add more program to the network. Show the like the Art of Football allow viewers to see inside the game. The network also continues a ton of soccer, including the German, Spanish, and a number of South American League.

It's only a matter of time before people start to sit up and notice the improvements that the Tampa based network has made.

Weekend Soccer Thoughts

The domestic season in Germany and EPL kicked off in a big way this weekend and Olympic soccer and the Spanish Super Cup. Wow what a weekend.

Community Shield thoughts

The league season is almost here and the FA held the Community Shield Sunday with United winning another one over Portsmouth.

Here are some thoughts from the game:
• I can not believe that FSC stopped showing the game so Webster read the lineup. Why not just run them across the bottom.
• After being open for a year, the FA needs to do something about the field at Wembley.
• Gotta love the Pompey Chimes.
• No matter the position Fletcher and O'Shea are always there to play.
• I know it was only a friendly type game, but Portsmouth are going to miss Sulley Muntari. There midfield lack that driving force.
• It's so good to hear Martin Tyler and Robbie Earle again its like an old friend returning.
• Defoe and Crouch are going to be a good strike force, but they are going to need service.
• Tevez is an animal from tracking back to creating chances, he has a great passion for the shirt.
• Frazier Campbell is going to play a key roll in United title defenses, no wonder why Sir Alex wants no part of loaning the youngster out to Hull City again.
• Is there a better goalkeeper in world in then EVDS against the penalties.

D-Day in the EPL

Since mid August teams have been battling for the throphy with the crown on it and it came down to last day. Here are some random thoughts during the day.

• As a United fan it started really well as at church the priest was dressed in his best reds. Was that a good omen,we will all know later.
• Nothing is like the final day, drama all over the table. Hey Liverpool would never say that because they treat fourth like the new first.
• Not a great day for John Terry, first he wears the wrong shorts for the new jersey's then he does not make it to the end of the first half because of a serious arm injury.
• Peter Cech looked like a big orange in the new Chelski goal keeping shirt.
• Glad to see Gary Megson is sporting the latest in Cheslski hats.
• I guess the players at Man City really wanted Sven back 8 -1. I guess that is a no.
• It's a great day for all the Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump Family as United are crowned champions and Fulham USA avoid the Fizzy Pop League.
• Every year people talk about great escapes. Is Fulham's escape up there with West Ham from last year and West Brom from a couple of years ago?
• Everyone kills FSC for their coverage of the EPL but props to them for going to the Setanta coverage of the trophy presentation.
• I know it's in Italy but are Inter going through the greatest choke ever.

FSC should look to Russia

With the English and the Italian seasons coming to close, FSC is going to be light on program over the next couple of months, but that does not really have to happen. In order to keep program fresh FSC should look to one of the ever growing leagues in the world, no not MLS, but the Russian Premier League.

I know what people are thing, what the Russian Premier League. Just think about it, because of the weather situation in Russia the season runs from March to November, which would cover the problem areas in FSC schedules, hey who wants to see reruns of a Crew vs. Rapids game. Another thing that might make it attractive to FSC is that the contract might come on the cheap, which is a good thing for the network.

Over the last couple of years, the Russian League has show how good it is. This year Zenit St. Petersburgh has made a great run to the UEFA Cup semi-finals. The Russian League has even had a UEFA Cup winner in CSKA Moscow in 2005. The growth is going to continue with more and more rich Russians investing money in the league, just think little bitty Romans running around.

Besides the money and the schedule, the league features quality players like Vanger Love and Jo. It might be nice to see a different kind of football on TV, so come FSC go out and try to get this contract.

Map courtesy of Bills Sports Map.