Sounders FC TV Deal

WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! They made a tv deal with frickin King-5!!!! Now only those people west of the cascades are able to watch the Sounders and that fan base stops at the Vancouvers. WTF?!?!?! They have an NBA announcer announcing the games and I won't be able to watch any of their games except on stupid anti-football ESPN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF?!?!?! :x :x :x :x :x :x

 

I'm not complaining, in HD most likely... but then again I'm west of the mountains.

And as far as their announcer goes, Kevin Calabro is fun. He is by far my favorite, and in my opinion, best NBA announcer out there. The Sonics were extremely lucky he never went network. I have no idea how he'll be for soccer but I'm excited to find out and excited his voice will still be in Seattle. He's done football before so maybe he can do soccer. I'm open to the idea.

 

Well hello live internet feeds.... Well a spokane station (all of them low quality....) did broadcast Sonics games as they were blacked out over here maybe I'll luck out but I doubt it.

 

Now, I love Seattle,

but,

how any city can let the Sonics leave without rioting (yet go under marshall law when the WTO shows up) deserves whatever it gets.

Which is not being able to have me as a viewer. Ballard really should leave that city...

 

First, every franchise goes through this sort of thing. The KEY thing is that it's televised ANYWHERE. At least it would be televised and that means you can at least watch it on MLSNet. The package is a good deal.

Second MLS and US Soccer owes a lot to ABC/ESPN, I wouldnt bash them too much if I were you... we've had several threads on this.

MOST MLS deals are with Cable channels, I think most of them with Fox Sports Net regional. Columbus however is back with Ohio News Network after a metro cable sports channel folded. Crew was the prime offering along with the Arena Football and Lacrosse teams.

Like I said... being televised at all is the key. Otherwise you are forced to MLSNet and watching the opponent's broadcast. Which will still happen a lot, even if.

 

DC United is on Comcast Sportsnet (Mid-Atlantic) and often, only tape-delayed. i.e., you shouldn't complain.

Local channels is actually one advantage we have over European teams. There really are no market-specific channels in Europe so those teams don't have the ability to benefit from both a local TV deal and the national one the league signs.

 

We are spolied here in Boston. Those MLS games not shown on ESPN ect are shown on a local over the air station TV38 that all local cable stations get. I also read some where that the Rev's are the only MLS team that has had every one of their MLS games shown on TV since they began.

 

Re: RE: Sounders FC TV Deal

You are right Jim. I also recall seeing a couple games this year on Comcast Sports Net - the old Fox Sports. Feldman and Lalas do a decent job broadcasting being that they are also on top of the EPL and the rest of Europe.

 

RE: Re: RE: Sounders FC TV Deal

Well at least on the east side there was no tv coverage whatsoever of the USL except when I had a free preview of FSC and I'm pretty sure there was sparse coverage on the west side. Now I'm not saying that very few people will get to see the televised games its just that those with satellite on the east side of the state get Spokane stations and as such won't be able to watch them. Not even tape-delayed. I'm not bashing ESPN/ABC either i'm just very angry that I won't be able to watch the Sounders on tv except maybe 3 times a year. The MLSNet package is also void in that I do not have a credit card or any means of income (yet) as a poor high school kid. If they had done it through FSN I would be a much happier camper.

 

RE: Re: RE: Sounders FC TV Deal

FSN would never take it. They show Mariners games nearly every day of the month, and with MLB playing exactly the same time as MLS, it wouldn't happen

 

RE: Re: RE: Sounders FC TV Deal

Very true........ Anyone for a traditional european schedule? Just kidding but I'm still quite angry at dish network, they are the true ones at fault here by offering mediocre local channels. Too bad companies turn your hate mail into another address to add to their mailing list for promotional offers.

 

RE: Re: RE: Sounders FC TV Deal

its only ten bucks a month more for FSC and GolTV. I upgraded not too long ago and it was certainly worth it. Maybe you can convince your parents to split it with you, the upgrade comes with all sorts of channels, like the travel channel, military channel, national geographic channel, etc.

 

RE: Re: RE: Sounders FC TV Deal

I've been working on that one for awhile. Hopefully I'm making progress. I'm trying to play the "birthday present" card so hopefully that works :wink: