Premiere League soccer coverage unacceptable

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Author: Joe Siegal

Although soccer has been steadily gaining popularity among U.S. fans in recent years, American mainstream media coverage of the sport’s top leagues has often been lackluster. ESPN and FOX, two of the hegemonic powers in American sports television, have dropped the ball on much of their promotion and presentation of international soccer, especially with their limited broadcasts of the English Premier League. This month, NBC outbid a dual ESPN and FOX plan to win the broadcast rights for the Premier League for the next three seasons, promising American soccer fans an improved level of live content. Perhaps more importantly though, NBC’s plan takes another step towards top level soccer becoming more of a household presence in the United States.

While ESPN’s sporadic reporting on the United States Men’s National Team and Major League Soccer (MLS) is somewhat passable, the network often ignores the world’s most popular sport, instead focusing on seemingly endless coverage and inane debates on the machinations of the National Football League (NFL), college football, National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB). Though the network broadcasts one or two Premier League games each weekend morning, soccer coverage almost always ends there. ESPN’s flagship show, SportsCenter, rarely even mentions soccer, even after important results or major player transfer news. Fans likely have to turn to the internet to find reporting, commentary and highlights on the exciting end of the Premier League season. At the same time, FOX, which also held the rights to the Premier League through this season, often relegated games to its cable-only FOX Soccer Channel, out of the reach of many American fans.

NBC, realizing the demand for better Premier League coverage, plans to broadcast every single league game next year, whether on the main, national NBC network, on cable subsidiaries or, most interestingly, online. As more and more sports leagues and networks begin to embrace the internet as a delivery method for live content, NBC has potentially tapped into another important market: younger, internet-oriented fans who prefer to watch a game online rather than on television.

The growing popularity of soccer among young American fans is undeniable. Around American cities, the replica jerseys of popular clubs and players have become as easy to spot as those of NFL or NBA stars, and bars are often jammed with rabid Premier League fans braving the time difference between the U.S. and England to watch games early on Saturday and Sunday mornings. In terms of economics, the sport is clearly becoming highly marketable in America with a valuable demographic of fans, perhaps explaining why NBC would take a $250 million gamble on broadcasting the Premier League.

The increase in the prevalence of American soccer coupled with increased exposure and media coverage of top leagues like the Premier League can only be seen as a good sign. Allotting more time to broadcast one of the sport’s best leagues will only serve to both fuel soccer’s growth in America in future years and cement the sport’s place as a major presence in the American sports media.

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