Footy broadcasting - What do we have?

Senator Donut

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Apr 21, 2010
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SI's Brian Strauss has way more details:

https://www.si.com/soccer/2022/06/14/mls-apple-partner-broadcast-tv-rights-media-deal

Club-specific, regional broadcasts will end following the 2022 season

MLS and Apple will share some of the subscription revenue with Apple making a guarantee to MLS and footing production costs

Linear networks like ESPN, Fox or Univision are still in frame to negotiate a broadcast deal, but those games will still be on Apple

Matches will have standardized start times and a whip-around red zone-style show to take advantage of simultaneous matches

MLS full-season ticket holders will receive a complementary subscription
 

SocrManiac

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Apple revolutionized how we purchase music, at least until streaming came along and fucked artists right over. I wouldn't mind if they revolutionized how we consume sports and other media.
 

67YAZ

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I’ll be interested to see who calls the matches, especially with synchronized start times. They’ll need a deep bench.

I’m going to miss Tony Meola, summer matches with Arlo….and even Tyler Terens is growing on me. I’ll really miss the insider knowledge and access they have as the local guys.
 

ThePrideofShiner

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I posted about it in the MLS thread, but didn't realize there is a discussion here.

I love this move. Currently as a Sounders fan, I can watch non-national TV broadcasts on Amazon Prime - but only if I'm physically in the state of Washington (or I could use a VPN or something, I suppose). Which is stupid. When I lived in Idaho I rarely ever got to see the team play.

Also, season ticket holders get this for free. That is amazing also.
 

Senator Donut

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Apr 21, 2010
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I’ll be interested to see who calls the matches, especially with synchronized start times. They’ll need a deep bench.

I’m going to miss Tony Meola, summer matches with Arlo….and even Tyler Terens is growing on me. I’ll really miss the insider knowledge and access they have as the local guys.
Arlo already lends his voice to Ted Lasso so there's some synergy there.

Unfortunately, almost all of the league's local broadcasters are about about to get pink slipped, so Apple is going to have a deep pool of talent to choose from. It seems like Apple was picking from scraps for its baseball coverage, but it shouldn't have any issues there.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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This will be a downgrade for me in pure "price versus how many games I can access" compared to the current EPSN+ deal as it's a new service one would pay for on top of AppleTV, but is seems like an upgrade in a lot of ways and a very good deal for both parties.

I'm fascinated by the fact that it's global rights as well, which seems to almost never happen for sports.

MLS must be delighted now that one of the world's largest companies is now incentivized to promote their league across the US and the whole world, particularly compared to the ESPN "dump it all on plus as content for those who care but don't make too much of an effort to promote it" style.

Finally, as a certified Apple Dipshit, I will also admit that I am super into their real Apple-ish presentation style on their baseball games and will likely also be pretty into whatever the soccer version winds up being.
 

Senator Donut

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Apr 21, 2010
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Finally, as a certified Apple Dipshit, I will also admit that I am super into their real Apple-ish presentation style on their baseball games and will likely also be pretty into whatever the soccer version winds up being.
The picture quality and presentation have been phenomenal for the Friday night Apple TV+ baseball games. It's the best thing I watch that isn't 4K or HDR. I love the scorebug, lower thirds, and transition effects. The live probability is a cool idea that needs some refinement.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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The picture quality and presentation have been phenomenal for the Friday night Apple TV+ baseball games. It's the best thing I watch that isn't 4K or HDR. I love the scorebug, lower thirds, and transition effects. The live probability is a cool idea that needs some refinement.
Yeah, those numbers are fun but did not pass the "I've watched baseball before" sniff test, and not in a fun Freakonomics "you thought you knew but you were wrong!" way but a dumb way. The graphics are great though which is mostly what I am into there.
 

67YAZ

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Arlo already lends his voice to Ted Lasso so there's some synergy there.

Unfortunately, almost all of the league's local broadcasters are about about to get pink slipped, so Apple is going to have a deep pool of talent to choose from. It seems like Apple was picking from scraps for its baseball coverage, but it shouldn't have any issues there.
I wonder if they'll take a run at Arlo as their #1 since he was conflicted out due to NBC's Golf Channel...
 

Rusty Gate

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Don't remember ever reading a comments section about a sportscaster like that. Dozens of positive reviews without a single negative comment. I agree.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Don't remember ever reading a comments section about a sportscaster like that. Dozens of positive reviews without a single negative comment. I agree.
The NBC PL team is the best I can remember for any sport in my lifetime.
 

SocrManiac

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I don’t watch much sport outside of footy and F1. Whenever I venture into something else I’m jarred by how spoiled I am by Lowe and her buddies. Fun without being overbearing, informative without pandering, and respectful of the audience. They don’t shout over each other as a rule, they don’t think they’re more important than the sport they’re covering, and they’re not making lowest denominator jokes and laughing like 8 year olds. They’ve hit upon a great formula and I’m glad it’s going to continue.
 

Kliq

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I don’t watch much sport outside of footy and F1. Whenever I venture into something else I’m jarred by how spoiled I am by Lowe and her buddies. Fun without being overbearing, informative without pandering, and respectful of the audience. They don’t shout over each other as a rule, they don’t think they’re more important than the sport they’re covering, and they’re not making lowest denominator jokes and laughing like 8 year olds. They’ve hit upon a great formula and I’m glad it’s going to continue.
IMO this is kind of the standard for a lot of sports outside the NBA/NFL which have fairly toxic coverage. NASCAR has a similar fun vibe as the EPL (which includes NBC and FOX broadcasts) and MLB typically does as well.
 

speedracer

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Surely they'll bring back Derek Rae for whichever group has the hardest-to-pronounce surnames (I'm thinking Group A right now)?
 

SocrManiac

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Just remember, folks, Fox was grooming Gus Johnson to be the voice of their WC coverage. They could play nothing but a stream of bluegrass and cow farts and we'll still come out ahead of the original plan.
 

Senator Donut

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Apr 21, 2010
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View: https://twitter.com/arlowhite/status/1532477298208825377?s=20&t=CoWHgg9zWPLpcFnSxZJg9g


one thing I'll add is that as much as Arlo White was "the" voice for NBC, their coverage is also the sum of all the commentators from the world feed. For nine seasons we've been able to get both Drury and Arlo throughout each season and that wasn't a bad thing. Now we just get one of them (unless Arlo heads over to the world feed, and he ends up on NBC airwaves anyways - that would be fun)
Drury has been great on this match based on the NBC highlights I watched at halftime. The person doing the world feed (which is what I watched) has been okay, not entirely sure who he is.

It had been pretty neat getting to pick between Drury and White for the big NBC Saturday match.
 

the1andonly3003

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Jul 15, 2005
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Drury has been great on this match based on the NBC highlights I watched at halftime. The person doing the world feed (which is what I watched) has been okay, not entirely sure who he is.

It had been pretty neat getting to pick between Drury and White for the big NBC Saturday match.
Jim Proudfoot appears to have been bumped up to Peter Drury's assignments on the world feed
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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I don’t watch much sport outside of footy and F1. Whenever I venture into something else I’m jarred by how spoiled I am by Lowe and her buddies. Fun without being overbearing, informative without pandering, and respectful of the audience. They don’t shout over each other as a rule, they don’t think they’re more important than the sport they’re covering, and they’re not making lowest denominator jokes and laughing like 8 year olds. They’ve hit upon a great formula and I’m glad it’s going to continue.
They genuinely seem to respect and enjoy each other too.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Starting on 9/1, Peacock is offering $1.99 per month or $19.99 for the year for new customers during September. This is for the plans with ads.
 

Zososoxfan

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Starting on 9/1, Peacock is offering $1.99 per month or $19.99 for the year for new customers during September. This is for the plans with ads.
I just renewed. I'm wondering if I should cancel (effective about a month from now), and sign up again to take advantage of the promotion.
 

Zososoxfan

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Paramount Press Express | CBS Sports | Releases
Cordero and Hudson replace Dury/Beglin on CBS as the #2 team on UCL
I know it's not a popular opinion, but give me Ray over any drab color guy any day. Maybe he'll tone it down a bit now that he's on a major broadcast network, but probably not. But he was a terrific guy to listen to cover Messi's prime. As his over-the-top exuberance was actually matched by the things Messi does on a field.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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candylandriots

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This may not be new, but I don't recall seeing this. I'm watching the Revierderby on ESPN+. The ads on the ring around the stadium is being projected on the screen and is not what is actually on the wall around the stadium. I don't think I'm doing a good job of describing this because I don't know the exact terminology, but if you look on ESPN+ now you will see what I mean. What the fans are seeing on the short wall around the field is different from what is on TV.
 

SocrManiac

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Customizing ad boards for the audience has felt inevitable for awhile. It’s not hard to do with the technology available. Many European ads are wasted on US viewers, why not target appropriately?
 

candylandriots

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Customizing ad boards for the audience has felt inevitable for awhile. It’s not hard to do with the technology available. Many European ads are wasted on US viewers, why not target appropriately?
Yeah - it totally makes sense. And actually didn’t look too bad. None of it “spilled” at all…just looked like a strip of VR in the middle of R. I just hadn’t recalled seeing it, and I’ll expect, like you, that we will see more.
 

Senator Donut

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Apr 21, 2010
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Yeah - it totally makes sense. And actually didn’t look too bad. None of it “spilled” at all…just looked like a strip of VR in the middle of R. I just hadn’t recalled seeing it, and I’ll expect, like you, that we will see more.
It’s looked awful at the start of the match when the home crowd was setting off flares. The stadium was covered in a layer of smoke except the advertisements which were clear as day. After that though, I hardly noticed it. I probably would not have even noticed if it weren’t for the pyrotechnics.
 

the1andonly3003

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SocrManiac

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Didn't Donovan redefine monotone delivery? For some reason that's the only thing that sticks out in my mind about his work.
 

67YAZ

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No Meola? Boooooo.

But building the studio show around Deuce guarantees fun.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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No Meola? Boooooo.

But building the studio show around Deuce guarantees fun.
Derek Rae and Aly Wagner is probably the best team on the list, although I am sure Darke/Donovan are getting all the USMNT games.
 

Senator Donut

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Apr 21, 2010
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Derek Rae and Aly Wagner is probably the best team on the list, although I am sure Darke/Donovan are getting all the USMNT games.
Strong-Holden are listed as the "lead" team in their press release, so I'd assume it would be them. Maybe they throw Darke a bone and let him call the England match, but I wouldn't count on it. Most importantly, Fox is sending everyone to Qatar (obviously a much easier travel tournament than Russia 2018 or United 2026) so no calling games off monitors.