Footy broadcasting - What do we have?

[67YAZ]

there’s not a lot out there yet about how Apple will handle broadcasts and commentators, but this piece claims most matches will be called from a studio in Florida. that’s a drag.

But I’ll really miss having hometown announcers who know the club, have relationships throughout that allow them insight and tidbits that fans can’t get elsewhere. And good commentators know their in a long running, one-sided conversation with the faithful. We want them to reflect our excitement or disappointment. They don’t need to be Hawk Harrelson (no one should be, really), but there’s a bond there built over time.

It will be cool to hear Strong or Dellacamera call a Fire match. But with standardized start times, there’s going to be time with 4 or 5 matches going on at once, so they’ll definitely be some B-teams rolled out for Chicago matches.

 

[the1andonly3003]

there’s not a lot out there yet about how Apple will handle broadcasts and commentators, but this piece claims most matches will be called from a studio in Florida. that’s a drag.

But I’ll really miss having hometown announcers who know the club, have relationships throughout that allow them insight and tidbits that fans can’t get elsewhere. And good commentators know their in a long running, one-sided conversation with the faithful. We want them to reflect our excitement or disappointment. They don’t need to be Hawk Harrelson (no one should be, really), but there’s a bond there built over time.

It will be cool to hear Strong or Dellacamera call a Fire match. But with standardized start times, there’s going to be time with 4 or 5 matches going on at once, so they’ll definitely be some B-teams rolled out for Chicago matches.

The Athletic's reporting seemingly contradicts them
As Apple TV deal awaits, MLS is in a race against time to build a broadcast operation - The Athletic

 

[Senator Donut]

Pricing has been announced for "MLS Season Pass" on Apple TV:

If you are already an Apple TV+ subscriber: $12.99/month or $79/season

If you are not an Apple TV+ subscriber: $14.99/month or $99/season

 

[Jimy Hendrix]

Pricing has been announced for "MLS Season Pass" on Apple TV:

If you are already an Apple TV+ subscriber: $12.99/month or $79/season

If you are not an Apple TV+ subscriber: $14.99/month or $99/season

Wow.

That's more expensive than the ESPN+ which last year got me almost every MLS match as well as Bundesliga, La Liga, selected English cup matches & Champo matches & Eredivisie matches, etc... to say nothing of the rest of the sports it gets me.

More expensive than the Paramount+ that gets me all UEFA tournaments, Serie A, selected Scottish & South American league matches (and more Star Trek than I can eat).

That seems like a profound fuckup for any conceivable goals here other than "milk diehards" and will likely reduce my MLS watching substantially unless the free parts are more extensive than I think they are.

I don't know what they are comparing themselves to, but this seems like delusional pricing to me unless I am missing something.

 

[67YAZ]

That’s really high. I already have Apple TV+ and was hoping/expecting the package to come in at $4.99/mo.

I don’t really want to spend another $13 on streaming. Ugh.

 

[Jimy Hendrix]

I think maybe they looked at MLB.tv and NBA League Pass for direct comparison and didn't check at all what the soccer streaming landscape is. I can't see any other way they could come to this pricing conclusion.

I like MLS, but they're selling a mid-tier Android phone at iPhone Pro prices here.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

This also makes me wonder what Apple would charge for NFL Sunday Ticket (If the rumor of them taking it over hold up).

 

[steeplechase3k]

At that price I'm REALLY REALLY glad steaming access is part of my season ticket package.

 

[candylandriots]

I’ve mentioned the excellent Five Year Plan podcast a few times (Crystal Palace). I haven’t listened to it yet, but they have Palace fan Rebecca Lowe on their most recent one, for anyone interested.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fyp-podcast/id373306875?i=1000589793539

Here’s the synopsis: The final of our mini interview series is with the face of NBC's Premier League coverage in the US; Rebecca Lowe. She talks about growing up a Palace fan, Ted Lasso, the difference between football coverage in the States vs UK and answers some of your questions.

 

[the1andonly3003]

LIVE FROM THE U.K., NBC SPORTS KICKS OFF PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN FROM WORLD CUP WITH STUDIO SHOWS ON LOCATION BEGINNING ON BOXING DAY (DEC. 26) - NBC Sports PressboxNBC Sports Pressbox (nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com)

NBC Sports continue to leave Danny Higginbotham behind

 

[67YAZ]

Just because it’s funny.

 

[biollante]

Does he still sky penalty kicks ?

 

[SocrManiac]

Just the one

As an aside, young me got to spend time with some of the fringe Italian players before the WC94 Ireland match at Giants Stadium. Beppe Signori became my favorite players for years simply by how he treated my team and me. Roberto and Dino Baggio were my first direct exposure to superstardom. They were fucking cool. They had something in their energy that the Sox players I'd met up to that point (Clemens, Oil Can, Rico) didn't. I didn't get more than a high five from Roberto, but even with Covid I haven't washed that hand since.

 

[Senator Donut]

Taylor Twellman has left ESPN

View: https://twitter.com/TaylorTwellman/status/1611390907622002689

This makes sense because ESPN has exited American soccer. They've lost the rights to USSF and MLS events previously negotiated through SUM. USMNT, USWNT, and Open Cup matches will be on Warner sports and MLS and Leagues Cup matches will be on Apple TV and Fox. ESPN also does not hold any Concacaf or FIFA rights, so they are shut out virtually all USA and MLS events.

The Athletic previously reported Apple/MLS are interested in Twellman, so I'd expect him to wind up there or at Warner very soon.

 

[ernieshore]

Apple announced their broadcasters for the MLS package. I had no idea Balboa was still broadcasting.

https://frontofficesports.com/taylor-twellman-mls-apple-mls-season-pass-liam-mchugh-espn/

 

[67YAZ]

Turner & HBO also announced some of their big hires for national team matches today: Foudy, Martino, Beasley, & Boxx as analysts and alike Wileman as play-by-play.

Re: Apple & MLS - the Athletic article reports that they are still hiring more play-by-play and color commentators, but they will get fewer matches than the group announced today, who are the core group covering the most matches.

the Athletic piece also indicates Tyler Terens is among the second group, and I really hope that pans out. Terens has really grown on me as the Fire TV play-by-play guy and this is the best next step for his career. Terens grew up playing soccer, right through DIV II college ball, and cut his teeth calling 100s of college and lower professional league matches streamed online from a studio in Phoenix. He has an intuitive grasp of the sport unlike many American announcers. And he really loves the sport, he oozes that enthusiasm, which helped a lot when watching the Fire.

 

[the1andonly3003]

I am on the NBC Sports app after watching the Cs game, and noticed that all the matches on 1/21's 10am ET window are available.
Has that been a thing recently?

 

[Zososoxfan]

Do we know anything about what happened to the feed(s) during the NLD? I was furious with Peacock at first, but they certainly played it off like the whole world went dark there for a moment.

 

[Time to Mo Vaughn]

Do we know anything about what happened to the feed(s) during the NLD? I was furious with Peacock at first, but they certainly played it off like the whole world went dark there for a moment.

The Athletic claims it was only a problem for Peacock

Premier League fans were left with no coverage of the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal after the issue arose midway through the first half.

NBC Sports claimed that the coverage was unavailable worldwide, which was incorrect — the game continued to be shown on other stations around the world.

 

[Zososoxfan]

The Athletic claims it was only a problem for Peacock

Hmmm, not seeing much out there but the18.com (no idea if it's any good) parroted NBC's position that it was the world feed.

 

[the1andonly3003]

I was in a chat with ppl in the UK during the match and their feeds did not cut off. There was also no uproar on Twitter, so I'd believe this was definitely an NBC Sports issue (as opposed to Peacock app flubbing).

 

[CodPiece XL]

I happened to be watching this live today… BBC pregame coverage of Wolves v Liverpool. Now the full story behind it has come out. I was WTF?? It lasted a good few minutes.
PORN NOISES interrupt BBC's coverage of Wolves' clash with Liverpool


https://mol.im/a/11645949

 

[67YAZ]

I like what DeMarcus Beasley has to say in the HBOmax studio, but he doesn’t quite seem confident yet. He’s no smooth. He keeps stepping on his colleagues comments. Hopefully he can settle down a bit and get in the flow.

 

[the1andonly3003]

I like what DeMarcus Beasley has to say in the HBOmax studio, but he doesn’t quite seem confident yet. He’s no smooth. He keeps stepping on his colleagues comments. Hopefully he can settle down a bit and get in the flow.

Hasn't he been on the Paramount+'s UEL coverage for a while now?

 

[67YAZ]

MLS & Apple announce another 31 hires for various on-air roles to complete their team. My man Tyler Terens is in.

Studio hosts: Stefano Fusaro (Spanish), and Kaylyn Kyle.
— Match analysts: Patrice Bernier (French), Eduardo Biscayart (Spanish), Brian Dunseth, Danny Higginbotham, Cobi Jones, Devon Kerr, Jaime Macias (Spanish), Francisco Pinto (Spanish), Heath Pearce, Lloyd Sam, Ross Smith, Carlos Suarez (Spanish), and Jamie Watson.
— Studio analyst: Shep Messing
— Rules analyst: Christina Unkel
— Play-by-play: Dre Cordero, Keith Costigan, Matt Cullen (French), Kevin Egan, Mark Followill, Adrian Garcia Marquez (Spanish), Adrian Healey, Eric Krakauer, Jorge Perez-Navarro (Spanish), Francisco X. Rivera (Spanish), Mark Rogondino, Sergio Ruiz (Spanish), Tyler Terens, and Callum Williams.

 

[Arroyo Con Frijoles]

Sort of surprised Charlie Davies hasn't been tapped, assuming he wants to do it. I always liked him on Revs games, and he has had national exposure from Paramount.

 

[Senator Donut]

Sort of surprised Charlie Davies hasn't been tapped, assuming he wants to do it. I always liked him on Revs games, and he has had national exposure from Paramount.

He also calls ACC Network soccer games. Seems like he might end up in a bigger role for one of ESPN, Paramount, or Turner. The Revs also still need a radio crew.

Adrian Healey is one of my favorites in soccer broadcasting. He has a foreign accent, but he's been in American soccer for two decades now having called games for the irrelevant pre-Nichol/Mariner Revs teams. I feel like Dre Cordero got bad reviews as the lead USMNT voice for Paramount, but I like him too.

 

[Titans Bastard]

Sort of surprised Charlie Davies hasn't been tapped, assuming he wants to do it. I always liked him on Revs games, and he has had national exposure from Paramount.

On the Scuffed discord there's a guy in a position to know who says that most of the former PBP and color commentators who aren't part of the Apple project are on the outside because of choice; essentially, most people are missing because they turned down offers not because they didn't receive offers.

 

[Senator Donut]

MLS Season Pass is now available. I did some poking around before bed and there is a ton of content already populated. Most of it is filler; I don’t particularly care for lengthy videos produced by the clubs and narrated by someone like Jeff Lemieux. The drone camera series series looks promising. The MLS Icons highlight reel of Taylor Twellman was nice too. The video quality appears to be top-notch. A lot is viewable without a subscription: pretty much everything except full games.

Not sure if I’d pay $79-$99 for it if I wasn’t getting for no additional cost with my seat.

 

[67YAZ]

MLS Season Pass is now available. I did some poking around before bed and there is a ton of content already populated. Most of it is filler; I don’t particularly care for lengthy videos produced by the clubs and narrated by someone like Jeff Lemieux. The drone camera series series looks promising. The MLS Icons highlight reel of Taylor Twellman was nice too. The video quality appears to be top-notch. A lot is viewable without a subscription: pretty much everything except full games.

Not sure if I’d pay $79-$99 for it if I wasn’t getting for no additional cost with my seat.

Yeah, just starting to poke around the free options and they are a lot of fun with high production quality. A good start.

Edit: Well, one complaint. For the Fire's Top 5 goals in 2022, 4 of them use the opponent's broadcast so the experience is kind of muted.

 

[the1andonly3003]

Yeah, just starting to poke around the free options and they are a lot of fun with high production quality. A good start.

Edit: Well, one complaint. For the Fire's Top 5 goals in 2022, 4 of them use the opponent's broadcast so the experience is kind of muted.

is it an Arlo White issue?

TIL Kevin Egan is Kevin Patrick of WWE

 

[67YAZ]

is it an Arlo White issue?

TIL Kevin Egan is Kevin Patrick of WWE

I loved Arlo calling matches for Chicago. His “that’s champagne football!” was awesome. I really appreciate that Mansueto invested a lot in the broadcast - getting every match on local TV & hiring top notch announcers.

 

[the1andonly3003]

I loved Arlo calling matches for Chicago. His “that’s champagne football!” was awesome. I really appreciate that Mansueto invested a lot in the broadcast - getting every match on local TV & hiring top notch announcers.

I was wondering if Apple didn't use his commentary because Arlo declined or LIV Golf. I've noticed Arlo has been removed from the Barclays commercial

 

[Senator Donut]

I was wondering if Apple didn't use his commentary because Arlo declined or LIV Golf. I've noticed Arlo has been removed from the Barclays commercial

Arlo White is in season three of Ted Lasso so Apple doesn't seem to have a problem with his LIV Golf work.

 

[67YAZ]

I was wondering if Apple didn't use his commentary because Arlo declined or LIV Golf. I've noticed Arlo has been removed from the Barclays commercial

They did use Arlo’s call for the BGuti flick to Duran goal. But Apple didn’t use any of the other Fire broadcast calls, whether his or Terens.

Arlo was kind of a lucky circumstance for the Fire. Apparently, he has family in Chicago and spends time here each summer. So the Fire pitched him on doing matches in June/July, to which Arlo said yes, I would like to get paid while vacationing. And Terens was really graceful about it - as a young guy just breaking in, he kind of had to be - moving to a sideline reporter role for the matches Arlo called. But Arlo and Terens also did a weekly, season-long podcast together. They seemed to genuinely like working together.

Anyway, Chicago as a stand-alone organization with Mansueto’s money could swing a cushy deal with Arlo. I doubt Apple was interested in accommodating the LIV schedule just to get Arlo for a handful of matches.

 

[67YAZ]

The Revs also still need a radio crew.

The Revs have a local radio broadcast?

Chicago doesn’t, and despite some clamoring from fans who don’t want to shell out for the Apple TV+ plan, there seems to be no plans for a local broadcast. Apparently, the production cost is up near $1m and no one thinks it can come close to breaking even.

 

[Senator Donut]

The Revs have a local radio broadcast?

Chicago doesn’t, and despite some clamoring from fans who don’t want to shell out for the Apple TV+ plan, there seems to be no plans for a local broadcast. Apparently, the production cost is up near $1m and no one thinks it can come close to breaking even.

For the Revs, it’s a television simulcast, unless the match is on a national network. Apple TV is supposed to allow viewers to switch the audio to local radio.

 

[the1andonly3003]

icymi Comcast Xfinity Subs Losing Free Peacock Premium Summer 2023 - Variety

 

[joe dokes]

For the Revs, it’s a television simulcast, unless the match is on a national network. Apple TV is supposed to allow viewers to switch the audio to local radio.

Wont they just use Feldman(?) again. I thought he was pretty good. Not out of place doing soccer.

 

[the1andonly3003]

View: https://twitter.com/richarddeitsch/status/1625888289596010498?s=20


MLS pairings

 

[Senator Donut]

Feldman and Davies are returning to Revs radio in 2023. Radio broadcasts will be available through Apple TV Season Pass as well.

https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/news/revs-98-5-the-sports-hub-launch-new-saturday-soccer-show-renew-partnership

 

[swiftaw]

John Motson, who commentated for the BBC for 50 years, passed away today. So many of my childhood soccer memories were voiced by him.

 

[Arroyo Con Frijoles]

More importantly the commentator on FIFA 64, he will always mean something to me.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

More importantly the commentator on FIFA 64, he will always mean something to me.

I'm right there with you. I didn't grow up with him; but between FIFA and Youtube videos, he had a role in my enjoyment of the product. I'll always remember his reaction to Postiga's Paneka at Euro 2004 "Oh! How Cheeky can you be?". RIP.

 

[Nick Kaufman]

John Motson, who commentated for the BBC for 50 years, passed away today. So many of my childhood soccer memories were voiced by him.

My memories of the man are rather unorthodox since I 've spent more time than I care to admit editing audio files so that I can make his voice pronounce more football players for Fifa.It was a tragedy when Fifa replaced him Clive Tyldesley.

RIP.

 

[Nick Kaufman]

What I came to comment on however is that it's very interesting that Champions League games are shown on CBS at 3pm in the afternoon of a weekday. Unfortunately, it's less of a sign for the health of the game as much of a sign of the state of network TV.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

What I came to comment on however is that it's very interesting that Champions League games are shown on CBS at 3pm in the afternoon of a weekday. Unfortunately, it's less of a sign for the health of the game as much of a sign of the state of network TV.

Even Judge Judy has jumped ship.

Just got an email that CBS is launching Golazo Network on April 11. 24 hour network for global soccer coverage.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

Cross posting


Big kerfuffle at the BBC today with the broadcaster “requesting” Gary Lineker step away from his Match of the Day duties (he’s an outspoken and public critic of the Tories hateful immigration policies.

He’s getting tons of support from various politicians and the likes of Ian Wright - who’s boycotting his participation and Alan Shearer

Here’s the Guardian’s live blog on the proceedings

https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2023/mar/10/premier-league-team-news-previews-press-conferences-and-european-reaction-live?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

I think the BBC ends up caving and reinstating Lineker but if they don't then anybody who takes the scab pundit role is going to become a huge target for criticism. There are lots of memes about BoJo as presenter, etc going around Twitter right now but its honestly hard to see who is going to willingly do that.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

I think the BBC ends up caving and reinstating Lineker but if they don't then anybody who takes the scab pundit role is going to become a huge target for criticism. There are lots of memes about BoJo as presenter, etc going around Twitter right now but its honestly hard to see who is going to willingly do that.

There’s also the small issue of the Beeb’s recently appointed chairman under investigation for possibly bribery of Boris Johnson (to whom he gave £800k loan which was not divulged)

https://amp.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/12/bbc-chairman-richard-sharp-breached-standards-johnson-loan