Quote: (01-22-2012 02:15 PM)Giovonny Wrote:
Well, its a little misleading. The article makes it sound like English soccer is appearing for the first time on American TV. English soccer is nothing new to us. We have been watching the EPL for years on ESPN2. Yes, you have to pay for that channel.
Most NBA games are on ESPN or TNT, which are also paid channels.
So, I guess the only thing that's new is that we can know watch EPL games for free.
But, I know this is not your point. Your point is to address the question of how this will effect
Americas sports culture and culture in general.
My answer: Not very much. David Beckham was supposed to bring soccer to America a few years ago and not much happened.
If you're ever in SF and want to play some soccer, let me know, we play every Friday at 6pm at city college.
I actually played in a league when I lived in SF called sports4good. You heard of it? It's pretty popular. Leslie was my point of contact. I'm actually still on the e-mail listserv.
They still have a Friday night pickup that anyone can attend at Crocker-Amazon playground at 7pm. Just e-mail [email protected] if you want to attend. That's a great field.
As far as EPL, I think ESPN2 "occasionally" broadcast a few games, but you still needed a subscription to have access to the entire season, meaning that only those who were already aware and interested would go through those steps to get access. Latinos obviously have a cultural interest in soccer, so many of them would be aware. If you are a latino, Giovanny, then you can't expect your opinion to apply to the vast majority of Americans who are not. You also live in San Francisco, where soccer is very popular. In fact, they had the third-highest World Cup viewership rate in 2010, after Washington, DC and San Diego.
Now, EPL is available for everyone (even non-sports fans, let alone non-EPL fans or non-cable subscribers). We can bet that many Americans happened upon that match today just from channel-surfing, which is unprecedented for this type of soccer.
The NBA switched over to TNT and ESPN after losing popularity on non-cable channels. Those are still "basic cable" channels, not special sports channels.
If interest in soccer increases here in the US, then more money will pour in. Until you see the kind of money being offered in the NBA and NFL, American athletes won't be lured into playing soccer, and we won't have a world class team that can compete with South American and European teams. Just imagine if we had the soccer equivalent of a Lebron James....
I think the same argument could be made for MMA. As it becomes more lucrative, you'll start to see some sicker guys join in. The type of guys who would otherwise play basketball or football, yet know how to fight.