very very important regarding us-mexico wcq on tv
So eventually today I will be making an ESPYs post (i found so many pictures omg) but I feel that this is a more pressing matter, so I'm posting this now and that later. Crossposted from ontd_football and typically I'd apologize for you guys seeing this more than once but this is just too important.
As most of you in the US know (and many of you elsewhere are aware of this as well), soccer coverage in the US on basic cable packages pretty much sucks. ESPN has games every now and then, but most of the time they're pushed to ESPN2, ESPN Classic, or ESPN Deportes, which aren't always available everywhere. Most of the time you have to pay extra for Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV, or Setanta Sports (or you add it on as part of a sports package where you get a bunch of channels you never watch). Spanish language broadcasts are a bit more frequent (although I only get Univision and there's harly ever any sports there, mostly it's Telefutura I think) but not everyone gets those channels.
Next month, the USMNT will be headed to Mexico City for a very important World Cup qualifier against Mexico. I'm going to make a bold statement here and say that it's the most important qualifier for us. Mexico have already tried to knock us down a notch by scheduling the match at 4 PM EST, during the hottest, most humid part of the day. The US has never won at the Azteca EVER and with the squad we have now and the form we were in for the last three Confederation's Cup games, winning in Mexico is DEFINITELY a possibility.
HOWEVER, most of us won't be able to see it on television. Why, you ask? Basically, ESPN won't be carrying the ridiculously important US-Mexico World Cup qualifier next month. They decided it was too expensive to buy the English language rights from Telemundo, a Spanish-language channel that is part of the NBC Universal network. And that's understandable, since they apparently really jacked up the price because they knew it'd be in demand. But that leaves no English-language broadcast. NBC Universal had the bright idea to use their ties with Telemundo to broadcast it in English...on mun2. I had actually never heard of this channel until yesterday when I read about this. Apparently it is a bilingual channel aimed at the Hispanic 18-34 demographic. And it's only available to 30.4 million homes in the US, which isn't a lot of people. So hardly anyone is going to be able to watch this match. However, most people in the US get the USA network, which is part of NBC Universal. Do you know what they are showing during the time that the game would air? Reruns of House and NCIS, which, although they are good shows, are not crucial to watch and could either be aired on a different day or a different time or something. But of course they aren't, because this is America, and the mainstream media hates soccer.
DON'T YOU AGREE THAT THIS IS A TRAGEDY OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE? YOU SHOULD. SO THAT MEANS YOU WANT TO HELP OUT, RIGHT? :D
Well, you can. First off, you can sign this petition. It's unofficial, but when I signed it there were almost 500 signatures and this thing started yesterday, so if you sign this and send it to people, tweet it to everyone, put a link on facebook, whatever you want to do, you'd be helping out. Here's a premade tweet that you can just copy and paste: Any chance you want to help with campaign to get the US-Mexico world cup qual on a decent channel? Petition http://snurl.com/nbas2
Another way you can help is to post this tweet:
@universalsports Hey, did you know that most of us don't get Mun 2? USA vs Mexico on USA Network! Can't ignore us. #usmexicotv
That's the official twitter for NBC Universal Sports, who have the rights. Or you can send whatever you want about it to them, I don't care really as long as it gets sent.
A third way (which actually has more ways in it!) would be to go to Matchfit USA's article which gives more details about the situation and has more things you can do to help. One of these ways is emailing NBC Universal network officials- they have a template email that you can just copy, paste, edit, and send to the NBC people whose email addresses they also give.
If you were to do all of this, it would maybe take 5 minutes out of your day. I think you can sacrifice that in the name of soccer.
As most of you in the US know (and many of you elsewhere are aware of this as well), soccer coverage in the US on basic cable packages pretty much sucks. ESPN has games every now and then, but most of the time they're pushed to ESPN2, ESPN Classic, or ESPN Deportes, which aren't always available everywhere. Most of the time you have to pay extra for Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV, or Setanta Sports (or you add it on as part of a sports package where you get a bunch of channels you never watch). Spanish language broadcasts are a bit more frequent (although I only get Univision and there's harly ever any sports there, mostly it's Telefutura I think) but not everyone gets those channels.
Next month, the USMNT will be headed to Mexico City for a very important World Cup qualifier against Mexico. I'm going to make a bold statement here and say that it's the most important qualifier for us. Mexico have already tried to knock us down a notch by scheduling the match at 4 PM EST, during the hottest, most humid part of the day. The US has never won at the Azteca EVER and with the squad we have now and the form we were in for the last three Confederation's Cup games, winning in Mexico is DEFINITELY a possibility.
HOWEVER, most of us won't be able to see it on television. Why, you ask? Basically, ESPN won't be carrying the ridiculously important US-Mexico World Cup qualifier next month. They decided it was too expensive to buy the English language rights from Telemundo, a Spanish-language channel that is part of the NBC Universal network. And that's understandable, since they apparently really jacked up the price because they knew it'd be in demand. But that leaves no English-language broadcast. NBC Universal had the bright idea to use their ties with Telemundo to broadcast it in English...on mun2. I had actually never heard of this channel until yesterday when I read about this. Apparently it is a bilingual channel aimed at the Hispanic 18-34 demographic. And it's only available to 30.4 million homes in the US, which isn't a lot of people. So hardly anyone is going to be able to watch this match. However, most people in the US get the USA network, which is part of NBC Universal. Do you know what they are showing during the time that the game would air? Reruns of House and NCIS, which, although they are good shows, are not crucial to watch and could either be aired on a different day or a different time or something. But of course they aren't, because this is America, and the mainstream media hates soccer.
DON'T YOU AGREE THAT THIS IS A TRAGEDY OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE? YOU SHOULD. SO THAT MEANS YOU WANT TO HELP OUT, RIGHT? :D
Well, you can. First off, you can sign this petition. It's unofficial, but when I signed it there were almost 500 signatures and this thing started yesterday, so if you sign this and send it to people, tweet it to everyone, put a link on facebook, whatever you want to do, you'd be helping out. Here's a premade tweet that you can just copy and paste: Any chance you want to help with campaign to get the US-Mexico world cup qual on a decent channel? Petition http://snurl.com/nbas2
Another way you can help is to post this tweet:
@universalsports Hey, did you know that most of us don't get Mun 2? USA vs Mexico on USA Network! Can't ignore us. #usmexicotv
That's the official twitter for NBC Universal Sports, who have the rights. Or you can send whatever you want about it to them, I don't care really as long as it gets sent.
A third way (which actually has more ways in it!) would be to go to Matchfit USA's article which gives more details about the situation and has more things you can do to help. One of these ways is emailing NBC Universal network officials- they have a template email that you can just copy, paste, edit, and send to the NBC people whose email addresses they also give.
If you were to do all of this, it would maybe take 5 minutes out of your day. I think you can sacrifice that in the name of soccer.