Mike Francesa complains about soccer coverage in Sports Illustrated

[davideduardo]

That would be unacceptable to American TV networks, which demand steady streams of programming, week after week, to sell to their advertisers, who don't want to stop reaching a lucrative audience for a month or more in the middle of every season.

The real objection by the TV and cable nets is the fact that "normal" TV spots can only be inserted before and after the game and at half-time. It does not fit the model used for all other sports play by play.

In most of the rest of the world, advertisers buy the tagging of specific events in the game. Goals might include a sponsor name tacked on, just like the naming of stadium properties. Corner kicks, penalties, etc., can each be sponsored. But the tags are just brand mentions, not the spots sold on American TV in other sports.

 

[landtuna]

Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico, Perú, Honduras, El Salvador, Spain, Italy, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, all but two countries in Africa... and so on making a list of dozens and dozens of tropical, subtropical or desert nations where soccer is played.

I watched the 1994 World Cup game between Romania and Sweden played in Stanford stadium on a warm day. Shortly after halftime the Romanians, who hail from a warm weather country (in summer anyway) were dropping like flies - which probably had some effect upon the shootout (SWE 5, ROM 4).

Here in the AZ desert we either play very early in the morning or after dark - and we don't play during our summer. You simply cannot drink enough to keep from cramping.

 

[davideduardo]

I watched the 1994 World Cup game between Romania and Sweden played in Stanford stadium on a warm day. Shortly after halftime the Romanians, who hail from a warm weather country (in summer anyway) were dropping like flies - which probably had some effect upon the shootout

The fly-dropping imitation may have more to do with the team than the temperature. Romania has only qualified for the World Cup 6 times since 1930, and only reached the quarter-finals once.

 

[CTListener]

The fly-dropping imitation may have more to do with the team than the temperature. Romania has only qualified for the World Cup 6 times since 1930, and only reached the quarter-finals once.

A "friendly" between Turkey and Northern Ireland was held here in Connecticut a few years back. The "flies" in that match, played in 92-degree heat and oppressive humidity, were the boys from Belfast, to the surprise of absolutely no one. I suspect that England, a more frequent World Cup qualifier, would have suffered similarly.

As for sponsored game events, baseball is full of them -- calls to the bullpen sponsored by telecoms, homers sponsored by breweries, strikeouts sponsored by banks, even the required legal warnings about unauthorized retransmission or exhibition of the game sponsored by law firms. But, of course, there's still the 2 minutes between half-innings for traditional hard-sell spots.

 

[kevtronics]

There's a reason cars are made in different colors. Different strokes for different folks!

These days you can have any color of car you want, as long as it is white, black, or silver. Likewise, you can have any kind of sports talk you want, as long as it is about baseball, basketball, or football.

 

[landtuna]

The fly-dropping imitation may have more to do with the team than the temperature. Romania has only qualified for the World Cup 6 times since 1930, and only reached the quarter-finals once.

Last weekend a Copa match was playing INDOORS here in Phoenix where the outside temps hit a high of about 110 (at game time). It was reported this morning that over 75 spectators had to be treated for heat exhaustion and 11 more sent to hospital with severe symptoms.

It was not reported how many players had heat related problems.