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SBD: NBCU Favorite to Win U.S. Rights to EPL, starting in 2013-14

S

stationless listener

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2012/10/26/EPL.aspx

Sources say NBC's bid would pay the EPL around $83M per year, an amount that would more than triple the $23M per year that Fox currently pays. Sources say Fox and ESPN have been told that their joint bid was not accepted. It is not clear if the Al Jazeera network, BeIN Sport, still is in the running. The emergence of NBC Universal as the clear front-runner in this bidding process comes as a surprise. In the weeks leading up to the bidding process, NBC sources downplayed the company's interest.
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Big, huge news if this thing goes as expected. This also coming at the heels of the Big East's decision not to accept a deal with ESpiN during its exclusive negotiating window with them and go to the open market starting next month.

All of a sudden, with the Formula 1 deal, the possible move of the Dan Patrick Show to NBCSN starting next week, the EPL and possibly some part of the Big East deal going ahead, some day we may no longer view NBCSN as a complete joke of a sports network. Don't get me wrong, with all those things they still have a way to go to threaten ESpiN's dominance but once other sports leagues see that they have other options then things will get more interesting. And this is what ESpiN is deathly afraid of. :)

One organization that should be watching closely is MLS. If Fox Soccer loses the EPL long-term then Fox will be forced to compete for properties that they may not have shown interest in before, like the Big East and MLS. Fox Soccer might get re-branded but "Fox Sports One" will still need content to fill out hours in certain months and this is where college basketball and domestic soccer could help out.
 
stationless listener said:
Don't get me wrong, with all those things they still have a way to go to threaten ESpiN's dominance but once other sports leagues see that they have other options then things will get more interesting. And this is what ESpiN is deathly afraid of. :)
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This is partly why most of ESPN's content deals recently have been for five or more years. ESPN is trying to hedge its bets by holding onto properties like Monday Night Football through 2021.
 
While not as an amazing grab as MLB rights, this will definitely add hours and hours of must watch programming to both NBC Sports Network's schedule and possibly NBC's schedule. I don't know about you guys, but it seems that EPL is getting more popular in the United States and this is the right move for NBC. Also a good move adding Dan Patrick in the mornings, it would be a great compliment to The Lights. NBC should also think about adding Nick and Artie on late nights.
 
NBCSN still needs a major sport (sorry NHL) so they can in turn charge cable operators more.

NBA expires in 2016 and they have to try and outbid Turner.
 
stationless listener said:
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2012/10/26/EPL.aspx

Sources say NBC's bid would pay the EPL around $83M per year, an amount that would more than triple the $23M per year that Fox currently pays. Sources say Fox and ESPN have been told that their joint bid was not accepted. It is not clear if the Al Jazeera network, BeIN Sport, still is in the running. The emergence of NBC Universal as the clear front-runner in this bidding process comes as a surprise. In the weeks leading up to the bidding process, NBC sources downplayed the company's interest.
Click to expand...

Big, huge news if this thing goes as expected. This also coming at the heels of the Big East's decision not to accept a deal with ESpiN during its exclusive negotiating window with them and go to the open market starting next month.

All of a sudden, with the Formula 1 deal, the possible move of the Dan Patrick Show to NBCSN starting next week, the EPL and possibly some part of the Big East deal going ahead, some day we may no longer view NBCSN as a complete joke of a sports network. Don't get me wrong, with all those things they still have a way to go to threaten ESpiN's dominance but once other sports leagues see that they have other options then things will get more interesting. And this is what ESpiN is deathly afraid of. :)

One organization that should be watching closely is MLS. If Fox Soccer loses the EPL long-term then Fox will be forced to compete for properties that they may not have shown interest in before, like the Big East and MLS. Fox Soccer might get re-branded but "Fox Sports One" will still need content to fill out hours in certain months and this is where college basketball and domestic soccer could help out.
Click to expand...

So which Big East team do you root for, and how long have you been a poster at BigEastBBS? ;)
 
NFL on Saturday's Afternoon's in December. They have MLS. Bring the other Radio Shows on NBC Sports Radio Channel to the TV and also do Sports America to complete against Sportscenter.
Know ESPN can fill big East space with other College Basketball Games and NBCU can pick up the Big East Games and also Jay Bilis from ESPN to call them.
CBS would get the NBA before NBC gets it back.
 
radiojomo said:
While not as an amazing grab as MLB rights, this will definitely add hours and hours of must watch programming to both NBC Sports Network's schedule and possibly NBC's schedule. I don't know about you guys, but it seems that EPL is getting more popular in the United States and this is the right move for NBC. Also a good move adding Dan Patrick in the mornings, it would be a great compliment to The Lights. NBC should also think about adding Nick and Artie on late nights.
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If anything, soccer is even more boring to watch than baseball and golf. What is growing in the USA at present is the Mexican-based teams and their fans who also watch MLS games. Whether any interest exists for EPL is still a question. As yet it certainly isn't a national interest.
 
I don't know about "national interest" but the ratings for European soccer on American TV have been decent. Coverage of the EPL on ESPN is less popular than primetime baseball, but not by much. The best rated soccer matches have exceeded the worst rated baseball, but on average baseball wins by 2:1.
 
Nate Wesley said:
So which Big East team do you root for, and how long have you been a poster at BigEastBBS? ;)
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I'll admit that I've read it, even though I'm not partial towards any of the Big East's teams. However, Big East basketball is still somewhat of a big deal to the red-letter network and this would be one of the few ways to hurt their egos. It's always about the same 3 or 4 sports to them (or overhyping certain athletes who play in those sports). Sportscenter will never hype up hockey, association football or a few other so-called minor sports unless they have to.

Admittedly, there are more options to watch what I like than even 5 years ago but I still can't deny the power "the machine" has. I would blame that more on the idiots who can't see beyond four letters than anything else.
 
Hate to burst your bubble.. but I suspect 90% or more of the American sports audience will ask a simple question when they see a headline like this: What's EPL? Upon hearing what it is, almost all of them will decide they don't care.

Just being realistic. Soccer is not a ratings draw in this country unless team USA is involved or it's on a spanish-language network.
There is a small but VERY vocal group that love soccer who will find this deal to be a VERY big deal. Perhaps that small group's vocal support and willingness to do extraordinary things to see the sport will be enough to make such a deal worth NBCU's money. I just don't think that's likely.
 
Yes, I've heard it all before. However, the thing you have to look at is not the numbers but the demos. Association football attracts some good demos, also a section of 12-24 y/o's, which is what will help sustain it over the next decade. So it's not about how "loud we are" but the money the networks are looking to gain from. The same thing people here say about soccer can be said about tennis. While the average American may never pick up a tennis racket, let alone watch a match all through, that doesn't stop the networks from putting it on TV (especially the grand slams) because a good number of high-income people will watch, making it worth their while. So if Wimbledon and US Open are OK for TV, why should association football have to reach some crazy, impossible standard to be deemed worthy?

Anyway, I'm not here to convince doubters but to inform readers about what's going on with sports on TV. EPL isn't my favorite league. It's just that it's the most hyped up by a core group of elitists that are called Eurosnobs. But they have money and will pay for it. Hence, it explains why NBCU is taking a chance on it.
 
Done deal. Costas just broke the news. To paraphrase Faith Hill, "The EPL Rocks on NBC." NBCSN bulks up, as does NBC, Telemundo, mun2 and NBCSports.com. Fox Soccer loses a key component - and we lose Darke and Macca on ESPN (Damn!)

Details: NBC Press Release
 
Another thought occurs to me: I imagine Fox might have sent some EPL games off to its proposed Fox Sports 1 channel. Not going to happen now.

First Formula One, now the EPL. It must suck to be a Fox Sports executive of late.
 
tested said:
Just being realistic. Soccer is not a ratings draw in this country unless team USA is involved or it's on a spanish-language network.
There is a small but VERY vocal group that love soccer who will find this deal to be a VERY big deal. Perhaps that small group's vocal support and willingness to do extraordinary things to see the sport will be enough to make such a deal worth NBCU's money. I just don't think that's likely.
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We're talking about soccer content that will largely exist on NBC Sports Network, a channel that still struggles to get a solid 100,000 people watching it a day. Why does getting EPL matter? The same reason getting MLS matters: It is a draw on NBCSN--soccer fans are finding the channel.
 
The NBCU deal with the EPL got coverage on BBC World Service Radio last night. They pointed out that the new rights fee was triple the old one.

This is a big deal in the soccer world.
 
What's EPL? Upon hearing what it is, almost all of them will decide they don't care.
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Yep, that was me. It mattters not to most of the nation where, or even if, this airs. For the die hard fans, I presume they'll find a way to watch their soccer matches.

I'm hoping my cable company picks up CBS Sports Network pretty soon. I cannot believe that NBC Sports doesn't have a Fantasy Football Show and an NFL show on Sunday mornings. The main network has NFL on Sunday nights for crying out loud.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
I don't know about "national interest" but the ratings for European soccer on American TV have been decent. Coverage of the EPL on ESPN is less popular than primetime baseball, but not by much. The best rated soccer matches have exceeded the worst rated baseball, but on average baseball wins by 2:1.
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Let's not get too carried away, MLB averaged 1.2 million on ESPN this year. Last season the EPL on ESPN averaged just over 300,000 viewers. It averaged just under 190,000 on Fox Soccer. The problem that EPL has is the same problem the NHL has. They have some matches that can draw strong ratings but they also have plenty of duds. Those games really bring down the average number. Survival Sunday had total viewership of 1.3 million but that was on 8 different networks and included two spanish ones.

EPL's top match on ESPN was at 1 million viewers last season. The question is, were those numbers inflated because the game was on ESPN? Will those same fans search out Manchester City vs. Manchester United on NBCSN? The MLS performs better on ESPN even though NBCSN gives it better coverage. There's certainly a positive to being on ESPN, no matter what you think of them. They drive the sports bus and bring along plenty of casual viewers that other places do not get.

This is a real nice pickup for NBCSN but its not a game changer. Those numbers will be huge for NBCSN but its still pretty small in the bigger scheme of sports. The EPL's ratings aren't consistently strong. Until that happens, this is pretty much on par with what NBCSN already has with the NHL. They need something bigger to be a major competitor for the long term.
 
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