TV rights for US qualifiers

[DCHeather]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soc ... _blog.html

Missed this. But...

Not again.

[VegasJustin]

I hate this kind of thing. There's no way I'd pay $15 to watch a football match. Not when I'm probably gonna spend another $10 on beer. Hopefully something gets worked out as I love watching our games down in Central America.

[nevzter]

I remember watching the Honduras qualifier on a grainy internet feed that cut in and out - saw Conor Casey score and I didn't know if the match I was watching was fiction or real life.

[SoCalJoe]

I remember watching the Honduras qualifier on a grainy internet feed that cut in and out - saw Conor Casey score and I didn't know if the match I was watching was fiction or real life.

I remember Donovan's freekick on it's way, then buffering, then him celebrating, then buffering.... but as Nev said Connor Casey scored, TWICE, so maybe it never happened

I guess I will hope Galavision or Telemundo carry it.

[Clevelandmo]

Those guatemalans are really doing a number on us. Now we will have to pay ten times more to watch cheap shots, player intimidation, diving, and those cheatin' CONCACAF refs under lighting not up to the standards of an Applebees parking lot.

[DCHeather]

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/story/ ... y-per-view

It's going to be pay-per-view with a suggested retail price of $29.95. Umm...no thanks. The US Soccer federation should screw Guatemala over the TV rights for the US game at home, if they can. Eye for an eye in this case.

[SoCalJoe]

Couldn't find it on youtube, but cue Burt Reynolds from one of the finest and most artistic pieces of cinema ever made; Smokey and the Bandit . and I paraphrase;

$29.95 to see the US play Guatemala? Do the letters F O mean anything to you?

[Clevelandmo]

If the US soccer fed has evidence that Guatemala had other competitive offers that would've avoided pay per veiw that's one thing. But if Guatemala just sold to the highest bidder I cant say I blame them. They're a small poor country that needs money to support their team. Is it not ESPN, Fox's, etc' own greed that prevented them from getting the rights? They didnt think they could make enough advertising money? Maybe I'm missing something but I have to assume someone here in the US has the money, but decided not to spend it because they decided the USA national team wasnt worth it.

I will gladly spend $30 and invite some friends over to watch the match. Well, not if it's on at 10 pm on a week day. I probably would not go to a bar and pay that much + drinks and food, though.

[jumpkutz]

This is horse s**t. How does anybody, including the Guatemalans, expect to grow the game, and thus, revenue, in this country with deals like this. Stupid and short sighted.

[DCHeather]

If the US soccer fed has evidence that Guatemala had other competitive offers that would've avoided pay per veiw that's one thing. But if Guatemala just sold to the highest bidder I cant say I blame them. They're a small poor country that needs money to support their team. Is it not ESPN, Fox's, etc' own greed that prevented them from getting the rights? They didnt think they could make enough advertising money? Maybe I'm missing something but I have to assume someone here in the US has the money, but decided not to spend it because they decided the USA national team wasnt worth it.

I will gladly spend $30 and invite some friends over to watch the match. Well, not if it's on at 10 pm on a week day. I probably would not go to a bar and pay that much + drinks and food, though.

I'm not sure how the bidding process works other than the home soccer federations own the rights and are free to bid them. However, it's interesting that Mediapro, who according to wikipedia is a Spanish communications firm, won the rights for the US. It seems to me that Concacaf could perhaps put a few rules in place, that perhaps state something along the lines that only a company that has the ability to broadcast the games itself should be allowed to bid.

[DCHeather]

FAQ about TV rights on USSOCCER.COM:

http://www.ussoccer.com/Live/WCQ-TV-FAQ.aspx

Who owns the rights to World Cup qualifying matches?
The worldwide television rights to each World Cup Qualifying match are initially the property of the hosting country. The host Federation, who often works with a third-party to commercialize these television rights, is the rights holder and can distribute the broadcast in various countries at its sole discretion. The Federation is under no obligation to sell the rights to a broadcaster in the United States. Since each country is responsible for the sale of the broadcast rights to its home matches, U.S. Soccer has no authority to compel the host Federation to sell the rights to a World Cup Qualifier to any broadcaster in the United States.

Why does the host Federation initially own the rights?
It is industry standard for the ownership of the worldwide television rights for World Cup qualifying matches to belong to the host Federation.

Why doesn’t U.S. Soccer and its broadcast partners purchase the rights?
With every National Team match, U.S. Soccer wants the television broadcast to reach the widest audience possible and always pursues every option available to purchase the rights in conjunction with our broadcast partners. Ultimately, the rights holder makes the final decision on whether they will sell the rights to a broadcaster in the United States.

What happened regarding the World Cup qualifying match between the U.S. and Guatemala on June 12?
In this case, Traffic Sports acquired the television rights for the match – in both English and Spanish – without any obligation to resell the English-language rights for this particular game to a third party, including the United States. U.S. Soccer and its broadcast partners had discussions with Traffic Sports to purchase the rights, but in the end Traffic Sports opted to distribute the match on pay-per-view in the United States. In order to make the match available to fans here in the U.S., Traffic Sports is utilizing the services of Integrated Sports Media to handle the distribution via pay-per-view.

There are more Questions and answer posted on the site, but I went with the most relevant q&a's. Definitely think the rules need to change so that the rights end up with the only chance of being sold to a major broadcaster in respective countries.

[nevzter]

It's an abject failure by USMNT in my opinion. Really, they didn't know when, who and what rights would be bidded upon and sold? It screams bushleague to me and is inexcusable. Get your "S" together and make sure WC QUALIFIERS are televised in the US. Damn, seems so simple, but, apparently not...

[VegasJustin]

The USSF did this on purpose. They knew that we wouldn't get a result so wanted hardly anybody to watch it so we couldn't bitch about the tactics employed by Klinsmann. Well played.

[jumpkutz]

FIFA has us ranked 34th and Guatemala 90th. We should be able to beat them in the parking lot at Caeser's Palace.

[Clevelandmo]

FIFA has us ranked 34th and Guatemala 90th. We should be able to beat them in the parking lot at Caeser's Palace.

Good because the conditions will be a lot like a parking lot except it will be 200x more hostile. Last time they played a qualifier there you could barely see anything the lighting was so bad. And that 34th in the world ranking was mostly built on the backs of different, more experienced players and a far better manager.