Topic: Spanish Football

[Xxavi]

And Serie A will likely steal a march on La Liga this year too.  As ESPN have bought the rights to that. Wheareas most of the games will be streamed, and paid for, they are showing a 'game of the week' on their regular ESPN channell, so pretty much everyone will be able to watch a few games at least. I don't think I've seen a Serie A game in 20 plus years, but I'll make the effort to check out the odd game now.

La Liga will be 4th in line now in the US with the Prem, Bundesliga and Serie A all currently on the major sports networks, who's channels tend to come with the basic cable packages.

The impact of being on ESPN is, as I understand it, not that great. Even people who had Bein for free hardly tuned in to watch La Liga. If I have to forecast, not many people will tune in to watch Serie A either. I don't think many watch Bundesliga or even Premiership if I am honest. Why don't we just simply admit that football is not very popular, and being on a major network (or not being on it) is not the reason?

A few immigrant communities may be interested in football. I notice that on ESPN, most of the twitter questions they read out are likely from 1st generation immigrants. If there was a huge amount of football fans, all these top leagues wouldn't migrate from 1 channel to another for years. GolTV, Bein, ESPN, Fox... they keep moving around, unfortunately, because no one gives a crap about all of these leagues.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Football[soccer] is the 3rd most watched sport in America currently, and the Premier League is a big part of that, the deal that NBC for the rights is worth a billion dollars, and they extended that contract to six years after initially having it for two years.

No American TV company like NBC is spending a billion dollars on something that isn't making them money, and the EPL has certainly done so. More people watch it than you would imagine and certainly people I never thought would, are watching it.

It's never going to be the most popular sport, but it's certainly making progress and will continue to do so.

[Xxavi]

Take this article as an example
http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/media-microscope-nbcs-premier-league-ratings-dropped-for-the/1ji7c3e8hi2rv1u4muh5iwsqfh

Premiership is the most popular foreign league with TV ratings of

Starting with the 2013-14 season and ending with 2016-17, NBC’s average Premier League viewership on all networks combined per match window has been as follows: 438,000, 479,000, 514,000 and 423,000.

Sorry but that is pitiful.

Here is an article that has some La Liga ratings from Bein
http://worldsoccertalk.com/2018/03/08/laliga-tv-ratings-surge-750000-watch-barcelona-atleti-game-bein-sports/

Sunday’s Barca-Aleti match, which ended 1-0 to Barcelona, was number one among adults 18-49 with 340,000 viewers. Plus the viewership was greater than almost every soccer game aired last weekend including MLS’ opening weekend games featuring Houston-Atlanta (469,000; Univision), Seattle-LAFC (456,000; ESPN), LA Galaxy-Portland (180,000; FS1) and Sporting KC-NYCFC (168,000; FS1). The only two matches it failed to beat were Chivas-América (2.5 million; Univision) and Manchester City-Chelsea (785,000; NBCSN & Telemundo).

More in that article. Basically, all of these numbers are pitiful considering the 320m population of US. Some more data below
http://en.calcioefinanza.com/2017/11/03/img-benchmarking-seriea-usa-tv-viewing/

[PhaseOfPlay]

The impact of being on ESPN is, as I understand it, not that great. Even people who had Bein for free hardly tuned in to watch La Liga. If I have to forecast, not many people will tune in to watch Serie A either. I don't think many watch Bundesliga or even Premiership if I am honest. Why don't we just simply admit that football is not very popular, and being on a major network (or not being on it) is not the reason?

A few immigrant communities may be interested in football. I notice that on ESPN, most of the twitter questions they read out are likely from 1st generation immigrants. If there was a huge amount of football fans, all these top leagues wouldn't migrate from 1 channel to another for years. GolTV, Bein, ESPN, Fox... they keep moving around, unfortunately, because no one gives a crap about all of these leagues.

You don't live in America, do you?

[deFacto please, you bastards]

The article also states that for the first tiime in 3 years the ratings dropped, after 3 successful years of continued growth.

It's not the only sport that has seen a decline

"In isolation, the sharp decline could be seen as troublesome, but the overall pattern falls in line with a trend that many sports in the United States have been experiencing of late."

" NFL suffered its steepest drop-off in viewers in a decade last season — a shocking figure for a league that had become seemingly bulletproof in its dominance of the airwaves.

It wasn’t just pro football, though, as leagues ranging from the MLB to NASCAR to the UFC and even the Olympics have experienced recent drops in television numbers. "

"but the most convincing and long-lasting explanation is the simple fact that viewers’ consumption habits are changing.

As cord-cutting increases (according to Nielsen, the number of people in the U.S. without pay TV went up by 8.4 million between 2012 and 2016 alone), fans are turning to alternate methods of watching their favorite sports."


An increase in streamed services

That trend is borne out in a more positive number from NBC’s Premier League coverage this season: Though TV viewership was down in 2016-17, the season was NBC’s most streamed ever, with increases of 24 percent and 35 percent in unique devices and live minutes, respectively, compared to 2015-16.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

The article you posted was in regards to the 2016/2017 season.


Here is what actually happened this past season:

"he network reached 39.3 million total viewers for the season, an increase of 14% from last year and a new record number for the networks of NBC. "

"NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app delivered a record 4.0 million uniques and 740 million live minutes, second-most all-time, during the 2017-18 season. In addition, five of the 10 most-streamed Premier League matches in the U.S. took place in 2017-18."

http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2018/05/17/record-39-3-million-americans-tuned-into-nbc-sports-coverage-of-2017-18-premier-league-season-on-the-networks-of-nbcuniversal/


39 million is a lot 

[Xxavi]

The article you posted was in regards to the 2016/2017 season.


Here is what actually happened this past season:

"he network reached 39.3 million total viewers for the season, an increase of 14% from last year and a new record number for the networks of NBC. "

"NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app delivered a record 4.0 million uniques and 740 million live minutes, second-most all-time, during the 2017-18 season. In addition, five of the 10 most-streamed Premier League matches in the U.S. took place in 2017-18."

http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2018/05/17/record-39-3-million-americans-tuned-into-nbc-sports-coverage-of-2017-18-premier-league-season-on-the-networks-of-nbcuniversal/


39 million is a lot 

Perhaps it has gone up a bit. 39m total views though is small, I'd say. Per match, that would come down to similar numbers. Let's say it went from 400-500k/match to 800k/match (which probably didn't happen as it is a 2-fold increase). If you think about it, in the whole of America, only that much tunes in to watch it. TO me, that seems very low.

I wonder what are the ratings of Sky Sports in the UK? It'd be great to have a benchmark.

[Xxavi]

You don't live in America, do you?

Why? What on earth are you on about?

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Perhaps it has gone up a bit. 39m total views though is small, I'd say. Per match, that would come down to similar numbers. Let's say it went from 400-500k/match to 800k/match (which probably didn't happen as it is a 2-fold increase). If you think about it, in the whole of America, only that much tunes in to watch it. TO me, that seems very low.

I wonder what are the ratings of Sky Sports in the UK? It'd be great to have a benchmark.

You can't compare what the numbers in the UK, the UK has one main sport,and it's football, the US market is never going to have football as it's main sport, it will always be American Football and Basketball, the fact that football has gotten to where it is in the US is a miracle in itself, considering 20 years ago the only way you could watch a game was on PPV and you'd be lucky to catch 2 minutes of highlights on any cable sports-network.

Another thing to take into considering with the EPL is the time that it comes on in the states, usually early Saturday mornings. American sports are prime-time, Sunday afternoons and nights for American Football for the most part for instance.

As I said, the increase is significant despite going down the year before, they've shown growth every year, and that's why they have the rights to it for another 4 years.

[Dim Glas]

The impact of being on ESPN is, as I understand it, not that great. Even people who had Bein for free hardly tuned in to watch La Liga. If I have to forecast, not many people will tune in to watch Serie A either. I don't think many watch Bundesliga or even Premiership if I am honest. Why don't we just simply admit that football is not very popular, and being on a major network (or not being on it) is not the reason?

A few immigrant communities may be interested in football. I notice that on ESPN, most of the twitter questions they read out are likely from 1st generation immigrants. If there was a huge amount of football fans, all these top leagues wouldn't migrate from 1 channel to another for years. GolTV, Bein, ESPN, Fox... they keep moving around, unfortunately, because no one gives a crap about all of these leagues.

 

If ever there was a point in that post to stop taking any notice of your posting on the matter.

[thegoodfella]

It's baffling how Messi is not in the final 3 for the Ballon D'or.

I've a feeling that there is a small window for a club to try and make a move for Messi. A very small window, but there's a chance here considering Cristiano has left Real, Messi isn't in the final three, Barca seems to be in a transition, and he might be willing to consider a new adventure...

[please, I have my reasons for it but...]

I've a feeling that there is a small window for a club to try and make a move for Messi. A very small window, but there's a chance here considering Cristiano has left Real, Messi isn't in the final three, Barca seems to be in a transition, and he might be willing to consider a new adventure...

I'd actually agree, hopefully Pep isn't thinking the same as you.

[thegoodfella]

I'd actually agree, hopefully Pep isn't thinking the same as you.

I'm actually hoping we are thinking about taking that punt.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

If ever there was a point in that post to stop taking any notice of your posting on the matter.

Yeah that statement is hugely inaccurate.

[Suareznumber7]

And Serie A will likely steal a march on La Liga this year too.  As ESPN have bought the rights to that. Wheareas most of the games will be streamed, and paid for, they are showing a 'game of the week' on their regular ESPN channell, so pretty much everyone will be able to watch a few games at least. I don't think I've seen a Serie A game in 20 plus years, but I'll make the effort to check out the odd game now.

La Liga will be 4th in line now in the US with the Prem, Bundesliga and Serie A all currently on the major sports networks, who's channels tend to come with the basic cable packages.

I’ll actually be really surprised if this happens to be honest.  I’m assuming that ESPN will show mostly Juve games because of Ronaldo but very few people, unless you are a die hard Serie A fan, will get ESPN + to watch Serie A games.  The other sports that they are showing don’t really appeal to traditional sports fans in the US. 

[Suareznumber7]

The impact of being on ESPN is, as I understand it, not that great. Even people who had Bein for free hardly tuned in to watch La Liga. If I have to forecast, not many people will tune in to watch Serie A either. I don't think many watch Bundesliga or even Premiership if I am honest. Why don't we just simply admit that football is not very popular, and being on a major network (or not being on it) is not the reason?

A few immigrant communities may be interested in football. I notice that on ESPN, most of the twitter questions they read out are likely from 1st generation immigrants. If there was a huge amount of football fans, all these top leagues wouldn't migrate from 1 channel to another for years. GolTV, Bein, ESPN, Fox... they keep moving around, unfortunately, because no one gives a crap about all of these leagues.

I actually think they keep moving around because they keep getting higher and higher bids from the different tv stations.  Football popularity in the US is definitely increasing and as more and more kids stop playing American football the sport that most of them turn to is soccer/football. 

[Suareznumber7]

I've a feeling that there is a small window for a club to try and make a move for Messi. A very small window, but there's a chance here considering Cristiano has left Real, Messi isn't in the final three, Barca seems to be in a transition, and he might be willing to consider a new adventure...

Yeah, sorry, this isn’t happening.  He’ll stay at Barca until he retires.

[puroresu_kid]

https://www.football-espana.net/74524/spanish-flags-anthem-girona-v-barca

No image of Catalan nationalism will be allowed at Girona’s proposed clash with Barcelona in Miami while Spanish flags will be distributed, say reports.

The fixture was originally scheduled for Girona’s Estadio Montilivi in late January with numerous media outlets reporting the league will now attempt to switch this to the US.

Cadena Cope now report that no Catalan flags or symbols will be allowed in the stadium, while 40,000 Spanish flags will be handed out to spectators.

In addition to this, the reports continues that the national anthems of both the United States and Spain will be played ahead of kick-off.

Such a move is likely to antagonise many fans of both clubs who support the idea of Catalan independence from the Spanish state.

Meanwhile, Diario AS has reported both Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets are openly opposed to the game taking place and may consider their positions.

Barca have only ever visited their Catalan neighbors in an official match on one previous occasion, collecting a 3-0 victory last season.

The talk comes about following La Liga striking a 15-year deal with Relevent to stage La Liga fixtures in the United States, a move which has caused huge controversy.

Last month, the Spanish players union (AFE) confirmed that players would consider strike action in their opposition to such plans.

Disgusting and both teams should tell them where to go.

[oojason]

https://www.football-espana.net/74524/spanish-flags-anthem-girona-v-barca

Disgusting and both teams should tell them where to go.

Fully agree mate. Sounds absurd trying to enforce that on both those Catalan teams - no political symbols allowed? apart from the political symbols enforced on you...?

As an outsider to it all it seems this is either a very ill-thought out idea - or a political or propaganda tool that could be used against / to embarrass the Catalans.

Maybe the players and management etc should take a knee - both before the game and 17 minutes into it...


https://twitter.com/sidlowe/status/1037614189865566208

[PhaseOfPlay]

Why? What on earth are you on about?

If you lived in America you'd have a better grasp of the reach of European football on tv, and more importantly, streaming services.

[Jookie]

Perhaps it has gone up a bit. 39m total views though is small, I'd say. Per match, that would come down to similar numbers. Let's say it went from 400-500k/match to 800k/match (which probably didn't happen as it is a 2-fold increase). If you think about it, in the whole of America, only that much tunes in to watch it. TO me, that seems very low.

To put US TV viewing figures into a bit more context. In the absence of NFL games (or other major sporting events), at the moment anything +3M viewers would put you in the Top 30-40 viewed programmes per week in the US. In general the top viewed programmes are around 5-15M (unless it's NFL season), despite the population being ~320M. Not many programmes break that 10-20M barrier. Lots of NFL games, the Oscars, some political programmes and one-off sporting events (World Series, NBA play-offs, some college football games), American Idol are the only real exceptions.

Now in terms of the Premier League viewing figure in the US, the average of 400-500k will include a fair amount of games between Premier League teams that will have much less pull. Would be really interesting to see how some of the bigger games fair in terms of viewing figures. Do they get close to 1M viewers? If so, then it wouldn't be too bad considering the context of viewing figures in the US and that this is likely to be daytime viewing for the US rather than PrimeTime TV.

The Premier League (or any football league) is not going to be a Top 20 viewed programme in the US. But relating 500k viewers to the US population doesn't do the viewing figures justice.

[Xxavi]

I’ll actually be really surprised if this happens to be honest.  I’m assuming that ESPN will show mostly Juve games because of Ronaldo but very few people, unless you are a die hard Serie A fan, will get ESPN + to watch Serie A games.  The other sports that they are showing don’t really appeal to traditional sports fans in the US. 

Yeah, I just learned about ESPN+, and am wondering if I should get it.

What is on ESPN+? Serie A and Premiership? Also CL?

[Xxavi]

To put US TV viewing figures into a bit more context. In the absence of NFL games (or other major sporting events), at the moment anything +3M viewers would put you in the Top 30-40 viewed programmes per week in the US. In general the top viewed programmes are around 5-15M (unless it's NFL season), despite the population being ~320M. Not many programmes break that 10-20M barrier. Lots of NFL games, the Oscars, some political programmes and one-off sporting events (World Series, NBA play-offs, some college football games), American Idol are the only real exceptions.

Now in terms of the Premier League viewing figure in the US, the average of 400-500k will include a fair amount of games between Premier League teams that will have much less pull. Would be really interesting to see how some of the bigger games fair in terms of viewing figures. Do they get close to 1M viewers? If so, then it wouldn't be too bad considering the context of viewing figures in the US and that this is likely to be daytime viewing for the US rather than PrimeTime TV.

The Premier League (or any football league) is not going to be a Top 20 viewed programme in the US. But relating 500k viewers to the US population doesn't do the viewing figures justice.

OK, fair enough. I just think of some esports competitions, they draw 100-500k viewers regularly. It may have been an inaccurate comparison, but I immediately thought of Dota2, LOL, hearthstone tournaments that draw similar (or more) numbers, and thought it is very low for Premiership (or any other league).

I actually think they keep moving around because they keep getting higher and higher bids from the different tv stations.  Football popularity in the US is definitely increasing and as more and more kids stop playing American football the sport that most of them turn to is soccer/football. 

Maybe, but I hardly ever meet a person who is interested in football to talk about WC, CL, La Liga or Premiership.

A lot of first generation immigrants I know have switched their interest to basketball. There is an NBA team nearby so that makes sense. I was actually surprised how little they are interested in pro footie. They play football every Saturday but none of them care about watching it.

I don't know, the US is big, there probably are areas where it is more football-crazed. I have lived in 4 states so far, and I never encountered a lot of football fans myself.

[Suareznumber7]

Yeah, I just learned about ESPN+, and am wondering if I should get it.

What is on ESPN+? Serie A and Premiership? Also CL?

Serie A, Championship, FA Cup, League Cup, and I think some other smaller leagues.  CL is being shown on Turner Sports in the US.  Their streaming service is BRLive. 

[jonnypb]

Barcelona, Girona and La Liga have asked the Spanish Football Federation for permission for the two Catalan clubs to relocate a match to the US.

The game, Girona's 'home' match, would be held at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium on 26 January at 19:45 GMT.

A compensation package for Girona season ticket holders has been agreed.

RFEF, the US Soccer Federation, Uefa and Concacaf need to give permission for the game to go ahead.

Luis Rubiales, the president of the RFEF, has previously spoken out against the US game.

The Spanish players' union (AFE) have also been opposed to the match and following a meeting with La Liga on Monday, it said the players will have the "final say".

La Liga, Spain's top flight, has agreed to play one game a season in the US as part of a 15-year deal with media company Relevent.

Girona is in Catalonia, about 60 miles north east of Barcelona. The club say the match represents a chance for expansion and growth, both for the club and the region.

La Liga is planning to subsidise travel and accommodation for fans affected by the relocated match.

For Girona season ticket holders, there will be 1,500 free flights to Miami, with a choice of staying overnight for the weekend, or coming straight back after the match.

For those who do not want to travel, there will be 5,000 free tickets to the away game against Barcelona at the Nou Camp on 23 September and 20% of their season ticket, or fans who cannot do either would get a 40% discount on their season ticket.

Not a bad compensation package for any Girona season ticket holders!!

[disgraced cake]

For Girona season ticket holders, there will be 1,500 free flights to Miami, with a choice of staying overnight for the weekend, or coming straight back after the match.

For those who do not want to travel, there will be 5,000 free tickets to the away game against Barcelona at the Nou Camp on 23 September and 20% of their season ticket, or fans who cannot do either would get a 40% discount on their season ticket.[/i]

Not a bad compensation package for any Girona season ticket holders!!

I would be jumping on the Barca ticket and 20% off 'offer.' Strange as well considering there's never any away fan presence in La Liga matches really. Can't imagine a Girona season ticket would cost too much either. Still though, a joke to do this for their biggest game of the year.

[Suareznumber7]

I would be jumping on the Barca ticket and 20% off 'offer.' Strange as well considering there's never any away fan presence in La Liga matches really. Can't imagine a Girona season ticket would cost too much either. Still though, a joke to do this for their biggest game of the year.

I'm pretty sure the lack of away fans at La Liga matches is down to how late the games are actually scheduled and moved around for TV.  With Girona only being 30 minutes or so away from Barcelona that wouldn't be an issue for that set of fans. 

I also imagine that the financial incentives for Girona losing this home game are such that moving it to the States is a financial no brainer. 

[Chris~]

I also imagine that the financial incentives for Girona losing this home game are such that moving it to the States is a financial no brainer.

They're owned by City Group so any financial loss, or offer to the fans to cover this was always going to be easily covered as they continue to expand.

[Suareznumber7]

They're owned by City Group so any financial loss, or offer to the fans to cover this was always going to be easily covered as they continue to expand.

Forgot that they owned them.  It’s only partly owned though isn’t it.  I think I remember reading that Pep Guardiola’s brother was part owner as well?

[rafathegaffa83]

Atletico Madrid have looked poor against Eibar

[elsewhere]

Dembele saves the day again for Barcelona, his price has gone up since the start of this year.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Atletico Madrid have looked poor against Eibar

I tipped them to win the league but they've already dropped points twice to sides they shouldn't have, they won't have a chance at this rate

[Gerry Attrick]

Talk about a total lack of quality in the first half for Real. They've been chronic.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Munian, talk about a player never fulfilling his potential, but gives the lead to Bilbao

[Xxavi]

Talk about a total lack of quality in the first half for Real. They've been chronic.

They weren't at their best, but I wouldn't call it a lack of quality by either Madrid or Bilbao. Some very high level individual and team game episodes.

I appreciate La Liga matches more after watching Premiership. Some of the football in Premiership is absolutely dreadful. That Bilbao-Madrid match is higher quality than just about anything I have seen from Premiership all weekend.

[Gerry Attrick]

Sevilla are getting worse by the year. Their squad this season is total and utter crap.

[BrandoLFC]

They weren't at their best, but I wouldn't call it a lack of quality by either Madrid or Bilbao. Some very high level individual and team game episodes.

I appreciate La Liga matches more after watching Premiership. Some of the football in Premiership is absolutely dreadful. That Bilbao-Madrid match is higher quality than just about anything I have seen from Premiership all weekend.

What EPL game did you watch?  As I'll say the game you were referencing wasn't very good either and the RM press is agreeing with that, not how they got robbed.  Barca even looked mortal this weekend as well and got very, very lucky against a pretty poor side.

[Gili Gulu]

Just watching Real Madrid play Espanyol on Elevensports. Good grief the commentator never shuts up, he's describing everything that's happening on the pitch like he's on the radio.

[Bootleorbust]

Espanol should've probably gone in level at half time, but poor finishing let them down. Madrid are playing with more intent in second half so looks ominous for Espanyol

[elsewhere]

Levante already down 6-1 at home to Sevilla in 60 minutes.