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Sunday will mark a significant milestone in the progession of soccer in America.
When Fox airs the Arsenal-Manchester United match at 11 a.m., it will be the first live Premier League broadcast in the United States on network television. With the match being played during the build-up to the day's NFL conference championship games, there is not only a high potential for a large viewing audience, but it also provides the chance to gauge the audience and demand for more broadcasts like it in the future.
Fox has carried a few tape-delayed Premier League matches this season, doing so for the Manchester United-Chelsea match on Sept. 18, the Tottenham-Arsenal match on Oct. 2 and the Chelsea-Liverpool match on Nov. 20. In the past, the UEFA Champions League semifinals has been carried live on FX, while the UCL final has been on Fox for the last two years. Sunday's U.S. broadcast, however, will be the first of its kind.
Sunday's match is the precursor for Fox's second live Premier League broadcast: the Chelsea-Manchester United match on Feb. 5 — Super Bowl Sunday.
Excited for Sunday's broadcast? Expecting big ratings? Hope it is a sign of more to come?
Share your thoughts below.
Same thing here in NC. Can’t preempt the “Hayes Barton Baptist Church” here in the Bible Belt.
Just finally got someone on phone. They will NOT be showing it live on Fox 5 Atlanta tomorrow. It is on at 12:30. Perhaps those with Satellite can get it from a national feed. Otherwise, SOL until 12:30.
Listing the same thing here in Atlanta on local Fox station. I have tried to get someone on the phone this morning but they must have everyone in South Carolina. It could be a misprint with the listings. If they show Paid programing and Atlanta Houses instead of Ars-MUFC, there will be several pissed people marching on that station from the Brewhouse.
When he gets 38 fans banned for life from Arsenal based on a lie he wrote in the paper, it turns peoples opinions.
The competitiveness of the MLS is higher though….A mid tier team has a better chance of winning the title.
Stop comparing leagues and start comparing teams…I’ll take a bottom tier MLS team over a bottom tier EPL team anyday.
If Henry plays in this game, this is good for MLS. Exposing non-soccer fans to soccer is the key here.
Who cares what “most Gooners” think?
What’s that stupid?
Can I get some of what you’re smoking?
I would love to hear John Harkes and Bob Costas call the game. Get Saragusa on the sideline. That would be AWESOME!
Yes I’m being sarcastic.
like it – usually nothing good on fox (excluding fsc of course) at this time anyways.
I’m excited for this one, but as has been asked, I’m wondering what a ratings “Winner” looks like. The overall ratings for the tape delayed matches against the NFL on Sunday haven’t been all that impressive, and anyone who thinks this is a double digit winner is kidding themselves. A true ratings Win, IMHO, is a rating that gets above a 2.0… That would be double the audience of MLS Cup for the past few years. Another way to grade the relevance is to check the ESPN bottom line ticker. EPL matches often make the ticker, but I’m not sure if they do Live Score Updates like they do for the NFL and MLB. One of my petty gripes about ESPN is their lack of inclusion of MLS results like they do with other sports. Your run of the mill MLS weekend scores appear once every third or fourth pass thru the ticker. MLS matches rarely are shown as upcoming events, even when ESPN is broadcasting their GOTW. If the ESPN ticker is showing live updates of Arsenal v Man U, there is a better chance of someone remembering the advertising and taking a look.
I would look at 2.0 as the early Mendoza line for this match.
Sundays are my day to sleep in. One of many reasons for not watching a lot of EPL. Also, one possible reason why Pacific Time peoples don’t watch it as much and accept MLS in greater numbers.
Well you shouldn’t like him, most Gooners hate him. Google ‘Piers Morgan Copenhagen’
»Supposedly Morgan is a diehard Gooner«
I knew I liked him for a reason…
Yah know what’s funny? When I posted I almost decided against it at the last minute, because I didn’t know if the light sarcasm intended was obvious enough.
I have my answer…
But I do indeed watch both leagues nonetheless…
Interesting difference of opinion. I was never a fan of Rob Stone calling soccer matches. To my ears he always had a slightly over-dramatic / minor-league-ish sound to the way he calls a soccer match. Didn’t ever hit me with having the right kind of tone for a soccer game. But, hopefully he’s improved.
very informative – do you know what they usually do?
off*
Supposedly Morgan is a diehard Gooner, but I question his sanity for writing of Wenger in like week 2 of the season.
In case you were wondering, no, Eurosnobs are not the only American soccer fans who feel the need to arrogantly announce which types of soccer they deem unworthy.
It’s on pretty dang early on the west coast, but I wouldn’t miss it.
It’s good to have loyalty to your national league, but it’s also good to not be delusional.
Crap. Just checked the schedule and the game is scheduled @ 12PM in Central Virginia? does anyone else have that problem?
Reminder for viewers in the San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland TV market:
Arsenal vs Manchester United will air on KICU “TV 36”, NOT KTVU “FOX 2”.
Why?
Because A)FOX did not notify its affiliates 6 months in advance, and B)local news makes way too much money for COX Television, which owns both KTVU and KICU. There was no way KTVU would pre-empt local news for an EPL match, especially on less than 6-months notice.
I agree. I have so many friends that love to watch soccer and don’t miss broadcasts but none of have FSC so I watch feeds/espn3 but they just skip it.
That will depend on whether FOX chooses to take the audio from Premier League Productions (PLP)/IMG Sports Media or from BSkyB.
Premier League Productions usually assigns Jon Champion to call the big games on Sundays (now that Ian Darke apparently is no longer available to call games for PLP, though Dark still voices the Premier League World magazine show for PLP.)
BSkyB usually assigns Martin Tyler to call the big games.
I love MLS and I go to DC United matches all the time but the quality of the Prem is higher
everyday history is MADE
Rather they just bring in one of the Fox Soccer Report guys from Canada than have Morgan. He was on FSC after they 8-2 game and was calling for Wenger’s head.
Martin Tyler And Andy Gray, I believe
anyone know which pair will be calling the game?
I think the set-up is actually Rob Stone as the anchor/host, with Wynalda and Piers Morgan in the commentary/analyst roles.
It sounds like Fox was over there in some form or fashion this week and will have a good amount of original content as far as interviews go, w/ Landon and Rio.
Hopefully it works well, Rob Stone always did a great job on ESPN, and Fox paid some good coin to put him in that seat.
P.S. No word on whether Eric will be wearing Sidewinders
Really curious what kind of rating number this has to hit for it to be considered a ‘win’.
Hahahaha . . . yea man, right on
Most fans I know see the qualities of both leagues. You can’t deny that there are more world class players in the Premier League than MLS.
On the other hand, the MLS is our American league, a very good league, and it’s growing. Maybe someday it will be one of the best leagues in the world. I love watching MLS, I’m a Revs season ticket holder. I love watching the Revolution and Fulham FC.
I agree it’s not a good idea, but to be honest Piers>Curt Menefee. If it keeps him out of a host roll it’s a step up. If I have to deal with both of them then I’ll make sure to turn it on at just about kickoff, and go find something to do at halftime.
He just said he is an MLS fan—that means he does indeed appreciate the game being played at it’s highest level.
Too bad they’re ruining it by having Piers Morgan in-studio.
Respect, but how can you not appreciate the game being played at it’s highest level?
Ratings for this fixture are going to be massive. The fact that this broadcast is available for everyone not just those who have FSC/Plus will only drive viewership higher.
I’m a fan of MLS, not EPL so no I’m not excited.