Has anyone else noticed that ESPN Soccernet has drastically cut their MLS coverage. I have.
At least they've stopped pretending. MLS coverage has always been a second-hand citizen on the Soccernet homepage. Right now, to get MLS news, you have to go to the "US Soccer" tab, and then click on MLS, which is the second link in the drop down list. There's nothing MLS-related under "Live Scores". Nothing under "Clubs". And then you've got to skip past Premier League, Europe, Champions League, World Cup, and Global before you get to the US Soccer tab, which is located just to the right of more Eurocentric blogs. So yeah. High profile.
I pointed out how much Soccernet sucked relative to, oh, just about everything else last summer. If they've cut back now even more, it's because Ives Galarcep took his typewriter banging to Fox and Max Bretos' column-writing skills are on par with his match commentary.
-FS
10 comments:
Weird how they seem to have no real plan over there. Jen Chang, who I always thought wrote great columns, just left as well. They need to decide if they're in our out as far as soccer goes and it seems they've been waffling for a while now.
Yeah, they really seem to be cleaning shop over there.
It looks to me like the plan is to focus on Europe, and pay very little attention to the USMNT or MLS. Look at the commercials they were showing for the World Cup around the time of the draw. If there's one USMNT jersey in it, that's being generous.
I don't doubt they do more page views that way. I wonder if they felt burned by the apathetic response they got for Thursday Night MLS.
That being said, I haven't really followed it closely at all, so I wouldn't be surprised to see someone post up evidence of a commitment to MLS.
-FS
Can anyone explain to me what make Bruce, or du Nord, or whatever "immortal"?
I guess I just don't get what he does that's worthy of the revered status. Is it just longevity?
Um . . . he aggregates a sub-section of daily soccer news on days when he feels like it? Especially important for people who haven't heard of RSS readers?
And yeah, he's been around for a while.
-FS
espn really confuses me. they are dropping soccer into many more shows than ever before. PTI, Sports Nation, even SportsCenter highlights. They are now, amazingly, running scores as part of their ticker. It all makes sense as part of A. an increased popularity for soccer in the US and B. a push to pimp soccer prior to the WC.
but on the other hand they still treat soccer as a complete non-entity in many ways. any time they do a poll or an article on "best sports franchises" they completely ignore MLS. until they treat MLS in the same category of NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL they are doing soccer a disservice. do they need to give it as much tv time? of course not. but it would be nice to see them include the leagues and its teams whenever an ESPN entity (Mag, TV, Radio) do some sort of inter-league comparison or article. it would be interesting to see how the fans rate SSFC in relationship to all other US pro sports franchises in terms of "best teams" (a regular issue of ESPN Mag).
i think the issue with ESPN Soccernet is that it is run out of London if their podcast is any indication. but there should be a way for American traffic to be directed to an "American" centric homepage with MLS in high prominence. it also might be nice if the US Soccer and MLS (and what about NASL/USL?) sections had dedicated US based production and staff (if it doesn't already) beyond just the writers but also whoever develops and maintains that section of the site.
I think ESPN's MLS web coverage could and should be better. If this:
-i think the issue with ESPN Soccernet is that it is run out of London if their podcast is any indication.
is true, that would explain a lot.
-FS
Well, at least their editor is out of England.
"John Brewin joined Soccernet in 2000 and has been editor of the site since 2004. Hailing from the Cheshire town of Macclesfield he currently resides in East London (alone). He has covered every major international tournament since Euro 2000 and has attended six European club finals."
It all makes sense.
-FS
The main site is definitely London-based. They did have an American-focused podcast for a while, usually hosted by Jen Chang, but I don't know what happened to it. I'd guess if he's gone, so is it, but it wasn't anything to write home about while it existed, so.
Yeah, soccernet was an English site that was originally started by a 12 year-old(!), bought by the Daily Mail, and then bought by ESPN in 1999-2000:
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/187511
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=666721&type=story
IIRC a few years ago they would redirect you to a US homepage...not sure when that stopped.
Anon,
That's right, I forgot about the part where it was started by a 12-year-old. But I believe you're correct.
Thanks for the comment!
-FS
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