ESPN Could Still Get EPL In America, Hooray America
If there’s one thing a majority of Americans don’t care about, it’s media news, and if there’s another, it’s soccer. Which is why I’m going to write about both now.
See, ESPN has been bidding for the rights to the UK version of the English Premier League rights. Why? Because ESPN wants to take over the Western Hemisphere and turn it into the sports version of Oceania. (Who doesn’t?) Unfortunately, Sky outbid ESPN for the rights to the UK broadcasts, leaving ESPN with nothing … except the opportunity to bid on the rights to the U.S. broadcasts. From Awful Announcing:
Based on the BCS bidding, everyone knows ESPN has the money to outbid Fox Sports, but the economy and game times could make the “Leader” weary in making a huge bid. Due to the time difference from England to the U.S., the majority of EPL games are played early on the weekends. As you know, that’s quite possibly the worst timeslot for Sports, and might not even be worth the purchase of the rights.
I’m not sure that’s the best way to think about it. Sure, the games are early. But Premiership fans in America are a pretty distinct, tightly-woven niche, and I’d wager they’d continue to wake up every morning and watch the games whether they’re on Fox Soccer Channel or ESPN America, or whatever. If the audience is big enough to justify a purchase now, that audience isn’t going anywhere. What are they going to do? Ignore ESPN? Ha. HA. MUAHAHAHA.
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Fox Soccer Channel does a great job, but ever since Setanta got a piece of the action, the games have been a) harder to see since Setanta is only available with certain providers and b) more expensive.
A split between FSC and ESPN would work out nicely.
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