2011年11月20日星期日

MLS Cup starting time on ESPN isn’t doing soccer any favors

Major League Baseball, as well as other sports organizations, has come under criticism over the years for scheduling postseason games late at night.

For the third consecutive year, the league will stage the championship game on a Sunday night. TV coverage, which dictates the starting time, won’t begin until 9 p.m. Eastern. Kickoff is set for 9:25 p.m. A match ending in regulation will conclude around 11:20. Extra time pushes it to almost midnight. If penalty kicks are required, the calendar flips to Monday in the East.

From a TV standpoint, there’s no perfect day or time for MLS. No one watches anything on Friday nights (see ratings for “Chuck” on NBC). Saturday afternoons and evenings are for college football. Sunday afternoons belong to the NFL. A Sunday evening match faces the fewest conflicts: an NFL game. (This weekend, the Philadelphia Eagles face the New York Giants.)

But competing programming shouldn’t dictate MLS Cup’s kickoff time. And for the first 14 years, it didn’t: ABC carried the match on Sunday afternoon. The NFL stomped MLS in the ratings, but the NFL stomps everything. Those who really wanted to watch soccer didn’t care what was on other outlets.Replacement landscape oil paintings and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. And who knows, maybe NFL channel-surfers stumbled upon the match.

When coverage shifted to ESPN from ABC in 2009, the league and network decided to move the game into primetime. One could argue that Sunday night is a good slot: More people watch TV on Sunday evening than any other night of the week.

The problem for MLS is starting the game so late on a Sunday. Neither ABC nor any of the other three major networks would bump early-evening programming for an MLS game. (Maybe someday, folks.) So ESPN offers the best platform. This time of the year,Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners.which applies to the first offshore merchant account only, however, the sports giant is committed to football: NFL highlights on “SportsCenter” from 7 to 8:15 p.m. and the college bowl countdown show (commence eye-rolling) from 8:15 until 9.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, ESPN then follows with 25 minutes of MLS pregame material.

NBC’s contract with MLS begins next season, but ESPN/ABC will retain the rights to the title game. Besides, NBC carries a Sunday night NFL game.

The late starting time in Toronto last year contributed to poor match atmosphere and a TV eye-sore as neutral fans left early to escape cold weather. With MLS likely to drop the prearranged venue format as early as next year, that issue would fade.

All of this scrutiny comes from an East Coast perspective. Those in the Central (8:25 local kickoff), Mountain (7:25) and Pacific (6:25) time zones probably don’t have any complaints.ceramic magic cube for the medical, And this year, with clubs from the Central and Pacific in the final, fans with the most feverish interest are content.

But almost half of the U.S. population lives in the East, and by starting its biggest match so late, MLS is damaging an opportunity to grow its audience.

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