Forwarded from the referee list I'm on. This is from an article in
today's Wall Street Journal. It might give a better insight into the
state of soccer in the US today than I could in response to Helio's
question yesterday.
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Fans Say ESPN's World Cup
Coverage Deserves Penalty
By STEFAN FATSIS
July 5, 2006; Page A15
The World Cup is generating record television audiences for soccer in
the U.S. But some die-hard fans think the coverage deserves a red card.
Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and ABC have been hit with complaints from
soccer devotees that their telecasts are unsophisticated and mistake-
ridden. The popular Web site Big Soccer has a thread titled "Pick
your favorite insane thing said by the announcers so far."
A major gripe: ESPN selected an announcer, Dave O'Brien, who had
never called a soccer game before this year to serve as the
tournament's lead play-by-play man. Some English-speaking viewers
have switched to Spanish-language Univision, which has out-rated ESPN
and its sister cable network ESPN2 on average for the tournament in
Germany.
Behind the scenes, U.S. soccer executives have complained to ESPN
about the overuse of graphics and cut-away shots, which have
interrupted the flow of matches. They say ESPN, which runs ABC's
sports division, doesn't have enough staffers with soccer experience
directing the tournament's 64 games from the company's headquarters
in Bristol, Conn. The championship game, between Italy and the winner
of today's France-Portugal semifinal, is Sunday in Berlin. (Last-
minute tickets are still available. See related article.)
The conflict over the telecasts raises a question about soccer in
America: With tens of millions of people playing, coaching or
connected to the sport, does it still need to be dumbed down for U.S.
viewers? Doug Logan, a former commissioner of Major League Soccer,
the U.S. pro league, says the issue is "symptomatic of a growing
industry that is getting better but isn't there yet," both on and off
the field. The U.S. team was eliminated in the first round in Germany.
ESPN and ABC are employing a conventional American broadcasting
style, with lots of chatter and information peripheral to the actual
game, such as telling viewers that Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi
Buffon cut a rap CD and that Costa Rica is bordered by Nicaragua. But
such techniques may not be suited to soccer, in which the clock never
stops and pauses in the action are sporadic.
"They're trying to give us all this information to show us how much
they know," says Steven Cohen, who has bashed ESPN on his "World
Soccer Daily" show on Sirius Satellite Radio. "All they're showing us
is how much they don't know."
ESPN defends its approach. Jed Drake, executive producer of remote
production for ESPN and ABC Sports, says the networks are trying to
expand soccer's audience beyond a "small but maniacal" core. "There
are a huge number of people watching the World Cup that don't watch
soccer at any other time," he says. "We've got to play to that
audience."
Mr. O'Brien says there is room in soccer's traditionally Spartan
broadcasts for more storytelling. "There is a style I think Americans
are used to -- the broadcaster being more involved, more informed,"
he says. But that style, he adds, "might jar your longtime soccer
viewer."
Industry executives credit ESPN for providing the most extensive
promotion and coverage of soccer ever in the U.S. Mr. Drake says the
ratings back up ESPN's choices. Before the quarterfinals began last
Thursday, ABC averaged 3.7 million viewers for 10 games. On cable,
ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 1.8 million and 1.1 million viewers,
respectively, for the other 46 matches. Through Saturday, Univision
Communications Inc. averaged 2.2 million viewers for its Spanish-
language telecasts in the U.S.
The U.S.-Italy game on June 17 and Mexico-Argentina on June 24 each
attracted nearly 10 million viewers in English and Spanish combined,
the biggest U.S. soccer audiences ever. Overall, viewership has
increased more than 100% on ABC and about 80% on ESPN and ESPN2 from
the last World Cup in 2002 in Japan and South Korea. Most of those
games were televised in the middle of the night or early morning in
the U.S. Against 1998, when the tournament also was in Europe, the
viewership is up about 60%.
Still, ESPN isn't drawing many more eyes for the World Cup than it
does for a regular-season baseball game, which gets about 1.4 million
viewers. In Germany, the host nation's first four World Cup games
drew an average audience of 21.9 million people, according to Infront
Sports & Media, which sells World Cup television rights for soccer's
governing body, FIFA.
ESPN is hungry for new fans because it is upping its commitment to
soccer. The network has agreed to pay $100 million for the rights to
the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, as well as the 2007 and 2011 Women's
World Cups. Starting next year, ESPN is expected to pay about $7.5
million a year to continue showing the U.S. pro league, Major League
Soccer.
But ESPN isn't footing the bill for this World Cup. In late 2001,
after no U.S. networks showed serious interest, MLS's Soccer United
Marketing division agreed to pay FIFA $40 million for the U.S. rights
to the 2002 and 2006 tournaments. The company is paying nearly all
production costs -- including a staff of about 75 in Munich -- and
selling all national commercial ad time. ESPN and ABC get what
amounts to free programming.
The relationship has created tension. Under the agreement, ESPN
retained control over the on-air talent and editorial content of the
telecasts. In planning meetings last year, ESPN and Soccer United
Marketing executives agreed they wanted American voices leading
coverage, according to people involved. That ruled out several U.S.-
based announcers with English, Irish or Scottish accents who have
called hundreds of European soccer matches for ESPN's international
network.
The soccer executives believed lead play-by-play duties would go to
ESPN veteran JP Dellacamera, who had called five World Cups. Instead,
ESPN gave the job -- including all U.S. games and the championship
final -- to Mr. O'Brien, who joined the network in 2002 and is best
known as a Major League Baseball announcer. Mr. Dellacamera says he
was disappointed but accepted the No. 2 play-by-play slot in Germany.
The soccer executives opposed the appointment of Mr. O'Brien. Their
argument: Using an announcer unfamiliar with the sport might not help
ratings but certainly could hurt them. "Would you ever put a guy who
had never called a sport before ... in the World Series, the Super
Bowl or the Olympics?" a senior U.S. soccer executive says. "Never."
Fans also protested. John Sheehan, a college English teacher in Fort
Wayne, Ind., in March started an online petition, which has received
nearly 5,000 signatures. "It doesn't show much respect for the fans
who love the game," he says. Mr. Sheehan says he mailed the petition
to ESPN but received no response. An ESPN spokesman said the network
was aware of the petition but had no comment.
ESPN has irritated fans by, among other things, getting names wrong.
Last weekend, ESPN announcers called Portugal forward Cristiano
Ronaldo "Christian" and pronounced Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann's
last name KLINES-min instead of KLINS-mahn. During an earlier game,
an announcer referred to a team in Scotland as Glasgow United. The
correct name is Rangers.
Most galling to aficionados has been extensive talk and visual
interruptions during play, misuse of soccer terminology, and lack of
insight into tactics and history. During a first-round match, ESPN
nearly missed a goal by Mexico because a producer had cut to
videotape of the U.S. team practicing.
Critiquing Saturday's England-Portugal quarterfinals match, blogger
Michael Davies wrote -- on ESPN's Web site, no less -- that while he
liked Mr. O'Brien and his partner, former U.S. player Marcelo Balboa,
they "continuously missed the biggest stories of the game." Mr.
Davies cited nine things he said experienced announcers would have
raised. One of them: When England forward Wayne Rooney was ejected
from the game after pushing Mr. Ronaldo, the announcers failed to
note that the two players are teammates on Manchester United.
ESPN's straightforward approach is in part deliberate. Network
executives have instructed announcers to avoid complex analysis,
people involved in the production say. One industry executive says
producers have told announcers in mid-game to explain soccer basics
such as yellow and red cards, the penalty markers referees display to
players.
Mr. O'Brien, who is 42 years old, has been a lightning rod for
critics. A former play-by-play announcer for baseball's Florida
Marlins and New York Mets, he called just eight soccer games before
taking on 20 matches in a month in Germany. He says he prepared
thoroughly, studying reams of material, visiting a European soccer
network and attending matches in England, while continuing to call
baseball and college basketball for ESPN.
Mr. O'Brien admits he's still learning the sport. As the World Cup
has progressed, he says he has reduced the "volume of items" in his
play-calling in favor of more "foot-to-foot action." He says a
British friend passed on a message from a viewer: "I like O'Brien's
voice, but can he just shut the blank up when the English fans are
singing? I just want to hear 'God Save the Queen.' " During England's
quarterfinals loss to Portugal last week, Mr. O'Brien did that.
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-- Ed Leafe
-- http://leafe.com
-- http://dabodev.com
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