Having watched both tournaments and read some media criticism, I figured out one reason FOX is so poor at soccer coverage. They recruited a lot of retired US Team players for the booth and the studio and none of the ex-players are good broadcasters. No matter how well they played they have no charisma on the mic and no skill for describing the game in a compelling way.
On Tue, Jul 9, 2024 at 1:49 PM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > Things aren’t what they were 20 years ago for American viewers of soccer. > Casual fans can watch the English Premier League on NBC/Peacock, the German > and Spanish leagues on ESPN+, the UEFA Champions League on CBS/Paramount+, > and lots of other elite play streaming somewhere. Ex-US players might be > homers but who expects otherwise? > > FOX has had some non-US games on the OTA network in the early round. If > the US or Mexico had moved on to the elimination rounds they might have put > those games on broadcast. > > The problem FOX has is they’re covering both the Euro Championship and the > Copa America and they have to go to freelancers for both the booth and the > studio shows. They just can’t build a connection with the audience > (actually 2 audiences for the 2 competitions) the way NBC has for the > Premier League. The result is second rate coverage. > > On Tue, Jul 9, 2024 at 1:07 PM John Edwards <[email protected]> wrote: > >> American announcers being homers is nothing new. It's why Olympic >> coverage is often unwatchable. >> >> American soccer commentators seem to think (wrongly) that the US actually >> is among the top 8 in the world, so the idea that they crashed out of the >> group stages of Copa America is *really* bad to them. This was supposed to >> be America showing the world that it could win against real opposition, not >> just the weak sauce in CONCACAF, in the lead up to the 2026 World Cup which >> they are hosting. For bonus fun, check out the meltdown by Taylor Twellman >> after the US failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The mentality hasn't >> changed. >> >> The other thing that adds to this, among followers of the US men's >> national team, is that Canada's new coach, Jesse Marsch, is an American, >> and was briefly in the running for the national team head coaching job a >> couple of years ago - when they decided to just rehire Gregg Berhalter >> instead. So there would be some on Fox, likely, who are thinking that had >> Marsch got the job that he would have led the USA!USA!USA! to the semis, >> rather than Canada. >> >> I hope Canada upsets Argentina so they can cry harder. >> >> John >> >> On Tue, Jul 9, 2024 at 7:15 AM Doug Eastick <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> CBC has a podcast episode today (~25 mins long) about the Canada vs >>> Messi (argentina) game tonight. They speak about the recent history of >>> the Canadian team and performance. >>> >>> The reason I'm sharing this to this list is that there is a few minutes >>> where they speak about Fox Sports coverage. Fox commentators blatantly >>> doing fox-ish things saying 'It should be America playing, not Canada'. >>> I didn't realise that hate had oozed from the news division to the sports >>> division of Fox. >>> >>> Canada vs. Messi, Argentina | CBC Radio >>> <https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/canada-vs-messi-argentina-1.7257584> >>> >>> Canadian TV on TSN and CTV2 at 8pm tonight. >>> >>> USA tv on Fox (sports?) >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAK5Q1Bp0V_-7vdcXdfd6dChk1AbPE3wmo38ULsPxzByM3gmcuw%40mail.gmail.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAK5Q1Bp0V_-7vdcXdfd6dChk1AbPE3wmo38ULsPxzByM3gmcuw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> >> >> -- >> John Edwards >> "You can insure against the weather, but you can't insure against >> incompetence, can you?" - Phil Tufnell >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJLXtML12RUrDFy73TQnFwgNidxuoLzkOnQi37CLb5O6BpLyeA%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJLXtML12RUrDFy73TQnFwgNidxuoLzkOnQi37CLb5O6BpLyeA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiFsmo6cTYTZ3qCrLHq2peq2G_wrixUFHRcuZePKLQQYYQ%40mail.gmail.com.
