Pathetic media coverage

[redhat]

<MOD ALERT>

Please tone down the name-calling and and the borderline racy stuff,

(you know who you are) as this thread should now be closed, for lack of

relevance.

In the future, please make your retorts as witty and intelligent

as possible. At least make it entertaining.

Now let's talk soccer/football ...

[Portuguese Sensation]

I can understand the frustration of the lack of media coverage, but at the end of the day - newspapers, tv stations, radio stations are all trying to do one thing - make money and please their sponsors.

They cater to their audience and give them what they want to see. Five pages of hockey coverage in the middle of summer may seem excessive but consider this...

Two weekends ago, the highest rated sports program on television (english language ratings) was the NHL Entry Draft with 582,000 viewers! In 5th Place (behind MLB and NASCAR) the Confederations Cup Final which drew 195,000 viewers (good number for soccer, GREAT number for the type of tournament).

Remember the weekend where the Whitecaps played Montréal (just after TFC won the VC)...

1. Golf, U.S. Open third round, Sunday, TSN: 489,000*

2. Hockey, NHL Awards, Thursday, CBC: 459,000

3. Golf, U.S. Open second round, Saturday, TSN: 410,000*

4. Baseball, Blue Jays at Nationals, Saturday, Sportsnet: 340,000

5. Baseball, Blue Jays at Nationals, Sunday, Sportsnet: 298,000

6. Auto racing, F1 British Grand Prix, Sunday, TSN: 202,000

7. Auto racing, NASCAR Nationwide series, Saturday, TSN: 142,000

8. Boxing, Diaconu vs. Pascal, Sunday, TSN: 121,000

9. Soccer, Spain vs. South Africa, Saturday, CBC: 105,000

10. Soccer, Vancouver vs. Montreal, Saturday, CBC: 75,000

* Viewers on NBC not calculated.

When half a million people are tuning in for both the NHL Awards and NHL Entry Draft EACH!!! (I wonder how TSN did for Free Agent Frenzy day on July 1st) it just goes to show that people can't get enough of the sport.

So until there's a demand for more soccer coverage, it just won't happen. So again, if you want to see it - you need to contact tv stations, radio stations, newspapers and ask for more soccer coverage. If there's a demand, they'll cater to it.

[red card]

And last Friday's match didn't make it as a top 10 sports show over the weekend. On Friday night, it was also beaten by CFL & Calgary Stampede. But then again, Sportsnet didn't televise it nationally.

1. Football, Lions at Roughriders, Friday, TSN: 457,000

2. Tennis, Wimbledon men's final, Sunday, Global/NBC: 384,000

3. Baseball, Blue Jays at Yankees, Saturday, Sportsnet: 273,000

4. Baseball, Blue Jays at Yankees, Sunday, Sportsnet: 267,000

5. Rodeo, Calgary Stampede, Saturday, CBC: 230,000

6. Tennis, Wimbledon women's final, Saturday, Global/NBC: 227,000

7. Baseball, Phillies at Mets, Saturday, Sportsnet: 205,000

8. Baseball, Blue Jays at Yankees, Friday, Sportsnet: 184,000

9. Rodeo, Calgary Stampede, Friday, CBC: 107,000

10. Baseball, Rays at Rangers, Sunday, Sportsnet: 81,000

http://thestar.blogs.com/sportsmedia/2009/07/here-are-the-weekend-english-language-sports-ratings-according-to-bbm-nielsen-media-research-overnight-figures1-football.html

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

quote:Originally posted by Portuguese Sensation

When half a million people are tuning in for both the NHL Awards and NHL Entry Draft EACH!!! (I wonder how TSN did for Free Agent Frenzy day on July 1st) it just goes to show that people can't get enough of the sport.

Perhaps worth bearing in mind that 33 million didn't and before any pedant points it out yes that figure might need to be adjusted to take RDS figures into account. There is a hardcore hockey demographic (heavily skewed towards people with roots in Canada that extend back past WWII) that has built up after decades of being catered to by national media outlets partially as a way to sell more Labatt's Blue and Molson Canadian but elite soccer events like the World Cup can draw comparable numbers as well. The latent demand is there to use soccer to show lots of beer commercials to a different slice of the population more heavily skewed towards relatively recent immigrants (this has nothing whatsoever to do with race) in other words and that's why MLSE and the CBC have jumped on the soccer bandwagon in recent years. There is money to be made. The challenge for our sport has always been to get a high quality financially viable domestic league in place that can start to challenge the CFL, MLB and NHL in interest terms. MLS is finally making that possible.

[Alex D]

Holy Shat! TSN just showed gold cup highlights!!! (all 4 seconds worth)

[elricko]

TSN is an absolute joke--showing that wonderful sport of POKER so often!!!

Somebody tell them POKER IS NOT A SPORT !

I do realise that soccer is getting more coverage than ever before..but

it's taken years and years of whining..and I can whine really good.

Hate to see off-track quasi- racist remarks creep in to this topic...I am only concerned with improved soccer coverage..that's all folks.

Let's keep fighting to make soccer NUMBER ONE here in Canada.

[themodelcitizen]

quote:Originally posted by Califax

I find it hard to believe there are that many people who are not "Canadian" who are in supporters groups. You live in Canada, you like soccer, you should care about our national team. This is why the media does not publish stuff about us. Because people feel team Canada is an afterthought behind, TFC, ENGLAND, PORTUGAL, ITALY, Man United, Liverpool, Barca, Celtic and 100's of others... If supporters cared as much about country in which they reside then they do about club there would be something to write about, since they don't, there isn't, can't blame em.

Erm... did you just contradict your own point? Unless by "club" you mean non-TFC. Either way, there's lots of fans in the south end who rabidly travel to support TFC but don't really care too much about the national team. Things are changing though, the Jamaica game/support at BMO really turned some heads.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

Always worth bearing in mind that quite a few of those fans are non-citizens and if you are not actually officially Canadian cheering for Canada's national team is not a natural thing to do on an emotional level. Can speak from personal experience on that one from times I went to Canada games at Varsity Stadium in the early 90s when I was only on a temporary work visa or later a landed immigrant. Many people live in Canada as permanent residents for decades without ever taking the plunge in citizenship terms and over 40% of the population in Toronto is foreign born (nothing to do with race). On TFC away trips supporters often have to get off the bus at the border to get their non-Canadian passports stamped with an entry visa.

[Mobiiiiiiiilio]

quote:Originally posted by Portuguese Sensation

I can understand the frustration of the lack of media coverage, but at the end of the day - newspapers, tv stations, radio stations are all trying to do one thing - make money and please their sponsors.

They cater to their audience and give them what they want to see. Five pages of hockey coverage in the middle of summer may seem excessive but consider this...

Two weekends ago, the highest rated sports program on television (english language ratings) was the NHL Entry Draft with 582,000 viewers! In 5th Place (behind MLB and NASCAR) the Confederations Cup Final which drew 195,000 viewers (good number for soccer, GREAT number for the type of tournament).

Remember the weekend where the Whitecaps played Montréal (just after TFC won the VC)...

1. Golf, U.S. Open third round, Sunday, TSN: 489,000*

2. Hockey, NHL Awards, Thursday, CBC: 459,000

3. Golf, U.S. Open second round, Saturday, TSN: 410,000*

4. Baseball, Blue Jays at Nationals, Saturday, Sportsnet: 340,000

5. Baseball, Blue Jays at Nationals, Sunday, Sportsnet: 298,000

6. Auto racing, F1 British Grand Prix, Sunday, TSN: 202,000

7. Auto racing, NASCAR Nationwide series, Saturday, TSN: 142,000

8. Boxing, Diaconu vs. Pascal, Sunday, TSN: 121,000

9. Soccer, Spain vs. South Africa, Saturday, CBC: 105,000

10. Soccer, Vancouver vs. Montreal, Saturday, CBC: 75,000

* Viewers on NBC not calculated.

When half a million people are tuning in for both the NHL Awards and NHL Entry Draft EACH!!! (I wonder how TSN did for Free Agent Frenzy day on July 1st) it just goes to show that people can't get enough of the sport.

So until there's a demand for more soccer coverage, it just won't happen. So again, if you want to see it - you need to contact tv stations, radio stations, newspapers and ask for more soccer coverage. If there's a demand, they'll cater to it.

You are almost right with your last statement.....you don't need to call and ask for more coverage....you have to START WATCHING! I'm sorry but we continue to bitch and complain, but less than 100,000 for Van/MTL is not going to garner any advertising revs for the stations so why should they spend $$$ without being able to make the money back. If the ratings go up, coverage goes up, advertising revenues go up and everyone is happy, but unfortunately we have not given any of the private broadcasters any reason to show more soccer. WE are just as much to blame as them. As much as we think they should, the networks are not in the business to grow sports, they are in it to make money bottom line.

[john tv]

I have been watching soccer for many years in Canada and in the olden days the games from Europ came in as a pick up by some guys here in Toronto. it was the Sawn club.

The place was always a sell out and following this otrher restaurants came into the picture. TSN and others picked up many games and they still kept going to all these bars. it has been my experience that no other game in Cana attracts that many bar/restaurant viewers as soccer.

I also remeber the soccer show on CFTM with Dale Barnes. He was up against ABC world wide Of Sports as well as CBC with their sports show. Dale in these days easily beat any of these in the ratings and to me again it was the confirmation that soccer has a very ;large audience. Even now the crows that watch our game are far bigger than any other sport.Yes the media is slowly tutning around and I also believe that there are those that will call these sports departments to complain if noone is shown.It is a very painfull growing up process for that media and they are still fighting it as much as they can.economic conditions also are not in our favour and I don't believe that any reporter is travelling with the TFC team.

However we will win in the long run and it is fun to see them crumble.

[Guest Ed]

Question on the article by Jarred Petersen, Sun Media: 'Canada Overcoming Obstacles'.

The opening line is:

'They have an out-of-work goalkeeper, a captain who barely played a competitive match all season and an interim coach who will likely be replaced before the autumn.'

What Captain is he talking about? When has the CSA said anything about replacing the interim coach?

[loyola]

He thinks Stalteri is still at White Hart Lane....

[jonovision]

quote:Originally posted by Ed

Question on the article by Jarred Petersen, Sun Media: 'Canada Overcoming Obstacles'.

The opening line is:

'They have an out-of-work goalkeeper, a captain who barely played a competitive match all season and an interim coach who will likely be replaced before the autumn.'

What Captain is he talking about? When has the CSA said anything about replacing the interim coach?

Jerrad Peters, actually, but that error is far less glaring than those contained in his first sentence.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/Canada/2009/07/13/10114301-sun.html

[Guest Ed]

Well here's something for the astute Cdn soccer media. English content and all that, so they might actually get it right. "The majority of the Voyageurs will be very happy to learn that inside poop in Calgary has it that Owen Hargreaves is done. Will not be back from injury. Career over."

[andersontwo]

Seriously, why do you care if mainstream media covers soccer or not? Do you need to the sport to be validated to make yourself feel good or something like that?

Like some 10-inch story in the Province is going to make a difference?

You, like most us, can get information on the Nats in a myriad of places and, if you're like me, you already go elsewhere to get said info -- websites, boards (like this great space) etc...

This same old tired rant keeps popping up on boards "we never get media attention" and it sounds like whining.

Some posters have said it well, IMO, when soccer fans begin going bonkers about the sport, it will get the appropriate coverage. You don't think media outlets follow trends? Look at MMA. Radio, TV, print and websites have been forced to expand coverage because they noticed all their clicks and attention going to the sport.

Soccer has its fans in Canada, passionate ones. But let's face it, it's still a fringe sport here, no matter how many kids play it. TV numbers are still low.

With TFC and Van coming in things are beginning to change and I think even the most jaded media-haters on here have to agree that overall coverage is way up compared to pre-TFC days, at least in Ontario, where I live.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. But I don't need mainstream media coverage to justify a sport I love. I prefer coming here and chatting with die hards than getting some generic sparsely written story (which is all you'd get on the Gold Cup anyway) in my local daily.

[Guest Ed]

^ I was adding to the 'pathetic media coverage' pile with my post. When an article leads off 3 statements, 2 of which are completely bogus, I label that as pathetic.

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by andersontwo

Seriously, why do you care if mainstream media covers soccer or not? Do you need to the sport to be validated to make yourself feel good or something like that?

Nothing to do with validation, just the players getting the respect and notoriety that is due and having the Canadian increase in popularity because people are aware of their success (on the rare occasions in happens).

You are correct that media coverage of the pro game has and will increase as MLS gets more popular in Canada, particularly with the addition of Vancouver into the league. But the Canadian national team isn't owned by a sports empire that will give it pull in the media or even owns a portion of it. It needs the media to pull its own weight. Coverage of the tourney has been decent but could be improved, and the factual errors pointed out by Ed show the degree of soccer savvy we have in certain sectors of the media. And while it is good for Sportsnet to carry the tourney, I'm not sure what the deal was with sending Gerry & Craig out to San Jose to do a TFC match but have them call the Canadian national team from a studio in Toronto. It doesn't look very good in comparison to the volunteer work that Max & Laurence did on behalf of the V's.

[Gian-Luca]

While I am glad that Jerard Peters did a pro-Canada article, its obvious that he's trying to use a bit of dramatic license here:

"The protracted holdouts of Adrian Serioux, Jim Brennan and Dwayne De Rosario seemed to make the players' heads hang even lower, as did the mystifying search for a successor to former head coach Dale Mitchell."

Not sure which players heads were lowered by these "protracted holdouts" (which makes it seem like they are under contract for Canada and not showing up) or where he got that idea from (not from talking to any of the players it would seem), but it also should be mentioned that Brennan isn't a holdout of any kind at this stage - Hart indicated that he simply didn't ask him. Not to mention that of the players missing from the team for reasons other than injury, I think Hirshfeld's is far more significant than Brennan.

[redhat]

quote:Originally posted by jonovision

Jerrad Peters, actually, but that error is far less glaring than those contained in his first sentence.

"They have an out-of-work goalkeeper, a captain who barely played a competitive match all season and an interim coach who will likely be replaced before the autumn. They also have seven points from three matches and a quarterfinal berth in a continental championship.

They will now play Honduras on Friday with a place in the semifinals at stake."

The errors are surprising and glaring, not normally the style Jerrad

offers in his past columns.

At least his conclusion is what he wanted to emphasize regarding the

challenges of our MNT:

"This side is making a name for itself by simply tossing the script."

P.S. We should bug him about that the next time we see him around town.