USWNT Game Coverage
It’s easy as sports fans to demand certain things from our teams… especially coverage of games. Unfortunately, as women’s soccer fans we can’t always get what we want. I’ll be the first to admit that I enjoy harassing the USWNT (US Women’s National Team) media team via Twitter to stream domestic games online when they aren’t on television. But I also understand that this isn’t an easy thing to do. Recently, I’ve seen Twitter campaigns for the Algarve Cup to be streamed by US Soccer. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it would be to stream a game in Texas or Arizona.
There are several setbacks that will make this unlikely. First, the internet configuration is vastly different in Portugal and would take a lot of altering for a US stream in Europe. Second, licensing rights for coverage of Portugal’s Algarve Cup are tough to come by. International licensing is even trickier. Finally, the cost of an international stream with internet configuration, coverage rights, and equipment costs would be through the roof. A direct Twitter message from US Soccer confirmed these difficulties. In the end, it seems apparent that online streaming is unlikely.
The point of this post however isn’t to figure out why US Soccer won’t stream the game online. The point is to spark a discussion about how we can get networks to cover USWNT games. Fox Soccer, ESPN, and NBC Sports have all shown interest in international play. It seems silly that when USWNT games are selling out stadiums and sparking world wide trending topics on Twitter that we can’t watch tournament games. ESPNW has provided a great deal of coverage on the women’s game this year… so how can we get them to put games on TV… or at least stream them through ESPN3? I will admit I don’t know the first thing about network broadcasting and the politics that go along with it but there has to be something we can do.
What do you think?
Ashley
becca4kicks
Chris
An
Scott
E-mail requests to ESPN
http://espn.go.com/espn/contact?lang=EN&country=united%20states
Fox Soccer
http://msn.foxsports.com/feedback
and NBC Networks
http://www.universalsports.com/customer-support.html
…as many times as you can. Squeeky wheel gets the oil.
Thanks for sharing these Cynthia
These links will be a great help. I feel that we shouldn’t feel too shy about contacting and inquiring these institutions on these matters. It helps to stay informed and push some buttons little bit. People are interested in watching games on TV!
Sharing this blog about Algarve Cup specifically, just for background info,
I had emailed ESPN during the last WPS season, post WWC to inquire about airing women’s soccer in general, their response was pretty straight forward. As you might guess it is advertising driven, if they can’t sell advertising during the program to cover the cost, no program. If the viewer numbers are not appealing to advertisers, they will not buy ads, no program. Here’s the tricky part, without consistent airing of games you can’t build a viewer base, no viewer base, no advertising, no advertising, no program. The ultimate catch-22.
The obvious thing, to me, is we have to find a way to build a viewer base, away from the networks that will be attractive enough for them to draw advertisers.
I have a few ideas on that subject beginning with an organization to raise funds/fund broadcasts. I had previously been in discussions with a group of people about fan owned teams, why not a fan owned broadcast entity. Build the framework to stream games and then negotiate with teams to do it, all funded by donations/shares of the company. Setting up the company would be straight forward, making it a non-profit so less chance for impropriety. There are already companies that have the tech know how to do the actual streams. Contract them to do the tech and provide our own announcers. Start domestically and sell subscription packages with all profits going back into the non-profit to expand. Once a viewer base is established we have something to take to the big sports networks. The non-profit would be run by volunteers and shareholders (donors) would have input to certain aspects of the operation; teams to stream, etc.
If the above linked article is in the ball park as far as cost for an overseas stream, I’m assuming a domestic stream is probably a little less, due to less broadcast red tape and reduced travel costs. This is just one idea, but if anyone is interested they can contact me at dianegh09 at gmail dot com.
C’mon folks, lets hear your ideas.
A lot of good ideas there, Diane. It’s true, you need the eyeballs to eventually get the advertisers to take notice, which would get the networks interested. However, without a means of getting the eyeballs interested in the first place (i.e. product placement where it can be consumed at little or no cost/risk), you don’t build a base that lines up all the rest. So how do we get the product in front of people in order to build that base? Not necessarily with an across-the-board package. Instead, getting a team or teams on the WPSL or college level to take the risk and actually put the product out there on the Internet (and massively advertise its availability) would start it. Do well on that level, and other clubs see the value in it. It seems like all the aim is on the top when history tends to show that innovators push from the bottom.
Thanks, Scott. Getting WPSL or college team to ‘take the risk’ is the problem we have now, they have no money and no proof that it will work for them. That is why I propose a stand alone entity. It could really start at the lower levels and follow up development ladder while at same time streaming some upper level teams. If starting from scratch isn’t grassroots, I’m not sure what is..I’m willing to give it a go. I think we need to hit it from every angle, so all ideas are valid at this point.
Scott, I like your suggestion about getting WPSL, college, and even W-League teams trying out this option. I may be wrong but I heard some of WPSL teams have had web-casts of their games in the past. If so, they ought to massively advertise its availability.Hopefully quality of webcast will be decent. Eyeballs may be interested once they see consumers are watching in good number.
Otherwise…I suppose WPSL and/or W-League fans will have to resort to following the games via Twitter or Matchtracker, if there is one available.
I like this idea Diane. I made a similar comment on Haley’s blog post. She may just pick up the gauntlet and run with it. Y’all should get in touch. Reach out to her. @NickAliffi works for Turner Sports. He & @brandiOrtega have the experience and knowledge to make this work. We know that kickstarter.com can be an amazing platform for crowdfunding. You know where to find me. Carpe diem.
Good ideas here Diane. Lots to think about…
Diane brought up great suggestions on how to raise funds/fund broadcasts. I hope fans will continue to explore and discuss the idea of a fan-owned broadcast entity, a non-profit organization. I believe that fans would like to invest and help out with starting up and maintaining this entity.
I think FIFA should ask every international tournament committee, like Algarve Cup government body (Portugal). to do whatever they have to do to prepare the stadium for tv coverage, tape the game, and then sell the tv rights to countries. This way countries do not have to send TV crew there. We may not get commentaries and coverage may not be perfect. At least we would be able to watch the tournaments in our home countries.
Good idea to get FIFA involved, I think. Problem still stands that US Soccer, and probably many other countries have small/non-existent budget for such rights. Would you pay a fee to watch?
Not necessary, us soccer said they can’t afford to send a crew for all the tournament, maybe buying right are less expensive for womens soccer. I just don’t think womens tv right are as much expensive as men.
I think it will be expensive for the tournament committee the 1st year and then it could be cheaper if everything is already prepared from the year before….just a though
Yasu, that’s something to think about right there for international matches. This idea is worth looking into. Personally, I would not mind paying a fee to watch games online (gulp!), but I am very wary of donating some money to FIFA organization. FIFA may not want or care enough to do this sort of thing.
Great minds think alike, eh? Great points here. Like Ingrid mentioned, I’m working on a way to make something happen in this arena. Keep spreading the word.
Also, side note: Kansas pride.
Keep us posted on what you’re doing and if we can lend a hand.
Thanks!
Haley, first, I want to say major kudos to your great investigative work! I learned a lot from reading your blog. Please let us know if there’s anything that we can do to help.
I have a question about this paragraph on your blog:
“He did, however say that they have the ability to record the games, which is not always allowed in international matches, a small victory in itself. The recording still takes a decent amount of peoplepower, but not nearly as much as it would to get a broadcast/stream set up. They will be posting videos of the game highlights as soon as they clear the editing bay. Also, with recording the games instead of live airing them, the rights fee does not have to be paid.”
I recall that after the USWNT v. New Zealand friendly, US Soccer did upload video of full match on Youtube. Would it be possible that the federation might do the same for recorded Algarve matches? If they upload these games online, say…days later, do they have to pay rights fees ($15,000)?
I’m not entirely positive on that subject, and it is a very good question. I think I’m going to call my contact at U.S. Soccer tomorrow and ask, because I would like to know as well. I’ll keep you posted.
Thank you, Haley. This will be helpful to know. Not everyone will be happy but we’ll take whatever US Soccer can give us in this circumstance…right?
I too bombard US Soccer w/ tweets asking them to get the games streamed online. I didn’t though in this case w/ the Algarve Cup (international tv rights are a different game altogether has others have mentioned above).
Lots of good ideas being shared here and thanks to Becca4Kicks for “kicking” off this conversation.
Hey all! Thanks for your comments! Diane, I think you raise a great point. It seems that with any women’s sport the best approach is following a grassroots style. If we building from the ground up with out the political backlash of corporations we may actually be able to do something! And Hayley… I love your insight… particularly because of the Kansas connection 🙂
I hope everyone will continue to discuss so that we can eventually put our words into action!
As for Scott’s suggestion, I do see some of WPSL and W-League teams streaming and/or recording their games this season because of new fans. It’s something they should be doing. The quality of coverage does not have to be HD. It’s just something for these teams and GMs to consider.