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Kick-Off times changed to suit Yank TV

  • 27-05-2004 11:07am
    #1
    Dub13
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 21,254 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/latest_soccer_news/429752.html

    Premier League expands U.S. TV presence

    By RONALD BLUM
    AP Sports Writer
    NEW YORK (AP) - The Premier League is expanding its television presence in the United States, but there are no plans to play regular-season games outside England.

    The Premier League and Fox Sports World announced a three-year contract Wednesday that calls for more telecasts in North America. At the same time, the network announced a four-year deal with the English Football Association to broadcast games of England's national team and the FA Cup.

    English clubs have played exhibition games in the United States with increasing frequency _ Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are coming this summer. At the same time, major league baseball, the NBA and the NHL have expanded their international presence, moving regular-season games to Japan, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

    Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said his league's regular-season games would remain in England.

    ”It's about attending at the stadium, first and foremost,” he said. “The idea that those matches would take place elsewhere is pretty unthinkable.”

    His deal with Fox, a division of News Corp., calls for the addition of 12:15 p.m. Saturday (5:15 p.m. in England) live telecasts, in addition to the 7:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. in England) games under the previous deal. There will be about 195 games televised a season, an increase of about 15. Fox, which began broadcasting the league in 1998, also has the Premier League rights for its Spanish-language network.

    David Sternberg, Fox Cable Networks' senior vice president of emerging networks, said it had not yet been determined how many games would be shown on Fox Sports World, which is available in about 20 million homes, and how many would be sold pay-per-view; last Saturday's FA Cup final was available live in New York City households for $24.95.

    Included in the deal with the FA are rights to England's home qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup and the 2008 European Championship. Nic Coward, the FA's director of corporate and legal affairs, said the agreement was “an attempt to turn England into America's second team.”

    Fox's news conference was held in a Manhattan soccer bar, and the English officials brought along the FA Cup, won Saturday by Manchester United. The network holds U.S. rights to the top leagues in England, Spain and France, and also has rights to the UEFA Cup, Europe's No. 2 club tournament. ESPN, a division of The Walt Disney Co., televises the top tournament, the Champions League, which plays on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

    Sternberg said the timing of Champions League games, midweek afternoons in the United States, was a problem.

    ”From a commercial standpoint, it's a tough square to circle,” he said.


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