Here is something to keep in mind as you watch soccer: the Bundesliga is unhappy with FOX Sports and its coverage of the league.
DFL CEO Christian Seifert is unhappy with FOX Soccer’s coverage of the German league, he admitted at the league’s headquarters in Frankfurt.
Seifert, who has held the position of CEO since 2005, is responsible for operating the Bundesliga, and was very involved in the recent media deal that will see the Bundesliga heading to ESPN+ beginning in August, 2020.
Even though the Bundesliga’s deal with FOX Sports doesn’t end until May 2020, Seifert didn’t hide his displeasure about the current rights-holder in the United States.
Bundesliga unhappy with FOX Sports
“I must admit, I was a little bit disappointed with FOX Sports as a partner,” admitted Seifert. “[Because of FOX Sports], it’s hard as a US Bundesliga fan to get used to the Bundesliga if you play one time on that channel and one time on [another] channel and then again on that channel,” Seifert told World Soccer Talk.
SEE MORE: Winners and losers of Bundesliga switching from FOX to ESPN+
Among fans of Bundesliga clubs in the United States, many are frustrated with the lack of consistency from the FOX Sports TV channel. Sometimes games are on FS2. Other weeks they’re on FS1. Overall, there’s no consistency in the broadcasting times. From the outside looking in, it appears that FOX Sports is treating the Bundesliga as filler, only scheduling games on FS1 when there’s no other programming available from other sports that it has the rights to.
Seifert, who has a background in the media industry having worked previously at MTV and MGM Media Group, said that he sees the Premier League and Netflix as the Bundesliga’s biggest competitors. Seifert also sees the Bundesliga and DFL as a sports entertainment company.
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JP
November 4, 2019 at 11:20 am
He should just come out and say the money was too much to pass up. Railing against confusion about being on FS1 or FS1 is disingenuous when next season his league will basically be off television entirely and on streamed to the small amount of hardcore Bundesliga fans (much like Serie A). Forget about capturing NEW fans.
JP
November 4, 2019 at 11:20 am
*only streamed
Larry Kern
November 3, 2019 at 4:44 pm
EJWTX…seriously dude, you watch the Mexican League over Bundesliga!! That is absolutely hysterical!! If you are a quality p[ayer of any sort, job #1 is to get out of the Mexican league. You seriously think that Chicharito would have been better off staying in Mexico…and he is not the only one either!! The Mexican attendance is not nearly what MLS attendance is and frankly the quality of play is almost the same level of MLS…the money in Europe will continue to attract the top players in both Mexico and the US…to the ADVANTAGE of the two national teams.
juan de armas
November 4, 2019 at 10:49 am
Larry for the US market EPL is not an exiting league, and the numbers are more than clear. The EPL saw a massive check from ESPN+ and decided to delay the issue of “growth” & “familiarity” for a latter time.
LigaMX and MLS are by far better products for the US audience, leaving the EPL as a “filler” for any sports broadcaster.
Ivan
November 3, 2019 at 4:37 pm
So, from 5-6 live games on US tv every weekend, Bundesliga is moving on to bigger and brighter things-ZERO games on tv in the US every week. Out of sight, out of mind!! Brilliant!!
Ritchie
November 4, 2019 at 2:34 pm
For $5 a month you’ll get
-EFL Cup
-FA Cup
-Eredivisie
-Serie A
-MLS
-Bundesliga (nearly all the games instead of 5-6…and I’m challenging that 5-6 figure)
-UEFA Euro / UEFA Nations league
In exchange for that, you’ll have to watch digitally instead of through a cable box. It isn’t a trade some are willing to make but I’m guessing that most won’t have a problem with it.
EJWTX
November 3, 2019 at 3:32 pm
Well maybe if the Bundesliga kept American players like Pulisic, more Americans would watch. My impression is that it is a 2 team league (Bayern & Dortmund) and a few other teams competing for Champions League spots (Frankfurt & Leipzig). Need more teams like Schalke and the Berlin teams to be consistently competitive. If Dortmund loses Sancho then it will be another blow to the interest. I watch EPL, La Liga, Ligue 1, Liga MX,and SAF, and they for the most part are more interesting. , Maybe Bundeliga should focus on a certain day for matches like Fridays and Sundays and we can watch around the other leagues. I wouldn’t even mind week day replays.
joe
November 3, 2019 at 11:47 am
Easy to bash Fox on numerous fronts but they did show 6 out of 9 matches per week on television, despite it being a niche product for the masses. Now it’s 4 matches on tv per season vs 204. I’ll enjoy the matches on Plus but he’s crazy for thinking this’ll grow the Bundesliga in the States.
Lovac1
November 2, 2019 at 6:59 pm
Bundesliga had it great last several years with every game on tv. Who cares whether it’s FS1 or FS2. They are next to each other; not difficult to find the game. Just wait until next year trying to figure out which of the 5 time slots will be on espn news. I know fox deal did not work out, but when it comes to deal with espn, it will be far worse for the growth product.
Jasinho
November 2, 2019 at 6:49 pm
FOX treats soccer like a cartoon, whether its MLS or the World Cup. They were so bad in the World Cup, I’ve wound up watching Telemundo and listened to TalkSport for the analysis.
The BuLi made the right decision going to ESPN plus, yes it may be a little tough in the fall, but once spring comes around, ESPN would be more flexible putting the latter and more exciting stages of the season on TV.
Lovac1
November 2, 2019 at 7:04 pm
fall vs spring made no difference for serie A last season. This is a worse deal for bundesliga. It will become irrelevant with this deal.
Azer
November 2, 2019 at 6:15 pm
Christian Seifert doesn’t know the difference between ESPN+ & ESPN TV. He didn’t think clearly before signing the contract. He thinks ESPN will show the Bundesliga on TV, think again. Mickey Mouse wrote a bigger check than Fox and Mr. Seifert went crazy. I’m guessing the Bundesliga will regret this.
Daniel DiNatale
November 2, 2019 at 2:02 pm
OK BOOMER
Daniel DiNatale
November 2, 2019 at 2:01 pm
He knows exactly what Fox Sports is and it’s for college football and NASCAR, which drives in way more ratings than that rinky dinky league they have in Germany. Cry old man.
Jasinho
November 2, 2019 at 7:14 pm
“rinky dinky league they have in Germany”.
That Rinky Dinky league featured 62 players that played in the previous World Cup, trailing only La Liga in Spain (78) and The Premier League (108). https://www.statista.com/statistics/865774/leagues-most-players-world-cup/
That is in contrast to the 19 players MLS featured, and 12 of those came from Costa Rica and Panama.
Greg C
November 2, 2019 at 11:02 pm
Weren’t you on here last week critiscing those who were critical of MLS? You said something along the lines of stop hating, if you don’t like then just don’t watch.
Azer
November 2, 2019 at 1:23 pm
Mr. Seifert needs to understand that NASCAR, Golf, College Basketball, College Football, etc., on Fox Sports 1 are more popular with Americans and bring in more viewers/revenue than the Bundesliga. Why is this so hard for some to understand? Fox Sports would treat the EPL or any other league if it had the rights to the same way. He needs to understand the Bundesliga will not be on TV at all next season, so what is he complaining about. Please explain, where am I going wrong?
John G.
November 2, 2019 at 2:57 pm
“Not be on TV at all” is equivalent to “I haven’t found any pirate ESPN+ streams”. You are not paying forFS1 and FS2, which are widely pirated.
Mark Williamson
November 5, 2019 at 9:53 am
Then simply don’t bid on the sport if you are not going to be genuine in supporting or growing the sport.
Dan
November 7, 2019 at 2:38 pm
FOX bought the rights before it knew that (under new management) it would acquire the Big Ten, WWE Smackdown, sports-talk TV/radio simulcasts (Colin Cowherd, et al.) and that Sky would end up in Comcast’s hands, not the Murdochs (so no more economies of scale on rights deals with Sky in Europe, to say nothing of the company subsequently being broken up and much of it sold to Disney or Sinclair).
Bundesliga just doesn’t fit FOX Sports as presently constituted. Even EPL probably wouldn’t from a pure scheduling standpoint.