In the NEW episode, number 222, Christopher Harris and co-host Kartik Krishnaiyer cover a range of topics including:
• All the news about LaLiga coming to ESPN
• We have the details about the Championship playoffs
• MLS gets a boost from a big TV ratings weekend
• Our heads-up about the final day of the Premier League season
• And your feedback in the Listener Mailbag segment.
Listen to the show via the player above or via this link.
Launched in 2006, the World Soccer Talk Podcast is the longest running podcast on the planet. Every week, we share the latest news about watching soccer on television and streaming, in addition to discussing what we like and dislike, and featuring your questions and feedback in our Listener Mailbag segment.
HEAR MORE: Listen to our archive featuring hundreds of soccer interviews
Send in your questions, comments and feedback via e-mail web@worldsoccertalk-wp.futbolsites.dev, via Twitter (@worldsoccertalk) or Facebook. We’ll read them out on-air in the next episode.
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Paul Robinson
May 24, 2021 at 8:57 am
Any idea what is going to happen with the majesterial Ray Hudson. He’s like marmite or Guinness…love him or hate him..no indifference to Ray.
As well, I see that ESPN is going to sub-license games to TSN here in Canada. ? Any idea how many games..just Real, Barca, Athletico? Or all 10 per round. TSN have 5 channels plus the TSN Direct.
Fechin Attuah
May 18, 2021 at 8:40 pm
Now paramount+ is eyeing the Australian soccer league
dave
May 17, 2021 at 10:28 pm
@Chris Guardiano ATT and Discovery announced an agreement to combine content properties. The merged company will include Discovery+ and HBO Max as well as many other channels. It is a complicated transaction for tax and financial reasons, but ATT will receive around $43 billion.
https://about.att.com/story/2021/warnermedia_discovery.html
“AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) today announced a definitive agreement to combine WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a premier, standalone global entertainment company.”
“The transaction is anticipated to close in mid-2022, subject to approval by Discovery shareholders and customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals. No vote is required by AT&T shareholders.”
Chris Guardiano
May 17, 2021 at 9:28 pm
@Fechin Attuah That is only a rumor. It would not benefit either Discovery+ or HBO Max to merge because Discovery+ has only been around for a few months and needs time to get subscribers. Also we don’t know what the impact is of HBO Max getting NHL games beginning next season on the amount of new subscribers. The only way they merge is if Discovery pays AT&T a large amount of cash to run Discovery+ and the FCC approves of the move. I think Discovery+ will be an outside player in getting the PL rights because of its potential. However the thing that could hold Discovery+ back in getting those rights is the lack of experience Discovery has in covering sports.
Fechin Attuah
May 16, 2021 at 10:23 pm
@Chris Guardiano
What about discovery plus getting the PL rights I heard today hbomax and discovery plus are merging
Chris Guardiano
May 16, 2021 at 8:42 pm
@Dan N. When it comes to outsiders for the PL rights watch out for Turner Sports/HBO Max. Warner Media (the people who own Turner) have been quite interested in getting sports rights for HBO Max which is one of the main reasons why they booted NBC out of the next NHL TV contract by willing to pay more for those rights. They could do the same with the PL although my theory is that they will likely go after MLS/ US National Team rights instead when it comes to soccer because they still feel burned after their experience with the Champions League a few years ago. This could mean in a few years time US National team games could be on as many as four different networks per year which could be a headache for fans of the national team.
jason
May 15, 2021 at 9:26 am
Anybody remember Fox Sports World/Fox Soccer Channel in the 2000’s? At the time that was the best soccer thing happening in the USA. One of the many cool memories of that decade I will retain.
jason
May 15, 2021 at 9:06 am
MLS is more “woke” than the NBA is. Limiting their growth big time. I myself have decided to boycott watching any MLS (including highlights) until 2023 at earliest.
jason
May 15, 2021 at 9:05 am
Biggest game I had on last week. Brondby vs Midtjylland in Denmark on ESPN+. The one european game on there that had FANS!
Roberto
May 14, 2021 at 4:48 pm
Turfit is correct one of the first big stars of U.S. soccer was Mia Hamm. There was an earlier attempt by Lamar Hunt to Make Kyle Rote Jr. a star for the NASL. He was a top scorer for one year and several good years, in a league totally dominated by non-Americans.
CTBlues
May 14, 2021 at 2:57 pm
Hey Gaffer, could Discovery be a sleeper for the EPL rights to help drive subscribers to Discovery+? Discovery could add a Eurosport section to the service. The big problem would be losing a network that has a OTA station.
Turfit
May 14, 2021 at 1:42 pm
Transforming figure in soccer in the United States has to be Mia Hamm. The problem is that US Soccer dropped the ball by not having a successful Womens’s Soccer league.
Scott
May 14, 2021 at 12:44 pm
What happens to Bein now?
Roberto
May 14, 2021 at 12:35 pm
For followers of the MLS, they have really improved their web-site. You can now watch highlights, condensed matches (15 Minutes) or full replays. You have to click on the final score to access this service.
Roberto
May 14, 2021 at 9:41 am
This could be a big year for the MLS. With several new stadiums opening and the latest expansion team (Kartik there are now 27 teams) playing very competitive football. There is a lot of excitement around the league. Many of the games have been well played. The fans coming back will add to that energy.
A weakness is the fact that there is only one American in the top twenty-five top earners. Until they start paying American players more, they will continue to go to Europe. Sure some of these players have added to the level of play but some of them are just padding their retirement.
Dan N.
May 14, 2021 at 3:23 am
Going to disagree with a couple of folks here with ESPN being an option. I’ll bite my tongue if proven wrong in the future. PL is arguably the most valuable league in the world and the US and the league itself knows that. There is no foreseeable way they will allow themselves to share the same room as the Bundesliga and La Liga at the same time on ESPN and its properties. That is without mentioning the vast amount of other sport properties they will surely prioritize first. It certainly is great for us, the consumer, to have everything all in one app, but as someone else noted, that is a quantity over quality consideration. Say what you want about NBC coverage these days, but NBC has no other properties (and losing some as well), so they can invest as much as they want into the PL (my one request is that they’d simulcast the TV feeds on Peacock too). At least with CBS/P+, the CL/EL are on weekdays and they’d only have to consider sharing with one major European league (Serie A) rather than two during the weekends. I expect an NBC renewal or a CBS/P+ pickup, hoping no other outsiders shock us, but I would be astonished if ESPN managed to snag those rights. I could certainly live with it, but looking at optics, it just doesn’t make sense.
José Cerrato
May 14, 2021 at 2:06 am
La Liga vuelve a casa, Aleluya.
Fechin Attuah
May 14, 2021 at 12:47 am
I think the Premier league is best off staying with NBC. NBC needs the premier league then the other way around. If someone were to bid I would say maybe Discovery plus, Apple TV plus or HBO max can be a dark horse since they have the NHL right now and Amazon prime possibility. Paramount plus could be a factor too. ESPN+ has too many soccer rights and they need to focus on the quality that they have on there since the leagues might feel like they are less tv time because of other leagues that are on ESPN. NBC coverage is above average but the way they have been the last few weeks is a nightmare. The reason I’m not too confident in the Premier league going to paramount plus is because they are a English league. NBC and sky sports are close. Paramount plus would most likely get MLS and grow the game in America since they have the Argentina league, Serie A, Concacaf nations league, and The champions league and Europa League. I said before that there are talks that INDYCAR could go to CBS,CBSSN and paramount plus. But if I had to choose where the premier league will go away from NBC to bid the most money is is Amazon prime video will be number one since they stream matches in the UK. Apple TV+ is number two because they have over 40 million subscribers surprisingly and they need more content. Discovery+ comes 3rd and HBOmax comes 4th. But overall I believe the Premier league will stay on NBC.
Mercator
May 14, 2021 at 12:24 am
I think the PL would be best off with ESPN. PL is already the top english language soccer league in the US, they are the one league that can afford to be one the same channel with every other league, because it will naturally take precedence. The only way the PL can screw this up is to choose the wrong broadcaster, just like La Liga did for the last few years, who makes it difficult/expensive/complicated to watch the games. This is exactly what NBC has done the last 18 months, and it won’t get any better. I don’t care how much you market the league, if you need a $40 cable subscription to get the games, most (younger) fans will just watch something else or pirate it.
I don’t know why the PL would care that much about the attention or the focus a broadcaster pays them. NBC gives them 100% attention now and like Chris mentioned, the broadcast might as well be the world feed anyway at this point. I don’t say this just to slate NBC, they did a tremendous job in the early years. But I’m a huge PL fan and somehow I’ve watched more Bundesliga this year than PL, simply because its on ESPN+. Bundesliga and La Liga on ESPN multicast? I won’t watch the PL on NBC in a head to head matchup with that unless my team is playing.
ESPN is also well known for pushing their properties – does the PL want to be popping up in ads for a despised streaming service while La Liga is on sportscenter every night? Like Karl mentioned, ESPN has half a dozen channels, they could make room on one or two for PL games if people really wanted them on TV. I think you have to be nuts not to go with ESPN unless someone else is paying you quite a bit more. I just don’t think ESPN will outbid NBC, unfortunately.
Great work on the reporting though. I was almost expecting a Fabrizio style “Here we go!” in the announcement.
Chris Guardiano
May 13, 2021 at 11:30 pm
Hi Guys,
I was busy with work last week and wasn’t able to comment on the pod but I am back this week. In my view, La Liga going to ESPN pretty much ends ESPN’s interest in going after the Premier League for one important reason. It would be too difficult for ESPN with all the top leagues they cover (even though Serie A is leaving after this season) to dedicate the time and attention the Premier League wants from a broadcaster no matter how much money that ESPN has to acquire the rights. This is why NBC benefits greatly in terms of retaining the Premier League because they can go to the Premier League and say “If you leave us for either ESPN or CBS/Paramount+, you will be treated as a secondary league by them because they have Serie A, the Bundesliga and La Liga.” Also NBC does not have any other soccer rights besides the Premier League (unless you count Telemundo’s deal w Chivas in that). I say this even though like you guys, I find NBC’s Premier League coverage to be below average at best and appalling at worse especially in the last few weeks.
La Liga going to ESPN also has an effect on the new MLS TV deal because it could mean that MLS could be leaving ESPN which would be unthinkable given the fact they have been partners from the very beginning. The reason why I think that this could be a real possibility is because MLS would get upset at ESPN for putting more focus on the Bundesliga and La Liga when it comes to coverage and especially matches on ABC that draw high ratings. If there are more La Liga and Bundesliga matches on ABC next year than MLS matches, MLS is leaving ESPN in my view. As for Fox, they would likely stay as a TV partner for MLS and CBS and Turner would bid for the portion of the deal that ESPN had. Considering the fact that the NHL got a large amount of cash from Turner in their new deal, MLS would probably want something similar from them which is why I think Turner will get it as opposed to CBS if ESPN is somehow out of the new MLS TV deal. Keep up the great work
Edward
May 13, 2021 at 10:54 pm
good job Chris. getting credited by Richard Deitsch and Awful Announcing. You’re well on your way to being the Woj/Adam Schefter of football media. You scooped TheGoalKeeper and Andrew Marchand at the NY Post.
Fechin Attuah
May 13, 2021 at 8:52 pm
Isn’t discovery plus only aiming for sports/soccer in Europe and not the US? Also are they bidding for the premier league in the US?
Fechin Attuah
May 13, 2021 at 6:36 pm
@Karl
You heard Hulu live tv lost another 200,000K subscriptions again and surprisingly Hulu gained up to 40 million subscribers what should happen is all the Hulu content move to Disney plus and some sports programming can be on Disney plus to not subscribe to ESPN plus. That’s why the bundle is there. ESPN plus have deals with PGA tour and MLB just this week to premier sports programming
Peacock I dont know what’s going on with them.
Fechin Attuah
May 13, 2021 at 6:29 pm
Of Topic but Any chance INDYCAR is going to CBS the contract ends this fall with NBC?
locofooty
May 13, 2021 at 5:39 pm
Home indeed. Who memmers watching that Rivaldo hat-trick vs. Valencia match delayed on ESPN2?! I memmer. It was live to me. Good times.
Karl
May 13, 2021 at 3:03 pm
I would expect the deal to announced this afternoon as Disney reports earnings btw. I disagree that ESPN/Disney would put significantly more PL games on ESPN+ than CBS would with Paramount+ or NBC would with Peacock.
The only programming obligations for ABC that conflict with soccer are Saturday college football broadcasts beginning at 12pm ET & the hourlong “This Week”(variable time) on Sunday mornings. ESPN is full with CFB Saturday mornings & Sunday NFL pregame from 11am-1pm ET during that season but ESPN2 and ESPNews certainly can accommodate any soccer broadcasts on weekends year-round. As Karthik has pointed out previously, regular-season college basketball ratings have been getting beat by European soccer (especially in the desired young demos) and I don’t think ESPN is unaware. Also worth noting that ESPN’s recent NHL deal included 75 games exclusive to both ESPN+ (12.1M subscribers as of Jan 2, 2021) and Hulu (39.4M subscribers on Jan 2, 2021). As the NHL actually gets beat by PL viewership currently and the growth of both services becomes a decent size cable channel, I would expect Hulu to have certain live sports programming available without having an ESPN+ sub.
Also, Karthik, if a goal and an assist against Real freaking Madrid isn’t good enough to be a top 3 American soccer player right now, my goodness you must have high expectations for the current USMNT- good job making sure you note the dual nats as well lol.