A Round-Up of 2014 World Cup Finals Commercials

The 2014 World Cup finals in Brasil start on Thursday, which means the World Cup related advertising campaigns have already started, so here's a look at some of the Brasil 2014 related commercials:

More after the jump

The MLS Schedule Conundrum That, Well, Isn't A Conundrum

The 2012 Major League Soccer season kicked off this past weekend with a noticeable difference, the first match of the season was not broadcast on national television, in fact it wasn't till Sunday afternoon that an MLS match was broadcast nationally. While the realization of no national broadcast dawned somewhat late on many MLS fans, it did not go unnoticed on Saturday as fans scrounged to find free previews of either MLS's internet/cable season subscription packages or for an unsanctioned online feed. In recent years, MLS usually kicked off the season with a marquee match broadcast on ESPN2 on a Thursday evening, but such an option was not available since MLS started the season a week earlier than last year and its two English language national broadcast partners, ESPN and NBC Sports, were locked into broadcasting the various NCAA Conference Basketball Tournaments. In the past, MLS's opening match was often in competition with the NCAA Tournament, but CBS owns those television rights so ESPN could easily fit MLS into its broadcast schedule.

Not surprisingly, the fact that the MLS season seemed to start with a whimper instead of a bang resulted in two intertwined issues rearing their heads in some circles of MLS fandom: 1. the MLS schedule; & 2. the place of MLS in the US sports hierarchy.

I say these issues are intertwined because MLS fans often feel victimized in how MLS is treated by national broadcasters viz-a-viz how said broadcasters treat other sports. I lost count of the number of times last season a Twitter uproar occurred when some sporting event on ESPN went longer than its scheduled broadcast time, bleeding into a MLS broadcast. The reality of the sports broadcast business is that events sometimes take longer than expected and its the rare occasion that a network can or will break away from an ongoing sporting event to go to another sporting event.

Then there is the other often complained about issue of MLS starting its season at the zenith of the college basketball season and having its playoffs in the middle of the NFL and college football seasons. While I know some MLS fans are general sports fans and grew up watching other sports, I also know there is a good number of MLS fans who do not follow many of the other professional/collegiate sports that get the bulk of the American sports fan's attention. So for those who don't really follow other American sports here's something to keep in mind: there are only two truly "slow" periods on the American sports calendar.

The first slow period runs from early February into early March. This period starts after the Super Bowl and ends with the start of NFL free agency and NCAA Conference Tournaments. During this period you have NBA, NHL, and college basketball, but from a national perspective those leagues are in the doldrums and nothing else too exciting or earth shattering is occurring during this period.

The second slow period runs from late June into late July. This period essentially starts a little after the NBA Finals and runs till the start of NFL Training Camp. Yes, the MLB All-Star game takes place during this period, but it is not as big of an event as it used to be and this period of time marks the doldrums for MLB.

So, unless MLS wants to confine its season to these two short, slow periods on the US sports calendar, the league is going to find itself in competition with other sports when it comes to butts in the seats and eyes on the tv screen. Instead of focusing on the perceived slights towards MLS by its national broadcast partners, MLS fans need to keep it all in perspective. They need to remember that all of the professional leagues in the US fight for national broadcast airspace, and that all of the professional leagues in the US rely heavily on regional broadcasting for the bulk of their broadcast coverage. This includes the NFL, because not all of its Sunday games are available in all markets, many are only shown in certain regions of the country. The fact that there was a small battle over a portion of MLS national broadcast rights, a battle that has resulted in NBC Sports getting an MLS deal, is something that MLS fans should take as a positive. While there is some concern

I know there is a huge emphasis in MLS fandom and journalism to "grow the sport," but, in the end, the growth of the sport is going to have less to do with national broadcasts or competition from other American sports. The key to growing the sport is putting a good product on the pitch, a product that's quality will translate to televised matches, even if those matches are only televised on regional sports networks.

[VIDEO] TIS Commercial with Hope Solo & Alex Morgan

The folks at the World Wide Leader have put together another soccer related This is Sportscenter commercial, this time it features the lovely Alex Morgan and the lovely Hope Solo.

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Hope Solo Featured in ESPN Video for 2011 World Cup

The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup finals in Germany begins on Sunday June 26 with Nigeria playing France in Sinsheim and then Germany playing Canada in Berlin. The United States starts play on Tuesday the 28th against North Korea in Dresden.

As part of its promotion of the World Cup, ESPN posted this video of Hope Solo up on ESPNW.



Bonus "This is Sportscenter" commercial with Abby Wambach

ESPN's Coverage of South Africa 2010 - Just a Beginning?

Earlier this week I received my review copy of Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, so the first thing I did was jump to the index to find any sections that deal with soccer. Based on the directions that the index sent me in, and I should note the index seems a bit poor, the book only focuses on soccer in the context of the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, which isn't a bad thing, but it seems to leave out the World Wide Leader's dabbling with the Beautiful Game during the bulk of its 31 years.

In the book, which is written as an oral history, ESPN's treatment of the 2010 World Cup finals is presented in a very positive light. The voices heard in this discussion primarily belong to Ian Darke, Landon Donovan, and John Skipper.

Although ESPN/ABC had broadcast the World Cup finals in the United States prior to 2010, those earlier ventures involved sub-licensing through Soccer United Marketing. The first time that ESPN/ABC, in conjunction with Univision, obtained the direct World Cup finals broadcast rights from FIFA was for the 2010 finals, rights that they almost lost to NBC because previous Vice-President of Content, Mark Shapiro, had little interest in soccer.

Thanks to Chuck Blazer, who either feared NBC treating the World Cup finals like it treats the Olympics or knew about an impending power change at ESPN, the FIFA deal with NBC was delayed, giving the new ESPN Vice-President of Content, John Skipper, a chance to meet with FIFA officials and steal the broadcast rights away from NBC. Skipper was a fan of soccer thanks to his earlier work with ESPN's Soccernet.

While soccer fans might have complaints about certain aspects of ESPN's coverage of the 2010 World Cup finals, the reality is that the network took the tournament seriously, being one of the first broadcast networks on the ground in South Africa to prepare for the finals, and making it possible for Americans to view every single match. Not surprisingly, there was positive focus on the Landon Donovan goal against Algeria the viral aspect of US fan reaction on YouTube.

The impression left on the reader is that ESPN has even bigger plans for future coverage of the World Cup finals.

After checking out the book's coverage of ESPN's relationship with the Beautiful Game, I started reading it from the beginning. So far it has been very entertaining, I'll give you my final verdict here when I'm finished.

The Visual History of ESPN & Soccer

Today was a day many people were looking forward to because today was the day that the long awaited book about ESPN, Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, was released. I expect to receive my copy to review within this week, and since my focus tends to be soccer, I am interested in whether the book mentions anything about ESPN's coverage of the Beautiful Game. I wouldn't be surprised if the book doesn't mention soccer, after all, this book is more about the history of the people who made ESPN what it is today, but we'll see what it contains in its over 700 pages.

Until I get a chance to read the book for myself, figured now is a good time to take advantage of the fact that ESPN is a tv network and see what kind of visual history of ESPN and soccer that I can splice together - and not surprisingly, most of the clips are fairly recent.


1989


1998


1999


circa 2008

So a Eurosnob & an American Soccer Fan Walk into a Bar . . .

It's 2010, it's a FIFA World Cup finals year, and, we must admit, the beautiful game has a higher profile in the United States than it ever has since appearing in Italia '90. Granted, we said that in 2006 and we'll be saying the same thing in 2014, hopefully, since there's still plenty of room for soccer to raise its profile in the United States, but that being said, it's been a good 4 years since the US National Team was knocked out of the group stage in Germany 2006.

Since that inglorious showing in Germany, the US National Team went on to win the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup and beat European Champions, Spain, in the Semi-Finals of the Confederations Cup in 2009. Additionally, American players like Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark, Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, etc. have managed to find playing time, with mixed results, in European clubs.

Speaking of the club side of the sport, the past four years have seen interesting developments in Major League Soccer. Since 2006, MLS has expanded to Toronto, San Jose, Seattle, and Philadelphia, with plans to expand to Vancouver, Portland, and Montreal. Of course, the expansion to San Jose was like NFL expansion to Cleveland since the old San Jose team had relocated to Houston prior to 2006. In January 2007, MLS announced the creation of the designated player rule, a/k/a the Beckham Rule, as it announced that England National player David Beckham would be joining the Los Angeles Galaxy in July, after wrapping up the season at Real Madrid. Since 2007, the DP Rule has been expanded and the prospect of French National player Thierry Henry joining MLS after the World Cup finals is something the European press is already talking about. Finally, let's not forget the growth in soccer specific stadiums here in the United States, in a few years, only Seattle, New England, and D.C. United won't have soccer specific stadiums, with Seattle and New England being special cases cause of their relationships to the local NFL teams whose stadiums they share.

Meanwhile, since Germany 2006, the popularity of European club football has grown in the United States too. Fox Soccer Channel has seen its ratings for English Premier League matches grow to the extent that ESPN has teamed up with FSC so that it can air at least one EPL match a week. ESPN also developed a similar arrangement with GolTV so that it can air choice La Liga matches. But it's not all peace and harmony amongst the big US sports networks, ESPN saw good ratings from its coverage of the UEFA Champions League, only to lose the competition to Fox Sports, which has been using its network of regional sports stations to push the competition. On May 22nd, for the first time ever, the EUFA Champions League Final will be aired on national network television in the United States when it is broadcast live on the flagship FOX Broadcasting Company.

What's also interesting is that in the past four years it seems that two main cliques have developed among soccer fans in the US: the Eurosnobs and the American soccer fans. To be honest, for some time now, I've felt that the conflict between these two groups has been a bit contrived, a bit shallow,and while I know this fissure is not the result of some conspiracy by the soccer hating American sport fan, like Jim Rome, it does remind me of how the US Government placed the Hopi Indian Reservation so that it was surrounded by the Navajo Indian Reservation, meaning that the two tribes would focus on bickering with each other instead of teaming up against the federalies.

I for one am getting tired of the bickering between these cliques, and I want to nip this in the bud before the United States and England square off in South Africa on June 12th.

To those of you who find yourself, or put yourself, in the Eurosnob camp, fine, I can understand your desire to spend your soccer viewing time watching some of the best players, best club sides, and best leagues in the world. Heck, I watch as much or more EPL, Serie A, and FMF as I do MLS. As it stands, I'm anxious about Sunday's matches in Serie A, can the stars align giving Roma the Scudetto? And that's kind of my point, the majority of us who follow MLS and the United States National Team, and who are honest with ourselves, know that MLS is not one of the best leagues in the world. We know the quality of play needs to be improved, we know that youth development needs to be improved, and we know that, as it stands, MLS is a feeder league. We know that MLS has bizarre rules that hamstring teams in bringing in high-quality, foreign talent. As for the US National Team, we know it's not the best in the world, we know it will take a miracle and a bunch of luck for them to win the World Cup anytime soon, and we know that the power structure at USSF is a governor on the speed at which the national team will develop.

While MLS is not a top tier league in the world of club football, we can't deny the fact that clubs in EPL, La Liga, and Serie A have been grappling with serious financial issues these past few years. The MLS economic policy might not be a good deal for these top European leagues, but as James Lawton recently pointed out in The Independent, it might be a good idea for EPL to follow the NFL's lead when it comes to finances.

So, my request to you, you so-called Eurosnobs, for this summer is just relax, this isn't a battle of whose is bigger. Most of us know the score, we know the reality, no need to bash those who follow MLS or USMNT. Why would you want to emulate those in the US who ignorantly bash soccer in general with no regard to where or at what level the game is played?

As for you American soccer fans out there, let me tell you story. Over ten years ago I moved from Texas to Wisconsin. While living in Wisconsin, I was constantly accosted by Curling fans trying to recruit me to their sport. I'll be honest, the religiousesque ferocity that they threw into this recruitment turned me off and, for the most part, I steered clear of curling. Since then, I've watched it in the Winter Olympics and have grown to appreciate the sport. I regret that I never took the opportunity to learn the game while living in north central Wisconsin, but I also regret that the fans of the sport approached me as if they were attempting to convert me to another religion.

Let's face it American soccer fans, y'all can be a little pushy sometimes, like evangelicals trying to convert those they deem as nonbelievers. Recently, Travis Rodgers was doing one of his weekly spots on the Sean & John Show on 1560 The Game in Houston and he pointed out that while he could appreciate soccer as a sport requiring high levels of skill, he gets turned off by American soccer fans why incessantly try to sell the game to him. Let's face it American soccer fans, we can be a little, nay, very overbearing at times in our efforts to convert people to the beautiful game.

So, my request to you, the American soccer fan, is to just chill and relax this summer. Yes the World Cup finals can be a good recruitment tool, but please use it properly. Don't demand that your non-soccer fan friends and co-workers watch the World Cup finals. Don't try to explain to them what they are missing, and why they're foolish for not watching these matches. Instead, take the soft approach. Politely invite your friends and co-workers to drink some beer while watching a match, if they say no, politely accept their response and walk away. Don't try to shove the sport down the throats of others, just open the door for them and politely let them to make the decision as to whether they want to walk through that door.

Additionally, American soccer fans don't demand that your so-called Eurosnob fans support the USMNT or even MLS for that matter. Don't accuse them of being traitors. Feel free to hang with them at the local bar during the World Cup matches, drink beer with them, and just enjoy the moment. At the end of the day, politely ask them if they want to see some local soccer for a cheap price, don't push them, they might just say yes.

Finally, I'm declaring a détente between the Eurosnobs and the American soccer fans. Give it a rest this summer, please. Accept your differences, move on, and agree to disagree. While y'all don't have to root for the same countries this summer, at the very least you can link arms and just display your love of the game, without trying to obnoxiously convert others to your way of thinking.

This could be a great summer for the beautiful game in the United States, please fans, don't shoot ourselves in the collective foot.