Comments on: The Battle For La Liga TV Rights In The United States

By: george

george — Mon, 10 May 2010 00:31:05 +0000

Im Happy Gol tv kept rights, Fox destroys soccer in the USA, Serie A in the past Gol tv had like 8 games per week, Fox gives 2, any league Fox gets it will destroy, they are the enemy of soccer in the USA, i really started to believe they are out to buy leagues to destroy them, they own the Argentina League, only 1 game if you are lucky per week, FIFA should make notice and do their best to keep soccer away from Fox

By: I miss La Liga

I miss La Liga — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:29:58 +0000

my satelite provider lost the rights to goltv and I have had to watch matches on crappy links.

ESPN needs to get la Liga and do away with ESPN Classic and make it all football

By: Elisa

Elisa — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:38:14 +0000

ESPN for more exposure and HDTV, else keep it with Ray Hudson and GolTV. We also need more games for frick sake and access to all the games via broadband!!!

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 06:22:15 +0000

Just because its on ESPN does not guarantee it will be in HD but they have the resources unlike GolTV or FSC.

I would like ESPN to have the rights to La Liga matches.

By: lester

lester — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:24:48 +0000

i dont mind goltv but i want espn so we can have altadefinicion

By: The Gaffer

The Gaffer — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:30:24 +0000

A source within Setanta Sports told me that Setanta Sports will NOT be bidding for the TV rights to La Liga in the United States.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

By: Hannah

Hannah — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:56:55 +0000

I would really like to see La Liga on ESPN because at least I get that channel. I think the majority of DishNetwork futbol fans have a bad taste left with them over the whole GolTV – DishNetwork contract.

By: Juan Arango

Juan Arango — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:13:55 +0000

If you hold a gun to my head and force me to choose, I think I would go for ESPN. There has been talk that this whole soccer rights issue is the only reason why they left ESPN Classic on the air. Soccer games would be mostly shown on that channel. ESPN at least shows like they somewhat give a damn about a league. Fux Up Soccer Channel cares more about the anglo-speaking community.

By: CFTV

CFTV — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:59:33 +0000

If I was La Liga I would want 1 or 2 of my 4 games a week that are currently shown on GOL TV shown on one of the ESPN Platforms or FSC.

GOL TV is the ultimate niche channel that is just getting picked up by cable networks across the US while FSC and especially the ESPN Family of Networks has better clearances than the Miami based company. If the league is looking to raise its profile in the US they aren’t going to do it with GOL TV since it just doesn’t have the promotion to make the league that much more popular in the US. I say that as a digital cable subscriber that has to order the Spanish Tier of channels so I can get GOL TV even though the only programs broadcast in Spanish are the paid programs and the commercials. Real Madrid and Barca are too big of fish to be featured in such a small pond that the clubs will never make any in-roads in America if they want to promote their brands here by having their exclusive rights on GOL TV.

And this isn’t a knock against GOL TV as I love Ray and Phil and I would hope that the network keeps 2 of the 4 games shown on the network so they can call games together but the network isn’t featured in enough homes compared to FSC or especially if ESPN goes on a soccer rights buying frenzy if they really jump head first into trying to get the Premiership biz.

If I was a bettingr man I think GOL will sign a year or two extension with La Liga and explore their options in a couple of years to see what interest ESPN really has in broadcasting soccer from the world.

There is a reason why ESPN if you have noticed the last couple of weeks has been featuring scores from England, Spain, and Italy league on the bottom line that has up to date and final scores of games from Europe on ESPN 2 and ESPN NEWS. I mean I guess there is more time to show scores since the NFL and College Football Season are done and dusted for the year but I really think that ESPN really see’s the game of soccer at the highest level as being something that they need to cover because the interest is finally there.

The same can be said for another somewhat niche sport here in the States in MMA/UFC which ESPN didn’t ever really talk about until the Liddell/Jackson fight 2 in UFC that ESPN treated as one of the bigger sporting events of that weekend. Now after UFC cards SportsCenter shows a few highlights and the results are featured on the bottom line for the next day.

Sometimes how the games are presented and thinking about where the games will be shown in the near future are more interesting than the games themselves! lol

It will be fun to see how the rights issues of the leagues around Europe shake out in the next couple seasons in the States. Every World Cup the game of soccer garners more fans here in the States. Now that ESPN has made a commitment to the Euro’s as well it makes sense that the next step for them is to get into the domestic league rights here in the States.

By: Lule

Lule — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 05:58:23 +0000

GoalTV needs to retain the rights for La Liga. They do a wonderfull job.