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Major League Soccer in HD on ESPN2

post #1 of 125
11/11/06 at 7:31pm
Thread Starter 
Probably not too many people will care much about this but I'm certainly excited...

News coming out of the board of govenor's meetings for MLS is that every game on ESPN next season will be broadcast in HD.

More HD sports is always a good thing right?

This is a result of the fact that starting next year ESPN is paying the league for the right to broadcast games and is producing them themselves where as in the past 11 years the games were broadcast as a time buy from MLS.

Sadly, tomorrow's championship game on ABC is still scheduled to be non -hd
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post #2 of 125
11/11/06 at 7:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbarloewen View Post

More HD sports is always a good thing right?

Always.
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post #3 of 125
11/11/06 at 8:07pm
Great news!!!!! I've loved watching the HD games on HDNet the past couple of seasons. I wonder if this will cover games on ABC?
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post #4 of 125
11/11/06 at 8:12pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mx6bfast View Post

Great news!!!!! I've loved watching the HD games on HDNet the past couple of seasons. I wonder if this will cover games on ABC?

My assumption is yes, because the ABC games will also be produced by ESPN and since it's only the final that is on ABC, I can't imagine MLS would present it's product all season in HD only to show the title match in non-HD.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be the last non-hd broadcast of MLS produced by ESPN ever.

Go Galaxy!

(Next season, obviously...)
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post #5 of 125
11/11/06 at 10:52pm
Nice, that is pretty sad that ABC isn't doing the title game, I hate them (and no, no safe assumptions with them, remember them not doing regular season NBA games in HD in the past while ESPN did)
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post #6 of 125
11/12/06 at 9:45am
Great news, soccer is the 2nd best sport in hd behind Hockey (football is close)
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post #7 of 125
11/12/06 at 11:39am
Good timing considering MLS just authorized the Beckham Rule, allowing up to two players per team that don't count against the salary cap, in an effort to bring in some star power.
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post #8 of 125
11/12/06 at 7:20pm
Awesome! Too bad I STILL don't get ESPN2 HD.
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post #9 of 125
11/13/06 at 12:07pm
great news, though I'll hardly watch MLS even in HD until San Jose gets its team back. Congrats to the Dynamo and the Houston fans.
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post #10 of 125
11/13/06 at 12:33pm
NHL didn't have enough viewers, but MLS is going to?????
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post #11 of 125
11/13/06 at 1:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nakedeye View Post

NHL didn't have enough viewers, but MLS is going to?????

????????????
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post #12 of 125
11/13/06 at 1:19pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nakedeye View Post

NHL didn't have enough viewers, but MLS is going to?????

I found your comment hard to decipher but I'm guessing you are questioning ESPN for paying for MLS but not paying enough for NHL?

I think it is apples and oranges. ESPN is only paying $10m or so a year to broadcast MLS where as I think OLN is paying $70m?

MLS games on ESPN2 have gotten about the same ratings as NHL broadcasts have on that channel (not counting play offs) so I guess I can see how ESPN feels MLS might be worth the risk.
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post #13 of 125
11/14/06 at 9:04am
I love ESPN for bringing the world's game and MLS matches to us in HD. Most of all I applaud MR John Skipper the head of sports programing at ESPN for believing in soccer and in MLS and for taken a big gamble in a sport where majority of Americans hate for no reason.
Long live soccer and long live MLS, and thank you again ESPN for been so bold and brave.
Now only if TWDC can give us ESPN2 in HD by then.
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post #14 of 125
11/14/06 at 10:53am
Great news indeed. Watching MLS on HDNet has been fantastic, and I am excited all matches on ESPN2 will also be shown in HD. I would also like to applaud Mr. Skipper, who sees potential in MLS. I understand they are going to treat soccer very well next season for their Thursday night game of the week.

HDNet will also still have their games, right? And I understand FSC is making Saturday night "MLS night". I'll have to get FSC again. (Just got rid of it this past season because MLS was not being shown...)

Despite what many people think, soccer and MLS is very healthy these days in the US. The World Cup did very well, even though the US crashed out. I think it was very smart for MLS to create SUM and tap into the non-MLS soccer money in this country. I also like John Skipper's attitude for ESPN--if we can make X-games work, we can make soccer work.
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post #15 of 125
11/14/06 at 11:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Scherrer View Post

Great news indeed. Watching MLS on HDNet has been fantastic, and I am excited all matches on ESPN2 will also be shown in HD. I would also like to applaud Mr. Skipper, who sees potential in MLS. I understand they are going to treat soccer very well next season for their Thursday night game of the week.

HDNet will also still have their games, right? And I understand FSC is making Saturday night "MLS night". I'll have to get FSC again. (Just got rid of it this past season because MLS was not being shown...)

Despite what many people think, soccer and MLS is very healthy these days in the US. The World Cup did very well, even though the US crashed out. I think it was very smart for MLS to create SUM and tap into the non-MLS soccer money in this country. I also like John Skipper's attitude for ESPN--if we can make X-games work, we can make soccer work.

FSC picked up MLS games late this season.

Great post Steve. You are exactly right about the state of soccer in this country. It's much better than people think. The league has always felt their #1 goal was getting a favorable TV contract and thats exactly what happened this year.
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post #16 of 125
11/14/06 at 12:08pm
The MLS is moving forward nicely I think, teams are getting their own stadiums (very nice by the way), always rumors of the big stars abroad considering playing here. I think there's a good chance of the level of play improving (isn't horrible depending on the team if you actually watch) I just think they should maybe do a better job of marketing to the families with young kids, give more deals, since there's so many kids who play soccer, and you got to get them when they're young. Always takes a league time to develop though
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post #17 of 125
11/14/06 at 12:11pm
Great news.
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post #18 of 125
11/14/06 at 12:16pm
This is fantastic news!!!
I think I watched only one game (a Rapids game) on ESPN2 this year because of the non-HD. (The SD picture on ABC for MLS Cup was awful - we almost didn't watch the game!!)
But I watched almost every game on HDNet!!

Now I just need ESPN to broadcast the Champions League matches in HD and I'll be in HD Soccer Heaven! (English Premiere League matches in HD on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain would be nice too!)

Rob
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post #19 of 125
11/14/06 at 12:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Posty-McPost View Post

FSC picked up MLS games late this season.

Sometimes they showed the same game that HDNet was airing. It was amazing to see just how bad FSC really looks switching back and forth.
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post #20 of 125
11/14/06 at 12:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by radckh View Post

The SD picture on ABC for MLS Cup was awful

OTA was much, much better than via D*. Don't want to turn this is into another D* sucks thread, but the SD local feed via D* was little better than YouTube PQ-wise. OTA was night/day difference.

Don't know if it was especially bad b/c it was Sunday afternoon and ST was squeezing their bandwidth worse than usual.

Also, the highlights on Sportscenter looked much better than the D* local SD feed.
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post #21 of 125
11/14/06 at 12:34pm
HDnet just renewed their"Paid" contract with MLS for another 3 years. Like ESPN , FOX and Univision, the total paid TV deals worth 20 or 22 million which MLS needs evey penny.
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post #22 of 125
11/14/06 at 4:50pm
ESPN 1/2 are hard to watch because of the screen logos and tickers, a shame.
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post #23 of 125
11/15/06 at 3:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by radckh View Post

This is fantastic news!!!
I think I watched only one game (a Rapids game) on ESPN2 this year because of the non-HD. (The SD picture on ABC for MLS Cup was awful - we almost didn't watch the game!!)

Be glad your local ABC station *bothered* to broadcast the MLS final. KATV in Little Rock as ususal during the fall pre-empted all network sports programming for informercials and the one-hour Arkansas Razorback coaches's show @ 4pm local (which was rebroadcast @ 11:30pm local). The MLS game wasn't even carried on delay.

FWIW, KATV passed on 4 WC games (in HD) because "there wasn't a large audience for soccer in Central Arkansas (KWBF carried the pre-empted games in SD)

I'm not a fan of MLS, but programming decisions like this give the nation a backward image of Arkansas, deserved or not.
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post #24 of 125
11/15/06 at 5:46am
Excellent.
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post #25 of 125
11/15/06 at 7:49am
any hd soccer is good. but i wish they would cover the epl and champions league in hd instead. maybe someday...
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post #26 of 125
11/15/06 at 8:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by buckybadger View Post

any hd soccer is good. but i wish they would cover the epl and champions league in hd instead. maybe someday...

ESPN2 has shown the CL final in HD the past 2 seasons. It would be nice if they would show the games at least starting in the knockout stages. I'm sure it would be a logistics nightmare to get HD at many of the smaller stadiums.
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post #27 of 125
11/15/06 at 9:56am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by buckybadger View Post

any hd soccer is good. but i wish they would cover the epl and champions league in hd instead. maybe someday...

You know, they are starting to produce the EPL in HD now in England on Sky sports. It's just a question of when (or if) Setanta or Fox soccer channel get an HD outlet, they'll probably be able to do EPL HD.

Would be nice to see but probably not for a long while.

Also, rumor is that ESPN/ESPN2/ABC might show the Euro 2008, which if they do, is probably the only way we'll see them in high definition.
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post #28 of 125
11/15/06 at 10:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbarloewen View Post

Also, rumor is that ESPN/ESPN2/ABC might show the Euro 2008, which if they do, is probably the only way we'll see them in high definition.

Where did you hear/see this? That would be great. Was Euro 2004 in HD?
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post #29 of 125
11/15/06 at 11:12am
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Originally Posted by mx6bfast View Post

Where did you hear/see this? That would be great. Was Euro 2004 in HD?

Euro 2000 and 2004 were only on PPV and had no HD broadcast.

The info I got was from here:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=434846

The poster there runs a soccertv website and generally has very good information regarding televised soccer.
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post #30 of 125
11/15/06 at 11:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbarloewen View Post

Also, rumor is that ESPN/ESPN2/ABC might show the Euro 2008, which if they do, is probably the only way we'll see them in high definition.

This would be cool.
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