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World Soccer XX: I paid Jack Warner $1M for the right to start this thread

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Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Bob Gray said:
I think this whole thing is a big reminder that we live in a world, large portions of which do not look down on corruption, bribery, or whatever term best fits, but rather see it as just part of how business is done.
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Are you talking about FIFA or Congress? :p
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Priceless said:
Are you talking about FIFA or Congress? :p
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Reminds me of the old line from Laugh In and it could apply to FIFA.

"Of course I believe in capital punishment. I believe everyone in the Capitol should be punished."
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

To add onto someone else's post, the US is going to need an industrial size drum of lube after the Carribean refs get done with them in the Gold Cup. That or pray for a Central American ref.
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Grant Wahl's take on things. Makes many of the same points as Craig P. and Jimjamesak

U.S. Soccer, on the other hand, clearly feels that it wasn't in its interests to publicly oppose Blatter if it knew he was going to win. For one thing, there hasn't been nearly as much coverage of the FIFA election in the U.S. as in England, so the benefit of taking a stand wouldn't be as high for the USSF. And U.S. Soccer must feel that it still needs Blatter's FIFA to support (or, at the very least, not oppose) a number of things other than World Cup '22 as the sport continues its development in America.

What could those things be?

World Cup TV rights for 2018 and '22. In 2006, Blatter's FIFA did U.S. Soccer and MLS a favor by agreeing not to accept a $350 million bid for the TV rights for World Cups '10 and '14 from NBC, which had no interest in committing to showing MLS or other international games. Instead FIFA later accepted a $325 million bid from Univisión (Spanish) and a $100 million bid from ESPN (English), which agreed to increase soccer's domestic exposure by doing deals with MLS and U.S. Soccer as well.

The U.S. TV rights for World Cups '18 and '22 will be up for bidding in the not-too-distant future, and U.S. Soccer would prefer that Blatter's FIFA choose a partner (read: ESPN) that also has a commitment to MLS and U.S. Soccer.

Continued FIFA approval of MLS's unique aspects. If it was up to Blatter, MLS would never include more than 20 teams (it currently has 18 and plans to expand beyond 20) and would play a fall-to-spring schedule (instead of a summer slate). Blatter might also have issues with MLS's single-entity structure and lack of promotion and relegation, but FIFA hasn't tried to crack down on those things during the years that U.S. Soccer has supported Blatter. Without that support, things might change.

Keep in mind, too, that Blatter's FIFA did U.S. Soccer and MLS a big favor in 2009 by not intervening in collective-bargaining negotiations between MLS and its players, despite calls to do so from FIFPro, the international players union. If Blatter wanted to make life difficult for U.S. Soccer and MLS, FIFA could change its stance on that also.
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Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

In non-FIFA news, Mark Hughes quit as Fulham manager. Being linked with Villa and (lol) Chelsea.
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Some of that stuff is just dumb. What did we do, send a satellite photograph of December - March snow cover in North America compared to Spain, Italy, France, England, Argentina, and Brazil to explain why soccer isn't played fall to spring here? Does he routinely threaten the Norwegians and Russians with something similar?

And they did us a "favor" by taking $425 million in TV contract money instead of $350 million?
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

bronconick said:
And they did us a "favor" by taking $425 million in TV contract money instead of $350 million?
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I think it was more about the network than the $ from US Soccer's perspective. If NBC had taken the games, they presumably would have farmed many of them out to Versus or one of their other cable networks, probably covering the tournament with much less fanfare than ESPN did. I mean, I doubt we would have gotten hours of wrap up coverage each night on NBC like we did on ESPN last summer, they also may not have shelled out the money to send announcers to the stadiums or to make those World Cup commercials. And, like Wahl says, they most certainly would not be showing MLS matches or friendlies. I could see how the USSF would feel that ESPNs approach is much better for growing the game.
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

WeWantMore said:
I think it was more about the network than the $ from US Soccer's perspective. If NBC had taken the games, they presumably would have farmed many of them out to Versus or one of their other cable networks, probably covering the tournament with much less fanfare than ESPN did. I mean, I doubt we would have gotten hours of wrap up coverage each night on NBC like we did on ESPN last summer, they also may not have shelled out the money to send announcers to the stadiums or to make those World Cup commercials. And, like Wahl says, they most certainly would not be showing MLS matches or friendlies. I could see how the USSF would feel that ESPNs approach is much better for growing the game.
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Sure. Now was FIFA thinking of that when they cut their deal, or were they thinking "$425 million is more than $350 million." Exactly.

That's not doing someone a favor. That's "I've got mine, and hey, I guess it worked out for you." followed by a pat on the head.
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

bronconick said:
Sure. Now was FIFA thinking of that when they cut their deal, or were they thinking "$425 million is more than $350 million." Exactly.

That's not doing someone a favor. That's "I've got mine, and hey, I guess it worked out for you." followed by a pat on the head.
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Oh, my fault, I see what you mean.

Edit: I guess the inference is that someone at US Soccer said, "Hey Sepp, there's a better offer coming down the pipe in a little while, why don't you wait for that one?" And Blatter listened.

Oops, edit again. It occurs to me that the Univision rights for the Spanish language broadcasts might have been getting sold either way. So if that's the case, it's FIFA turning down $325m from Uni and $350m from NBC in favor of $325m from Uni and $100m from ESPN,a loss of around $250m. Not sure if that's the case or not.
 
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Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

bronconick said:
Sure. Now was FIFA thinking of that when they cut their deal, or were they thinking "$425 million is more than $350 million." Exactly.

That's not doing someone a favor. That's "I've got mine, and hey, I guess it worked out for you." followed by a pat on the head.
Click to expand...
IIRC the bidding was finished and NBC had the highest bid ahead of ABC/ESPN and was closing when FIFA stepped in and gave ESPN and Univision a second shot. Remember at the time $350 million was a lot of money for the World Cup rights, SUM paid peanuts compared to that last time out.
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

WeWantMore said:
Oops, edit again. It occurs to me that the Univision rights for the Spanish language broadcasts might have been getting sold either way. So if that's the case, it's FIFA turning down $325m from Uni and $350m from NBC in favor of $325m from Uni and $100m from ESPN,a loss of around $250m. Not sure if that's the case or not.
Click to expand...
NBC's bid was for combined English and Spanish rights.
 
pirate said:
Downing and Ashley Young both not signing extensions at Villa, both will be sought after by the deep pocket teams...Young reportedly going to ManU.

It is nice to know that Villa can help develop midfielders for the other teams.

We'll see if the asking price or other signings by Villa have any impact on their actual departure.
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Slow week for Villa. Houllier not coming back. I guess Guzan will be GK. only houllier and MON can be ruled out for manager...maybe the activity gets a manager that excites AYoung and Downing enough to stay.
 
Re: World Soccer XX: I paid Jack Warner $1M for the right to start this thread

USA Spain at Gillette tomorrow. Wish I could go. No money... =/
 
Re: World Soccer XX: I paid Jack Warner $1M for the right to start this thread

Now acting CONCACAF president Austin has been suspended pending a hearing. No reasons given, though I imagine his attempted ouster of Blazer was a big part of it.

Austin of course, says they can't suspend him because he didn't call the meeting.
 
Re: World Soccer XX: I paid Jack Warner $1M for the right to start this thread

USA: Howard; Spector, Onyewu, Ream, Lichaj; Kljestan, Edu, Jones, Rogers; Agudelo, Altidore

Donovan is ill, being rested for Tuesday. Holding my tongue on the Rogers and Kljestan selections, it is a friendly after all.
 
Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Re: Norwich City back in the Premier League!

Shooting gallery on Howard. One crossbar, one goal (erroneously called back on an offsides). I'd say we need to wake up, but we're actually probably playing about as well as can be expected against a much better side.

Oh, and the Spanish girls in the crowd are hot.
 
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