I may not always tell you exactly how much I appreciate you, but I do. I love admiring your skill on the ball. My heart leaps - and so do I - when you score an unbelievable goal. Your tricks always make me chuckle, and I appreciate it when you act as a good role model for my kids.
But - you know it, I know it - our relationship has been less than equal for quite some time. In fact, it's been getting more and more unequal! Our difference in income is striking - you earn more in a week than I or my friends could hope to earn in a year. Your lifestyle bears no resemblance to mine, needless to say! But most importantly, it's pretty hard to even keep track of what you're up to. I don't mean off the pitch (the Daily Mail website gives me more than I need to know), but on it. As you demand higher wages, your employer looks to me to fork out more for tickets, merchandise and TV subscriptions. And, to be honest, I can't keep up.
It's got a lot worse recently. Many of your fans are seeing their wages shrink! Quite a lot of them have lost their jobs! Not you, though. At least - not yet.
But today it was announced that Setanta - one of the middle-men that we hand over wads of cash to so we can catch you on the pitch - is heading for administration. This should wake us all up, I reckon. Now even the broadcasters can't keep up with the FA, who can't keep up with the wage deal they've struck with you and your friends! Where will it all end?
Don't get me wrong: I still think you're great. Well, most of the time... It's not all your fault. We're all guilty of feeding this system. But now it's unsustainable. We all need to rethink - starting with the FA, the Premiership clubs... and you.
As for me - well, I'm going to hold on to my cash and wait to see what happens next. In the meantime, I'll check out my DVDs of your greatest moments - that should keep me going for the summer at least, and they're free to view!
Mets fans foxed again...
We are blessed in New York to have access to several local sports channels via cable TV. I've always thought this was a pretty amazing thing, really - in the UK, for example, you have to punish your wallet and buy a fairly pricey annual subscription if you want to watch your favorite soccer team's channel (that is, if they have one at all). It was a bit disappointing to discover, therefore, that one of our local sports channels, SNY, seems to be facing a few problems this season.
New York Mets evening games starting before 7pm EDT cannot actually be broadcast on SNY until after that time due to some exclusive rights now held by Fox TV! Apparently, Fox now has the exclusive rights to air games between 1.10pm and 7pm EDT. That would be sort of ok if they actually televised the games - but they don't seem to be doing that! Recent Mets games against the Florida Marlins started around 6.30 (at their request) and fans found radio was the only option. Despite frantic searching - as evidenced by discussion on the Mets Blog, linked from the post title above - fans found no live feeds on the internet. It seems the only way to see the start of the game live was to, er, go to Florida...
New York Mets evening games starting before 7pm EDT cannot actually be broadcast on SNY until after that time due to some exclusive rights now held by Fox TV! Apparently, Fox now has the exclusive rights to air games between 1.10pm and 7pm EDT. That would be sort of ok if they actually televised the games - but they don't seem to be doing that! Recent Mets games against the Florida Marlins started around 6.30 (at their request) and fans found radio was the only option. Despite frantic searching - as evidenced by discussion on the Mets Blog, linked from the post title above - fans found no live feeds on the internet. It seems the only way to see the start of the game live was to, er, go to Florida...
When 'live' doesn't really mean live...
By any standards, yesterday's Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing was spectacular. An awesome display of imagination, excellent choreography and attention to detail. My son and I were up early to watch it live from Beijing... only to find it wasn't to be broadcast on NBC (the only network available to us it seems) until 7.30 in the evening! Even weirder, this was listed as a 'live' broadcast. Huh? Disgusted, I tried to find other viewing options on the web, but those we tried were blocked. Other fans apparently faired slightly better, due to their greater tenacity and ingenuity (see the New York Times article linked from the post title above). But for most US viewers, a wait for the 'live' ceremony was required.
When it came, it certainly had some trappings of a live broadcast. An attempt at a suspenseful build-up... and much more annoyingly the constant peppering of advertisements causing viewers to miss bits of the ceremony! Each time the commentators brought us back with 'while you were away...'. Was this really necessary? Since they'd dedicated such effort to ensuring we waited to see what most other viewers across the world saw 14 hours or so earlier, could we not have had some benefit from it being pre-recorded?
Even with these annoyances, it was an attention grabbing opener to these games. London 2012 sure has an act to follow! (Yikes!) My favourite bit of the evening? Had to be when the camera trained on President Bush, who was looking bored and then checking his watch - when Laura Bush also checked hers, the camera gave up. It seems even truly live action can't please everyone.
When it came, it certainly had some trappings of a live broadcast. An attempt at a suspenseful build-up... and much more annoyingly the constant peppering of advertisements causing viewers to miss bits of the ceremony! Each time the commentators brought us back with 'while you were away...'. Was this really necessary? Since they'd dedicated such effort to ensuring we waited to see what most other viewers across the world saw 14 hours or so earlier, could we not have had some benefit from it being pre-recorded?
Even with these annoyances, it was an attention grabbing opener to these games. London 2012 sure has an act to follow! (Yikes!) My favourite bit of the evening? Had to be when the camera trained on President Bush, who was looking bored and then checking his watch - when Laura Bush also checked hers, the camera gave up. It seems even truly live action can't please everyone.
NFL clubs fleece captive audience
It takes a lot to shock me these days in the world of sport. But shocked I was when I read this article on Fox Sports today (click on the post title above to go to it). Apparently, certain NFL clubs have over-extended themselves financially to such an extent - through the construction of new stadia, for example - that they are now explicitly asking fans to foot the bills. Specifically, this entails selling fans a 'personal seat license' (PSL) for said stadia, the cost of which sometimes runs into six figures. And what does this get you? Well, the chance to hand yet more money over for tickets to each game. Yup. No kidding. According to the Fox article - and the many comments from readers following it - you can pay $150,000 for a PSL for the Dallas Cowboys, then still have to pay $800 per ticket per game to actually sit there and watch them live! This is, of course, absurd. But some very wealthy fans will pay up, probably through corporate accounts, and the rest of us will be consigned to the pay-to-view drinking establishment...
Or, as one respondent pointed out, you could go and watch live USA Rugby for free. Not too fast though, or a new stadium will be needed to seat everyone, and you know what'll happen next...
Or, as one respondent pointed out, you could go and watch live USA Rugby for free. Not too fast though, or a new stadium will be needed to seat everyone, and you know what'll happen next...
How much do ISPs restrict access?
I don't know the answer to this question, but I'd like to. What I do know is that there have been occasions when we couldn't access the ESPN footage online through Time Warner Cable. People I spoke to about this thought it was because the rights deal between Time Warner - which, of course, also does subscription only TV - and ESPN didn't allow it. I wonder...
UK minister says fans should join, even control club boards
In an interview with The Observer newspaper yesterday, the UK Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, argued for sports fans to be represented on club boards. (You can read the article by clicking the post title above.) Well, in fact, Burnham mentioned football specifically - but it's hard to see how 'punter power' would stop there. According to The Observer, "Burnham said the moves, which he has already made one of his top priorities at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, would usher in an overdue 'democratisation' of powerful bodies that play a key role in the life of the nation." Talk about music to our ears! It's clear that Burnham has been influenced by events at Everton FC, his chosen club, which recently established a 'Fans Council' to represent the views of Everton fans to its board. But Burnham wants to go further than that - he is interested in the concept of collective ownership of football clubs by their fans. He cited Spanish club, Barcelona, as a good example: "They are one of the most pre-eminent names in world football, yet the club is owned by its supporters on a one-member, one-vote basis and they control it. That strengthens it because it's never subject to the whim of one person; it's a collective endeavour. English football should see that as a big strength. I'd love to see if we could grow the Barcelona model here." Very interesting ... Perhaps I should ask Burnham to sign up to Sport for the People...?!!
African Cup of Nations - but not of their citizens
The African Cup of Nations got underway yesterday, as hosts Ghana defeated Guinea with a last-minute goal. Today, one of the hot favorites, Cote d'Ivoire, triumphed over another strong side, Nigeria, in what was billed the 'final before the final'. Unfortunately, of course, many Africans won't have been able to see these games. Not only are rates of television ownership still fairly low across the continent, several public broadcasters have not been able to afford the royalties that must be paid to the rights owner, LC2 International of France. These include TV stations in the Seychelles, Rwanda, Zambia and Kenya. Several news sources have documented disputes between Nigerian broadcasters and LC2 International as well. The alternative for many - but by no means all - football fans seems to be accessing games through their mobile phones, courtesy of cable TV company MultiChoice, who are running a 'mobile TV' trial during the tournament. It's either that or good ol' radio... In any case, it's a sad day when millions of ordinary Africans are unable to watch their national teams compete at all in a major international tournament. Sport for the people? Not even close...
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