FCD to Televise Every 2008 Regular Season Game on English Language TV
February 25th, 2008 . 10:06 pm . By: Buzz CarrickFC Dallas has made a massive step forward in the world of modern media and will air every 2008 regular season game on English language television. Michael Hitchcock and the Hunts deserve praise for seeing the light and signing a comprehensive TV package that will see the entire 30 game regular season schedule on English TV for the first time in franchise history. Every game will continue to be aired on Spanish Radio. The breakthrough in coverage has come on the home side of the schedule which HSG has previously been reluctant to have on the air in the past. Since the PR materials don’t say anything about rights fees, it seems safe to assume HSG has finally stepped up with the money to get every game on TV. That’s a clear change from the HSG under Lamar. 3rd Degree has long been a proponent as the best advertising MLS has is to air home games on local market TV. In our view this is a terrific move and a great step forward by the Hunts and Hitchcock and they deserve big props for this deal. Here’s some PR stuff on the season TV package. FCD ANNOUNCES FINALIZED 2008 LOCAL BROADCAST DETAILSFC Dallas today announced that the team has finalized its local television and radio broadcast schedule for the 2008 Major League Soccer season. For the first time in team history, each of the 30 regular season games will be available locally on English language television, including all 15 home matches. Local broadcast partners KFWD-52 and FSN Southwest will air 19 games, with national outlets ESPN2, Fox Soccer Channel, and HDNet combining to show 11 matches. Fifteen of the games will also be available through national Spanish-language channels Telefutura (Ch. 49) and Fox Sports en Español. The team also announced that all regular season and playoff games will continue to air live on KZMP 1540 AM La Ranchera (Spanish). “We’re excited to provide our fans with our best TV broadcast schedule in franchise history,” said FC Dallas General Manager Michael Hitchcock. “We feel this is a great step forward for FC Dallas and our rapidly growing fan base.” FC Dallas opens the 2008 season on March 30 against Chivas USA at Pizza Hut Park, live at 2 p.m. CT on TeleFutura, and airing on KFWD-52 at 4 p.m. CT on tape delay. Season ticket packages and individual game tickets are currently available for all 15 regular season home games. For more information visit www.fcdallas.com or call 888-FCD-GOAL (888-323-4625). NOTES ON LOCAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE:KFWD-52 will air 14 games, and FSN Southwest will air five games. Brad Sham and Dave Dir will return as the FC Dallas television broadcast team. Veteran announcer Carlos Alvarado, who has been the play-by-play Spanish voice of the team for each of the first 12 seasons, returns to call every regular season game on KZMP 1540 AM La Ranchera. Each game will include a 30-minute pre and post game show. Alvarado will also continue to host a weekly show every Tuesday from 7-8 pm CT, covering FC Dallas, Major League Soccer, the United States National Team, the Mexican National Team, Tigres UANL, Atletico Paranaense and other soccer related news and updates from around the globe. Twenty of FC Dallas’ 30 regular season games will be available on national TV. The start time for the August 30 home game versus the Columbus Crew has been moved to 8 p.m. CT. 19 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
So what about English radio? They kinda glossed over that, so are they not doing it this year?
with every game on TV I’m sure we can give them a pass on the radio side. Although it may be that a radio deal of some kind, one that might include a weekly radio show, may still be forthcoming.
Did they really do radio last year?
We would leave PHP, try to listen to the postgame, and we could barely get any reception.
Why don’t they do what the Dallas Stars (Ralph and Razor) broadcasters do, having Brad and Dave do both TV and radio at the same?
We sooooo need Bob Sturm to host that radio show.
Radio not needed given that ch. 52 and FSN SW likely are in the homes of anyone within radio distance.
I don’t think they have just “seen the light”, I think it’s fairly obvious having games on TV is preferred. Also I doubt that HSG PAID to get the games on t.v., but rather the other way around, or maybe they are splitting adv. revenue, or maybe FCD will make no $$ at all off of it. But is makes zero economic sense to pay someone to air your games in a local market when you are trying to get more fans to come to the stadium.
I applaud this move and efforts, esp. if they had to pay to get it done. Regardless, it will be great to see FCD and MLS on t.v. more.
All MLS fans need to be watching the Thurs. night ESPN2 games to support the league, maintaining and strengthening the TV contracts is critical.
BTW I agree with Jamie’s comment re: Sturm, in fact I’d like him to step-up and do a one-man one-hour show on The Ticket covering world football. Maybe 7-8 on Wed. nights or something like that. They might be surprised the kind of response, attention, and callers they get.
In light of your Top Ten: Best Decisions in FCD History, Decision #3,
the one about how in 1998 the east side stands at the Cotton Bowl were made the festive, general admission, walk-up crowd side — and therefore generally the east side was pretty full of spirited fans in numbers that looked great on TV —
in light of that positive situation in ‘98, do you agree that EITHER the TV cameras should be relocated TO the east side at PHP so that the filled-up west side stands provide a lively and hapnin’ and accentuating backdrop to the on-field play, or else something similar to ‘98 should be done to put people in the seats on the east side … for the express purpose of making the atmosphere at PHP come thru the TV broadcast like it oughtta? —
[[readers can find "Top Ten: Best Decisions in FCD History" by starting on 3rddegree.net home page and hitting "older news" several times]]
or else click this hyper-link [crossing my fingers]
http://www.3rddegree.net/2008/...best-decisions-in-fcd-history/
Can’t turn the cameras around because of the sun. All stadiums have the camera on the same side for this very reason.
can too
no, not really.
plenty of examples of back-lit soccer on TV. come back with knowledge.
what is back-lit soccer?
back-lit is when the sun is shining on the backs of the players.
and the main camera sees the shaded side of the players.
in other words the camera is looking towards the sun.
u do see it on epl but not frequently.
u know, in olden days when you bought a Brownie StarFlash rollfilm camera, the instructions would say “Have the sun behind you shining over your shoulder directly in the face of your subject” therefore many family snapshots stunk.
I’d agree life is easier for the production crews to do it that way by the book — resulting in most day games looking the same — and only the audience suffers.
Don’t have a cow, buy a matchday program and pay a kid to hold it such as the sun doesn’t DIRECTLY hit the lens.
I sort of get the sense that the FCD FO keep thinking “The very next home PHP match is the one when east side attendence WILL GET OVER THE HUMP and the east side stands will look full and lively on the broadcast —THEREFORE — it would have been just an unnecessary bother and EXPENSE for us (the FO or production co.) to abandon the super-cool built-in media facilities on the upper west side with all the dedicated cabling and everything” … but THEN the next game comes and goes and the TV broadcast LOOKED BAD. AGAIN!
it’s like a self-fulfilling prophet, see?*:
Unless you do make the effort to re-locate the cameras to the east, the east side stands will not fill up with newcomers who had seen on TV in their living rooms an FCD match with stands full of people in the background, e.g., the west side stands which are usually pretty gosh darn gratifyingly full.
*that was a joke
Perhaps they can find a way to fill the east side with lower priced tickets or GA or something like that.
Blame the dull announcing style on the west-side location of the cameras.
Announcers Brad Sham and Dave Dir are too laid-back – and as a counter-example I mention a Galaxy x Quakes evening match several years ago at HDC where announcer Jon Shrader really got into his role, and, aided by the close match and the crowded venue, Shrader really made MLS feel MAJOR LEAGUE. Dodgers x A’s. Packers Cowboys.
I grant that Sham and Dir occasionally, briefly rise to the occasion – OTOH – I think that broadcast announcers, just like home viewers, adjust their excitement downward when they see the stands 15% – 20% full in their monitors/ home TV’s.
So, I don’t care how it happens. Photoshop the west-side stands into the east-side background, or move the cameras opposite, free tix for the east side, or have the team playing so well that the doubters attend PHP to raise avg. att: 18,000+ [my personal favorite strategy]:
If there is a side of the stands that’s 90+% full (by the time everyone has sat down): It is morally OK to have those stands in the TV background. Pope Ze Bill the first hereby grants FCD a dispensation to do so.
correction [maybe]It occurs to me that , since I’m at PHP for most home games, I might be basing my Sham?Dir opinions on away games, not PHP. such as some deadly dull reg. season matches at Colorado. But I stand by the main points and of course visiting announcers also look at their monitors at PHP
Sensible guy, among the examples of back-lit soccer is today’s Birmingham x Hotspurs from Birmingham. Front light flattens the players into cardboard cut-outs, back light gives them depth. I don’t think the whole match was on TV, I just caught thehighlights on Sat. eve. Fox Soccer Report. I doubt if SkySports or whoever lost any cameras or any cameramen went blind.