The World Cup
The World Cup this year was, in my opinion, the most underwhelming tournament in a while. The reffing sucked, of course, but for me the biggest blight on the 2006 World Cup was the diving Italian wankers. They took the flowing game of soccer and reduced it to minute-long snips of action punctuated by diving and fouls and stretchers. Except for the final and the semifinal against Germany, every game they played in was an insult to the fans. And it wasn't just the Italians, but they were certainly the worst.
The American media have been a lot better at covering the World Cup this time around. I think the old-guy sports writer rant about low scoring and foreigners that used to be published in every newspaper in the country has finally worn out. There were not nearly as many of them this time around. The future of sports in America is in the youth, and soccer will figure prominently in that future. Let's take a closer look.
Start with ABC/ESPN play-by-play analyst Dave O'Brien's comments in a USA Today article. Dave O'Brien's first comment about soccer fans is 100% correct. "There's kind of a petulant little clique of soccer fans. There's not many of them, but they're mean-spirited." Most soccer fans who read that seem to have stopped after the first sentence, because there are a lot of them who are all up in arms about it. I guess that just proves the point. But on to the relevant part of the article, where I think O'Brien has completely missed the point.
"Should I explain what (soccer governing body) FIFA is? My 11-year-old daughter doesn't know. If I do that, the clique will say I don't know soccer. But we're putting on a TV product, not a soccer clinic," says O'Brien. That's an old guy response. His 11-year-old daughter, if she cared, would either deduce what FIFA is from hearing "the 2006 FIFA World Cup" repeated over and over during the broadcast, would piece it together after watching games and recaps and reading articles, or as a last resort she would just Google it. The people watching the games do not exist in a vacuum. They don't restrict their World Cup consumption to the ESPN broadcasts.
Maybe O'Brien was referring to how the game should be marketed to old guys. I haven't seen detailed demographic breakdowns of the World Cup viewership numbers, but an article at Media Life Magazine's site indicates that the majority of the growth in viewership over 2002 was in the younger age groups. Keep in mind that the growth viewers are the ones who supposedly need the educating. The people who watched in 2002 presumably know what FIFA is. So O'Brien's educating needs to focus on the youth, and I think he is underestimating them.
As far as viewership numbers go, the New York Times had a piece on the subject. What is exciting about this is that with that sort of growth and the fact that most of the growth is happening at the lower age brackets, the 2010 World Cup is sure to be even bigger. If I knew of a way to invest in soccer media futures, I'd do it now.
I watched the Italy-France final at the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis. The place was packed, and as I looked around I noted that most of the people in attendance looked to be in their early 20's. Sure, the older folks were probably at home watching or something, but it is the youth who set the trends. In four years, old sports writers complaining about low scoring and hooligans will appear even more antiquated.
The American media have been a lot better at covering the World Cup this time around. I think the old-guy sports writer rant about low scoring and foreigners that used to be published in every newspaper in the country has finally worn out. There were not nearly as many of them this time around. The future of sports in America is in the youth, and soccer will figure prominently in that future. Let's take a closer look.
Start with ABC/ESPN play-by-play analyst Dave O'Brien's comments in a USA Today article. Dave O'Brien's first comment about soccer fans is 100% correct. "There's kind of a petulant little clique of soccer fans. There's not many of them, but they're mean-spirited." Most soccer fans who read that seem to have stopped after the first sentence, because there are a lot of them who are all up in arms about it. I guess that just proves the point. But on to the relevant part of the article, where I think O'Brien has completely missed the point.
"Should I explain what (soccer governing body) FIFA is? My 11-year-old daughter doesn't know. If I do that, the clique will say I don't know soccer. But we're putting on a TV product, not a soccer clinic," says O'Brien. That's an old guy response. His 11-year-old daughter, if she cared, would either deduce what FIFA is from hearing "the 2006 FIFA World Cup" repeated over and over during the broadcast, would piece it together after watching games and recaps and reading articles, or as a last resort she would just Google it. The people watching the games do not exist in a vacuum. They don't restrict their World Cup consumption to the ESPN broadcasts.
Maybe O'Brien was referring to how the game should be marketed to old guys. I haven't seen detailed demographic breakdowns of the World Cup viewership numbers, but an article at Media Life Magazine's site indicates that the majority of the growth in viewership over 2002 was in the younger age groups. Keep in mind that the growth viewers are the ones who supposedly need the educating. The people who watched in 2002 presumably know what FIFA is. So O'Brien's educating needs to focus on the youth, and I think he is underestimating them.
As far as viewership numbers go, the New York Times had a piece on the subject. What is exciting about this is that with that sort of growth and the fact that most of the growth is happening at the lower age brackets, the 2010 World Cup is sure to be even bigger. If I knew of a way to invest in soccer media futures, I'd do it now.
I watched the Italy-France final at the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis. The place was packed, and as I looked around I noted that most of the people in attendance looked to be in their early 20's. Sure, the older folks were probably at home watching or something, but it is the youth who set the trends. In four years, old sports writers complaining about low scoring and hooligans will appear even more antiquated.
posted by Andy at
2:27 PM
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