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TV Time Outs For Soccer?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Boom_70, Jul 5, 2010.

  1. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    ESPN2 even showed Aussie Rules Saturday night/early Sunday morning without commercials during the action. If a sponsor is willing to pay enough, the breaks aren't necessary and you can pile a bunch of them into halftime and the post-game show, anyway.
     
  2. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    1. The idea Americans won't embrace a sport sans commercial breaks is silly. If anything, the lack of commercials is a selling point of the sport. Especially for those in the stadium and have had to sit through the tedious number of lengthy breaks in an NFL game.

    2. Between sideboards and on-screen graphics, there are plenty of opportunities for sponsors to throw money at the sport ... which they've been doing for years.

    3. I think Boom was mocking the people on the World Cup thread who've demanded rule changes to make the sport more appealing to Americans.
     
  3. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    I'm pretty sure that soccer broadcasters do get a cut on visible stadium signage, especially the high tech electronic signs along the sidelines, and the painted grass at the end lines, since that's why it's there, for TV. It's like the green screen advertising behind home plate in MLB - it's not there for the crowd, it's there for the center field camera.
     
  4. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    I think OP is making this assumption for US over-the-air networks, which are hardly beating down the doors to televise soccer right now. There are so many cable networks big and small that manage to televise soccer without the TV time out, why mess with success?
     
  5. JRoyal

    JRoyal Well-Known Member

    I can't see this working. Maybe someone would insist on commercials during the half, but no way FIFA agrees to stop play. I could see more ads crawling across the bottom of the screen, even the obnoxious, attention-grabbing ones like the promos that they showed during the Olympics.
     
  6. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    I've seen these on Univision way back in the day. I'd expect that, if the nets determine a need for more ads during games, this is going to be it. Either that, or they'll superimpose the logos onto the field.
     
  7. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    1). I'm opposed to anything in U.S. pro soccer that would radically change the game from the way it's played in the rest of the world.
    2). For the last 10 years, Massachusetts high school soccer has allowed each team one timeout per half. They do this for several reasons. One is the pretentious bullshit about the coaches being teachers and it gives them an opportunity to teach (Funny, I've always felt one of the great things about soccer was without timeouts players had to be able to think and make adjustments on their own). Another reason is if a kid or kids are getting a little hot-headed a timeout could give everyone a chance to cool down and avoid a card (but why not just use the more liberal high school rules to sub the kid?).
    One high school coach I talked to said that if timeouts were allowed it would cut down on the diving because sometimes players do it just to get a rest.
     
  8. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    Yeah, the ads behind the goal (which I've seen rolled out, rather than painted) are purely for TV. They're angled somehow so that they look three-dimensional. In the stadium itself, you can't actually tell what they say.
     
  9. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Not suggesting at all that American soccer fans would not embrace the sport unless there is commercials. In fact I think it is just the opposite.

    What I am suggesting is with a heavier rights fee networks will have to find a way to pay for it. In game advertising seems inevitable.
     
  10. sportsguydave

    sportsguydave Active Member

    Because, you silly person, soccer has to change in order to be accepted in America. No matter what works for the rest of the world ...*blue font off*

    Seriously, though ... as has been said much more eloquently by others on this thread, there are plenty of chances for advertising to be seen other places in a soccer game. I kind of like being able to watch straight through. Leave the meatball beer commercials for football.
     
  11. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    By the way, I don't understand why stations like FSC don't show tape delayed matches with commericals and no half time show. I get the idea with a live event, but there is no need to show an "old" event without breaks.
     
  12. Clerk Typist

    Clerk Typist Guest

    This was tried in 1967. Pro soccer on CBS, believe it or not. Players were told to fake injuries so CBS would get its commercials in. Didn't work. They stopped the faking and ran the commercials anyway. Didn't work. Almost always, a goal would be scored during a break during the game. Sometimes the only goal of the game.

    NBC's World Cup coverage in 1986 went start to finish, with the famous Budweiser frame around the action. Fans howled, and many switched to the Spanish broadcast on SIN, where no breaks had been the rule for years. Often, they didn't switch back. That's how Andres Cantor became famous.

    So, no. It wouldn't work. And it's not necessary. Between the other ads and the ad bug by the clock, everybody's happy. Wish it would spread to every other sport.
     
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