NBC Out-Bids FOX For English Soccer

[UConnDan97]

(I thought that this news deserved its own thread, so here it is. The news was first broken to me by Whaler on another thread, and here was my post):


http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/nbc-sports-group-outbids-fox-for-e-p-l-rights/


I agree with you that this is a legitimate programming step; one that puts it as a serious sports contender. The part that I found interesting was this:


"But NBC has bid about $85 million a year for the new E.P.L. rights, just under four times more than Fox currently pays for the rights, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations."


The conventional wisdom out there was that if ESPN was only willing to offer in the 6-8 million ballpark for the Big East, why would anyone want to bid a double-digit bid for us. Well, I think this is a sign that NBC is willing to be pretty agressive in their drive into serious sports programming, which is very good to see. Does it mean the BE will get the contract size it wants from NBC? Not necessarily, but this has to have people feeling a lot better about the possibility, and perhaps might be a sign to ESPN and FOX that NBC is getting very very serious...

 

[noeynox]

I don't watch soccer outside of the world cup or the Olympics, but its good to see that as you say NBC is serious about this sports thing. The big east is the valuable college sports programming that isn't currently locked up. That can't be anything but a positive.

 

[whaler11]

Its not actually a done deal yet. Just The ESPN-Fox deal is out - The Al-Jazzera network is still in the bidding I believe and their quotes are bizarre.

 

[UConnDan97]

Its not actually a done deal yet. Just The ESPN-Fox deal is out - The Al-Jazzera network is still in the bidding I believe and their quotes are bizarre.

The BeIN network is really making a big-time run in soccer programming. They already have Spain, Italy, and France locked up (I'm not sure about the German Bundesliga). If they were to add England also.....wow! Maybe that's why NBCSports bid 4x the bid of Fox Soccer Channel, in order to keep out BeIN too...

 

[whaler11]

The BeIN network is really making a big-time run in soccer programming. They already have Spain, Italy, and France locked up (I'm not sure about the German Bundesliga). If they were to add England also.....wow! Maybe that's why NBCSports bid 4x the bid of Fox Soccer Channel, in order to keep out BeIN too...

And BeIN won't even confirm if they bid If I'm understanding the stories correctly.

NBCS bid 4x the last contract - don't think it was 4x this bid.

 

[UCFBfan]

Interesting news. Wonder what Fox Soccer will show anymore. I know they have Champ league and others but they've now lost all major soccer leagues. Guess it'll be lots of infomercials for them!

I don't know what NBC's budget is but I hope they don't overspend on EPL and then not have as much to give the BE. Doubt this is an issue but we'll see.

Finally, please keep beIn out of this. Not enough people get the channel

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[UConnDan97]

Interesting news. Wonder what Fox Soccer will show anymore. I know they have Champ league and others but they've now lost all major soccer leagues. Guess it'll be lots of infomercials for them!

I don't know what NBC's budget is but I hope they don't overspend on EPL and then not have as much to give the BE. Doubt this is an issue but we'll see.

Finally, please keep beIn out of this. Not enough people get the channel

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I'm actually amazed at how Fox Soccer has lost all of their content recently. Their next closest competitor as recently as last year was GolTV, which in my opinion, really really sucked (in terms of content as well as HD product). BeIN came from out of nowhere for me, and as you've said, the loss of that much major soccer is really going to put a cramp in FSC's style. I'm expecting plenty of re-runs of the leagues they have or have had, as well as re-runs of past Champions League games (I'm already seeing a hefty Champions League re-run amount on FCS on the channel guide this week, and expect it to continue).

As for NBCSports, I don't think that bidding the 85 million on the soccer rights changes their overall ability to land the Big East. If anything, I would think that they would be enhanced by this, as advertisers would see other quality sports programming bracketing the product (soccer, formula 1, etc.) and they would perhaps be more likely to pony up some cash to advertise on the networks. I view this as a very good sign for the Big East....

 

[Jericho]

First off, what the hell happened to Fox soccer? They went from having everything to almost nothing. They still have the German league, but little else.

Second, this is good news for the Big East. Possibly very good news. Not that the EPL is exactly the biggest draw, but its something. There was some concern NBC would go the "cheap" route and essentially operate on a shoestring budget until it could land (or at least bid on) some of the bigger programming options. It makes little sense to bid wildly on "lower tier" programming if you have nothing else. But if you have at least some major programming, then filling out the schedule makes some sense. The best news for the Big East would be to have NBC actually win (but we'll see what BeIn does)

 

[UCFBfan]

So NBC must have won the rights since they showed an ad during half-time of Sunday Night Football for EPL in 2013. I'm assuming this means beIn lost out/didn't match NBC?

Nevertheless, this is a significant move for them.

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[Fishy]

My sources are saying that the Big East will likely end up on Fox Soccer which will be renamed Fox SoccerFootballBasketball.

 

[epark88]

My sources are saying that the Big East will likely end up on Fox Soccer which will be renamed Fox SoccerFootballBasketball.

Are your 'sources' straight from the tap or from a six-pack?...