Fox Soccer Channel today put out a press release on the growth of its ratings numbers over the past year, its first as a Nielsen-rated channel.

Among reports of increases in Serie A and English Premiership viewers, the statement also points out that "Major League Soccer audiences are up 89%, averaging 51,000 viewers last month vs.

Do you think ESPN2 should display the BottomLine Ticker during Premier League matches?(polling)

Love it or hate it, ESPN2 has been featuring their BottomLine ticker on the bottom of their Premier League broadcasts during the 2009-2010 season. But should it stay or should it go?

Unless you have some way of watching the Los Angeles Galaxy - AC Milan match tonight, chances are you won't see it until FSC broadcasts it this week. Either way, if you were wondering what reception Beckham would get, here's...

Today's topic:

Seattle - And the reaction of some MLS fans to the city's success

by Glenn Davis

I have gotten alot of feedback lately on the Seattle Sounders FC and most of it has been positive yet I am a little perplexed but some of the reaction that comes from fans who seem tired of the story in the Pacific Northwest.

Relax - this post is nice and short.*
The "Summer of Soccer" was bullshit. But, it was important bullshit.
Take a look at the attendances from the big international summer friendlies MLS played these past couple of months. The numbers are damning. Take the statistics closest to me (and therefore, the most important) - high-priced sell-out for AC Milan, 81,000 for Chelsea Inter, another 90,000 to see Barcelona, plenty of great seats available for Galaxy-Chivas.

The Guardian reported last night that the Premier League have been dealt a massive legal blow in its fight against online piracy when an Israeli court threw out an attempt to shut down a pirate website that was showing live matches free of charge.

Some of the observations made by the Israeli court include:

• it was a case of "fair use" since no profit was made from the broadcasts and that, in Israeli law, breach of "broadcasting" copyright only referred to cable or wireless transmission and not streaming over the internet.

Columbia, Mo.- The Missouri State High School Activities Association in partnership with When We Were Young Productions have launched MSHSAA.tv. The website will contain live game action, as well as archived events and highlight summaries at no cost to the viewer.

"We have been expanding internet coverage of our championships for the past few years," said MSHSAA Executive Director Dr.

We spoke earlier of the vuvuzelas, the rather distinct sounding horns carried by the South African soccer faithful. No doubt you heard the cacophony of sounds throughout the broadcasts of the Confederations Cup matches, which bear a tormenting resemblance to the instruments played at matches for our neighbors to the south.

The plight of the National Team, branding Giuseppe Rossi a traitor, the top team in USL-1 and Mount Rushmore redux are the topics on this week's episode of Four At The Back.

Dan Loney and I look at the first two games of the Confederations Cup for the US and ask "What's next?

I wasn't a huge fan of the FOX broadcast yesterday. The whole thing (pregame, broadcast, highlights of other games, everything) seemed amateurish.
God save me, I longed for Tommy Smyth.
I know. Anyways, here are the scores:

• Celtic 0-2 Lucky Arsenal
  
• FC Copenhagen 1-0 Apoel Nicosia
  
• Sheriff Tiraspol 0-2 Olympiakos
  
• P.

Announcing the 2009 Minnesota Thunder Supporters Post-Season Banquet & Silent Auction
Tue Sep 22
7:30pm Central
The Sweetwater
(in one of the banquet rooms)
Map
Fans of all ages are welcome to attend. Food and Drinks will be available to order.
Here are this years Nominees for the Thunder player awards:
Player of the Year:
Jeremiah Bass
Jonathan Greenfield
Nicolas Platter
Newcomer of the Year
Quavas Kirk
Lawrence Olum
Marco Terminesi
Also a silent auction will be held to raise money for a charity.

As a sports presenter on our local community radio (Every other Saturday afternoon 3-5pm), I feel duty bound to keep an eye on our local football team "Forest Green Rovers" who inhabit a local hill and the Blue Square Premiership.
The club sponsors the station and we regularly play jingles encouraging people to go along to watch.

If you follow this blog with any regularity you know that unlike most soccer blogs, English people who are not under the employ of the LA Galaxy are a sighting as rare as goals by goalies. But when someone like Sunderland's Darren Bent decides get custom boots branded with his Twitter handle and Twitter logo it's kind of special.

Well, it's World Cup Draw Eve and football fans around the world are waiting anxiously to see which group their country is placed into, which other nations will our beloved country have to be beat to move beyond the group stage.
Here in Houston, plans are already being made by many U.

(Now just replace the kicker with Christian Gomez and the kickee with Pablo and you have a good image of what happened on Saturday)
I'm going to dispense with my standard recap of the 3-1 loss in DC. Just assume it was crap and move on. Instead here's just some extended thoughts on what I saw.

American soccer fans looking forward to watching the 2010 World Cup will have a familiar voice calling World Cup matches on ESPN.

Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch is reporting that ESPN is set to hire English broadcaster Martin Tyler as lead play-by-play announcer for American broadcasts of the 2010 World Cup.

All you who criticized Bruce Arena, said the game had passed him by, said he relied too much on old veterans...all you who said Dema Kovalenko was a one-dimensional hack...all you who said there was no way Ricketts or Berhalter would make it through the whole season...all you who said that Beckham and Donovan couldn't work together.

Well, it's World Cup Draw Eve and football fans around the world are waiting anxiously to see which group their country is placed into, which other nations will our beloved country have to be beat to move beyond the group stage.
Here in Houston, plans are already being made by many U.