The 120-by-75-yard grass field (109-by-68 meters) is surrounded by seats just 21 feet from the touchlines under the design by Rossetti Architects. The 17th row is the farthest from the field in the lower deck. There are 30 luxury suites with a bi-level lounge, about 1,000 club seats, a bar for longtime season ticket holders and five locker rooms — enough to hold a neutral doubleheader without having to open the Red Bulls' private player areas.

ESPN will broadcast all 2010 World Cup games this summer live on ESPN Radio in addition to its coverage on television, broadband and mobile phones.

Tommy Smyth has been named as the lead analyst for ESPN Radio and will probably do all of the games as well as being in the stadium to broadcast the World Cup Final live.

Beeb broadcasts c-word at tea-time The c-word is one of the last remaining taboos in British broadcasting. It occasionally slips out in live interviews (just ask Steven Bywater), but rarely makes it into an edited news package. Produced by the BBC. Broadcast as people are tucking into their dinner. But when Rangers fans visit Manchester [.

In the final edition of our 10 Questions feature, Clemente Lisi talks with GolTV broadcaster Phil Schoen about his experiences covering the game, the always entertaining Ray Hudson, and the future of soccer in America. By Clemente Lisi - NEW YORK, NY (Dec 30, 2010) US Soccer Players -- Phil Schoen and his color commentator Ray Hudson have built an audience for their broadcasts of games on GolTV.

Sports Business Daily (sister publication to the Sports Business Journal), is reporting that longtime FIFA sponsor Continental Tire has signed with MLS as a league sponsor. The multi-year deal provides signage at all MLS matches, hospitality arrangements at games and commercials on league broadcasts.

I recently had the pleasure of getting Tony Limarzi to answer a few questions for me. You know him as the radio voice of United and the face of Access United, here he is answering questions about television and United!
Tony, Thank you so much for answering a few questions for the blog! We look forward to hearing your goal calls more than ever in the upcoming season.

"From the violent nature of the multiple stab wounds, I'd say the victim was probably a consultant."

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We should all get gigs as consultants.

Boy, Steve Davis hits it on the head with this one. I know I've harped over MLS broadcasts before and Davis made several points I'd said in the past. Quality read for those (like me) who get annoyed easy while listening to a MLS game.

I always say the best cure for it is to do what Seattle is doing, a single broadcaster calling the game.

Earlier this season, I laid into SI.com writer, Steve Davis for his poor season preview of the Wizards and his comments about the Wizards not making many changes. Tonight I have to give him credit for coming out and putting into words what most MLS fans have been saying for years about the announcers and crews that do MLS broadcasts around the league.

In an article addressing ratings for the MLB network, the Sports Business Journal reports that FSC is the lowest rated of the Nielsen rated sports channel. From March 29 until April 25, FSC averaged less than 50k viewers in prime time. MLSB Network was the second lowest, with just under 100k viewers in prime time.

Busy weekend in Major League Soccer and WPS. In Connecticut, an impressive crowd of more than 4,000 saw the Boston Breakers host a league game. Veteran's Stadium in New Britain has been host to US Men's National Team matches, Revolution US Open Cup matches and other soccer matches. The 4,000 is a solid figure for WPS and approximates (and beats) some Open Cup crowds.

Some of you may have missed this in your emails, but it is a pretty significant deal and I wanted to get it out there so that everyone who could possibly want to go and qualify knows about it.

This meeting will not be a party. It will be designed much like a shareholder meeting. There will be recaps of how each business unit for the team did over the past season and what they are looking to do in the future.

Earlier in the season we conducted an interview with Greg Lalas, the editor-in-chief of MLSSoccer.com. The trials and tribulations of the launch of the new site are well documented, but there has been some significant improvement over the course of the year. Putting those issues aside, we thought it worth taking a look at some of the business aspects of the site.

Before we get to the week in review, we thought it worth noting a Sports Business Journal article from last week about the MLS website. Per SBJ, the website is averaging 2.5 million unique visitors per month, more than 500,000 above last year. Video views have doubled over last year and page views are up 150 percent.

Big Story
"Today the stadium is a gigantic TV studio.

The only ESPN network not showing games.
Yesterday, ESPN announced the full 2010 FIFA World Cup schedule, which includes 44 ESPN games, 10 ESPN2 games and 10 ABC games (all in HD). The United States kicks off its 6th-straight World Cup finals Saturday, June 12 against England at 1 p.m. CT on ABC.

FC Dallas is looking to upgrade their broadcasts.

Lots of different bits of news out today from the Wizards. First, the Wizards have continued to make over their roster as they have waived midfielder/defender, Lance Watson. Watson was a starter for much of the last season, starting 19 games, mainly at right back. Late in the season, though, Watson lost his place to Jonathan Leathers.

Two stories coming out of Manchester today couldn't be more opposite. The blue half will garner an incredible amount of respect and praise for its plans to spend an obscene amount of money to redevelop the area around the City of Manchester Stadium. The red half, meanwhile, is using some heavy-handed tactics to try to suppress the rising tide of interest and support for the green and gold brigade and their support of the Red Knights campaign to take over Manchester United.

A brand new radio station for south Essex launches later today (1 April). Essex Radio is an internet based station, and three quarters of its presenters are from Southend.
The station goes on air at 8pm tonight and the station will resurrect - amongst other shows - the famous 'Club Essex' segment on the weekends.

On Tuesday's edition of the EPL Talk Podcast we have an interview I conducted with GolTV's Phil Schoen. Phil covers the La Liga, the Bundesliga, Brazil, Colombia, as well as other circuits for GolTV, where he was been able of cover Premier League sides through the channel's broadcasts of Europa League.

In a year dominated by CBA negotiations, MLS team and league sponsorships have gone largely unnoticed. Continental Tire was added as a sponsor a couple of months back and has already featured prominently on broadcasts on both FSC and ESPN. PPL was announced as the stadium sponsor for the new arena in Philly and the Union have announced additional in-house official vendors such as Coke.

It was an outstanding attendance weekend in the world of MLS with typically outstanding numbers in Seattle and Toronto, big numbers in Houston and a solid showing in Los Angeles. Only a smallish number in New York on Thursday dampened an otherwise outstanding showing at the gate.

However, the big story in American soccer over the weekend was a match played in Madrid on Saturday.

Soccer fans will be happy to know that www.cbc.ca will be broadcasting World Cup games online at its website. Here's a story link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/soccer-fans-to-get-world-cup-fix-online-for-free/article1588263/ Their online NHL playoff broadcasts have been a nice addi .

The U.S. team took care of some official business tonight after dinner. The FIFA general coordinator gave the traditional opening welcome to the World Cup and a referee supervisor gave a presentation on what the players can expect regarding referee decisions during the tournament (which happens at every fIFA World Cup, from the U-17 women to the big daddy here in South Africa).

With the World Cup about to start and MLS about to embark on a 2 week hiatus, we thought we would take a quick look around the business of the league before all eyes turn to South Africa. A while back we reported that longtime FIFA sponsor Continental Tire has signed with MLS as a league sponsor.

If you've been watching the ESPN or ABC broadcasts of USA matches (which I know you have been), you've seen the reaction shots from inside bars all around the country. So far I've seen reactions from bars in New York and Seattle. This Saturday, folks all around the country (and the world, counting our military men and women watching on the Armed Forces Network) will be seeing Kansas City and the Power & Light District's KC Live!

The most patriotic Ghanaian to shun his country gets over-friendly Marcel Desailly's work for ITV has undoubtedly been among the most entertaining broadcasts of the World Cup. You can usually rely on him to be extraordinarily happy and excited to the point of incomprehension when Ghana are around. But his efforts following Ghana's win over the USA [.

The Sports Business Journal is reporting that BMO has re-upped its sponsorship of Toronto FC through the 2015 season. BMO will remain on the front of the TFC jersey. The deal is worth a reported $4 million per year, a dramatic increase over the previous $1 million to $1.5 million. The deal also puts TFC with the Galaxy at the top of the sponsorship pyramid.

Major League Soccer's decision to take only part of the month of June off for the World Cup has come under some scrutiny in recent weeks.

Supporters of the schedule, and likely MLS owners as well, point to the potential for a World Cup TV ratings and interest bounce for the league.

• The Dutch prepare for their World Cup semi, how will you prepare for life after the World Cup?

Having returned home after two days away celebrating the 4th of July with family and friends, I find my humble abode in it's normal state of comfort, totally empty of anything resembling normal nourishment, and not a soccer match to be found here, there or anywhere.

Missouri State University has a wonderful Library and the Department Head responsible for Special Collections, Dave Richards, recently visited Ghana during the World Cup. Dave is a wonderful speaker, if you ever have a chance to hear him I would highly recommend it. He also maintains a personal blog, Ozarks Yin Yang, that is travelogue regardless of whether he's visiting Ghana, Chicago or even downtown.

Missouri State University has a wonderful Library and the Department Head responsible for Special Collections, Dave Richards, recently visited Ghana during the World Cup. Dave is a wonderful speaker, if you ever have a chance to hear him I would highly recommend it. He also maintains a personal blog, Ozarks Yin Yang, that is travelogue regardless of whether he's visiting Ghana, Chicago or even downtown.

The introduction of Thierry Henry drew plenty of media coverage both in the New York ara and nationally. Articles in mainstream publications, interviews on local and national media outlets and discussion on ESPN and elsewhere. The introduction was well managed by the Red Bulls, and other than a much maligned in studio interview with Good Day New York, Henry's appearances were impressive and enjoyable.

There haven't been a lot of reports lately on Omar Bravo's potential move to KC. All the news has basically pointed back to the original post by Chivas on their website. And other than mentions on Wizards broadcasts, there haven't really been comments from the team lately on the news either. Tonight Chivas could be eliminated from the Copa Libertadores after drawing 1-1 in their home leg.

davebrett.com - Historic Soccer Videotapes and DVDs

I fell in love with soccer growing up in New York City in the 1970s. I was a fan of the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League (NASL). Fifteen years ago I started collecting videos of the original broadcasts of NASL games.

Sports Media Watch is reporting that the USA/Brazil match televised on ESPN2 drew almost 800,000 viewers on Tuesday night. In Nielsen terms, that represents a .50 rating. The number represents a significant increase over typical MLS broadcasts, which are often under 200,00 viewers. The game also drew more viewers than the recent MLS All-Star game by about 70,000 viewers.

After watching FSC's coverage of the CONCACAF Champions League, we thought we offer few thoughts on thankless job of broadcasting the tournament. Most recently, FSC televised Toronto's 2-1 win over Cruz Azul and the coverage was typically low grade. Camera work was poor and the commentary wanting, but it is difficult to blame FSC.

The big business story in American soccer over the last 24 hours was the announcement that league sponsor adidas has significantly increased its committment to MLS with a new 8 year, $200 million that runs through 2018. The deal replaces the previously signed 10 year, $150 million deal signed between the parties in 2004.

Some interesting tidbits from around American soccer today. We'll start with the Wall Street Journal, which has declared the Red Bulls "relevant" in a wide ranging piece about the status of the Red Bulls. The article contains some interesting business tidbits about the team including its MSG tv rating (.