Unwatchable college Bowl games are a problem that can only be solved with a tournament that includes them. A plus-one game doesn't address the deep-rooted situation that no one seems to be talking about.

FOX Sports has decided to show the January 22 game between Arsenal against Manchester United live on the free-to-air FOX network instead of FOX Soccer. The decision was undoubtedly made due to the success of the TV ratings for the Premier League...
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Today in his Q&A with SoundersFC.com Adrian Hanauer talked about away allocation for Cascadia Cup matches. He notes the success of the first year, but is hesitant to think that more seats are needed due to the new hyper-unbalanced schedule.

We have had early discussions about it. We haven't made any decisions.

Stunning development by the LA Galaxy who have signed a ten year TV contract with Time Warner for $55m. What is stunning about this deal is that the number of games to be televised each year is undetermined, as that will depend upon ESPN and NBC's selection of games. To reword that sentence.

More from Grant v. Garb...

SI.com: Is it possible you may have some teams not playing each other at all in the regular season next year?
Garber: Yeah. Just by the fact it'll be unbalanced. That's possible.
SI.com: That sounds like a bummer.

Phil Rothchild has/is up there with one of the least professional sports journalists in Australia - lots of biased assessments of football over the years so nearly fell out of my chair at this one.
Thing is many of these so-called journo's could have talked positively about football down the years, him, FitzSimons, Birmingham, Bolt, Wilson and the rest but for some reason they choose not to - small minds I guess - but here is our Phil doing his bit to spruik the game when clearly there is no need to.

ESPN and FOX are not only competitive when it comes to bidding for World Cup TV rights. They're also very competitive in the TV ratings game, namely the number of viewers watching Premier League matches on U.S. television. EPL Talk ...
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Union

The Union are feeling pumped up after their win in Seattle. Sheanon Williams says, "Right now, we're just thinking about first place. The guys really want to be in first place. If we're in first place, then guess what? We're in the playoffs. So that should be our first goal." Mr. Williams, I like the way you think and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

What is the role of the American sports fan supposed to be for U.S. Soccer Men's National Team friendlies? In the perfect scenario, sports fans would come in droves to see the team play, nationalism would see an increase and TV ratings would prove to be invaluable.

Wembley Stadium is a great venue. Step out of Wembley Park Underground station and there it is. Looming large over the long walk down to the bowels of the stadium. It is something special when the final is at Wembley. So if you get the chance to stroll down the walk, why not take a look at the new Champions League exhibition?

Thanks to the viewership of a massive Spanish-speaking audience, Wednesday's friendly between the U.S. and Mexico was the top rated show on U.S. television among a few key demographics, according to TV by the Numbers. Univision Communication's coverage of the match was seen by 9.4 million viewers who tuned in to part or all of the broadcast as well as 25,000 devices that streamed the match through the company's website.

The lockout is over, but fans on talk radio yesterday indicated they are through with supporting the NFL. This is typical rhetoric from distraught fans after lockouts and strikes, except for one factor, there were no games missed. Have fans reached a level of frustration that may carry over and influence a leveling off of popularity?

2011 MLS TV Ratings

TV ratings for all nationally televised games. Portland vs Seattle did well nationally.

By Eric Beard

The road has been a long one, but with an absolutely fantastic Women's World Cup coming to a close there has never been more at stake for the United States and Japan. But perhaps more importantly, there has never been such potential for the growth (or revival or whatever you want to call it) of women's football.

- Jason Davis For the better part of two years, I've been trying to pin down the common thread that runs through so much of my writing on the "big picture" of American soccer. We're a cynical bunch, we American soccer fans, so it would be easy to paint the "problems" we have growing the game as a simple issue of the sport being a poor fit for the country.

Looks like some teams are getting in on the transfer rush a little earlier than the July 15th international transfer window opening as the New York Red Bulls and DC United made a shock trade yesterday that saw Canadian midfielder Dwayne de Rosario head to DC in exchange for the Portland Timbers first expansion draft pick Dax McCarty (many of you will remember the Timbers traded Dax for Rodney Wallace).

Photo by Francesco Totti

Over the last few years, Major League Soccer has truly grown into a competitive league with talent, heart and spirit. Thanks to the likes of David Beckham and Thierry Henry, Europe has begun to take serious notice of the rising status of American soccerl.

Over the last couple of years we have written extensively about the power of social media to connect teams with fans, promote a brand and drive message to the most passionate and interested potential consumers. Every interview we have conducted with front office representatives has included a discussion about the use of social media.

MIKE JACOBS COLUMN, Evansville Courier Press, June 4, 2011
Those who watched Barcelona defeat Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League final last weekend were able to witness the potential of a soccer revolution here in the United States.
According to figures compiled by Nielsen Media Research, as reported by Soccer America, the telecasts of the game delivered a 2.

Many soccer fans fantasize that there is a huge amount of untapped viewers of the sport. They point to the great ratings that the World Cup gets and proclaim "see! MLS should be getting more viewers" and while they may be right on the surface, the ratings for the Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United in the USA weren't that good.

Whether FOX's coverage of the 2011 Champions League Final between Manchester United and Barcelona will be deemed a success or not will depend largely on the TV ratings that the broadcast garners. FOX pulled out all of the bells and whistles on this...
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Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber was at the AT&T Sports Franchises and Facilities conference, hosted by SBJ/SBD. He took part in a little Q&A and offered up some interesting nuggets on expansion and TV ratings.

On expansion:

We are focused on New York.

I love the Portland Timbers current head coach so much so that I'm dedicating this entire link thread to him. I'm not sure the Timbers FO could have found a better man to lead the team, at least in terms of fitting in with who we are here in Portland. Seriously, his quotes yesterday were amazing. Not so much for what he said specifically, but that he was even willing to say that at all.

With currently 19 teams in its league, MLS is more than halfway to 36. No other major team sports league in the U.S. has more than 32 teams. The NHL, NBA and MLB leagues have 30 and the NFL has 32 teams. What would be the sense in MLS doubling its size?
It is the perfect sense. It gives MLS strategic positioning for all areas of the U.

Saturday's 1-1 tie in Seattle, the first MLS game between the old North American Soccer League rivals, drew a 3.0 rating in Seattle/Tacoma and a 2.2 rating in Portland. In the ESPN2 broadcast, no other market registered higher than a .7 rating and the national average was a .2 rating.

MLS announced that the 2011 MLS Cup Final will be played at the Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA, on November 20. The Galaxy have hosted the Cup three times since MLS began in 1996.

This marks the second year in a row that MLS has scheduled its championship game at the same time as a Sunday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.

This past Saturday, May 7th, saw a disgraceful output of goals scored. Eight goals for 7 games played, including 3 matches with double-bagels. That is pitiful and not going to help convince sports fans of Soccer's brilliance.
MLS has been successful at pulling more fans to the Soccer parks, but has not been able to pull decent TV ratings.

It's Friday again and the Sounders are set-up for another tough road game on Saturday. On Wednesday the team flew to the east coast only to lose 2-1 to D.C. United. The injuries woes continued as Rosales re-injured his hamstring in the 2nd half and Fredy Montero was clearly struggling with pain in his injured wrist throughout the game.

As the 2011 Women's World Cup approaches, exhibitions are scheduled for later this month and more focus overall returns to the women's game.
The 2007 World Cup was won by Germany, but was dominated by Marta's appeal. Held in China, the 2007 World Cup may not have received the attention it deserved due to time differences.

Soccer America reports on the continuing rise of TV ratings for soccer here in the United States. The amazing thing to consider is that the UEFA Champions League games are shown here in the United States in the middle of the day, opposed to the prime time slots that traditional spectator sports are viewed (professional and college football).

The profile of the Premier League in the United States has never been larger. The TV ratings are at a record high with both ESPN2 and Fox Soccer Channel recording their highest ratings ever for EPL games this season. This summer, five Premier League...
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TV ratings for first 3 games double 2010 figures

Through three local broadcasts in 2011 – two on 6abc and one on The Comcast Network – the Union are averaging a 1.0 overnight rating, a 100 percent increase. For reference, a 1.0 HH (HH stands for household) is equivalent to approximately 30,000 households, each of which is estimated to contain 2.

- Jason Davis
It seems that in the interest of improving league broadcasts, Major League Soccer's broadcasting department has set up a Twitter account specifically for TV-related feedback. Under the name @MLSonTV, the account appeared yesterday with a call for any and all opinions fans might have on the way the league is presented on the magic box - from announcers to the use of replay.

I don't hate football anymore. That's a big step for me; I used to actively loathe the game, and would be vocal about that whenever possible. In my mind, a man could have only been a fan of one football, and I was an adamant supporter of what was clearly the farer game. Now, of course, things are slightly different, as while it would take a strong effort to care any less about football, my feelings have shifted more towards a content indifference.

Video of Andy Gray has been released featuring the Sky Sports presenter making more sexist comments about Sian Massey, the female assistant referee from Saturday's Wolves against Liverpool match.

The video segment was a pre-match interview conducted at Molineux. In the video (fast forward to minute 1:00), you can hear Gray being told that a female assistant referee would be in the match.