The football supporter is an interesting specie. The sheer amount of time we devote to our passion relegates us to individuals that can be described as borderline obsessive, half psycho, quite anxious and certainly neurotic. Such is the grasp that the beautiful game holds on the strings of our lives that our heads turn and our interests peak with every single match, update, tweet or highlight. These individual “tugs” can be quite time consuming as I assume you realize if you frequent this site.
In our continued efforts to dissect and analyze ourselves, the football supporter, this week we’ll take a look at how many football matches or how many hours of football we all watch in a week.
If you added up each and every hour of football you watched per week, what would it be? With outlets aplenty such as FSC, FSC+, Sky Sports, GolTV, ESPN, ESPN360.com and FoxSoccer.tv, there’s obviously a lot of football on offer and a variety of different ways to watch it.
Keep that number in mind and add to it time spent watching Match of the Day, Premier League Review Show, Fox Soccer Report or any other weekly highlight shows. Still with me? Now add that number to hours spent searching the web (and reading fine articles such as the ones from EPL Talk), checking Twitter feeds and listening to podcasts.
If you’re honest, what did you come up with? Do you notice certain trends in your football viewing? More specifically, after you view the Premier League, do you then switch to La Liga, the German Bundesliga or Serie A to continue your pursuit of the ultimate football fix?
If I’m being honest, the number of hours spent per week immersing myself in football, football news and football culture beyond exceeds my normal 40 hour work week and in some cases will double it. Most of you are right there with me in feeling that “pull” towards football. I am a fan of other sports, but I don’t gravitate towards any other league or sport like I do Premier League football. Causal viewing of American sports is mostly all I can take, or I simply run out of time. There’s often not enough hours in a week to keep up with world football, much less other sports that can be just as time consuming.
I’ll also have to add into the mix the countless hours I spend writing per week and if it’s a post or article worth anything, I’ll also add in the time spent rewriting and proof reading until I get something I’m happy with that has a clear message.
We’ve touched on it before, but most of us have spouses or family members that allow us the time and money to pursue our passion. If you haven’t done it recently, take the time (between matches) this week to thank that family member for the time they allow each week. It’s definitely a balancing act of sorts, or if you don’t have a significant other you have to share time with, then consider yourself lucky (or lonely).
Feel free to share below with the rest of the EPL Talk community the number of matches you watch per week or number of hours spent watching football per week. Check the comments section throughout the day to see where you rank among other readers of EPL Talk and enjoy your football.
I try to watch at least one full game on Saturday and Sunday, and in the midweek maybe another one game.
But I download MOTD and MOTD2 as well as the Champions League and Europa League highlights on torrent.
I have to admit that I’m so addicted to the sport that on average I watch anywhere between 12-14 live matches per week. I watch EPL, Italian Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga matches. This number goes up during those weeks when the Champions League and Europa League matches are played.
I used to watch everything my spare time would allow, which naturally whatever was on FSC and GolTV (i.e., lots of EPL, La Liga and Bundesliga).
But the mushrooming of the Yanks abroad contingent has really focused my viewing on games with Americans. I still watch the same amount of soccer as ever — now it just largely consists of games with our guys. You can fill a pretty hefty weekend docket just with Yanks abroad matches.
I can only imagine how insane my life would have been these past few months if Gooch, Davies, Holden, Dempsey, Edu, etc., had been fully healthy…
Detroit:
Same problem here in Chicago. Following the Yanks is getting to be a full time job. A good problem to have I guess. I want to get to the SPL to follow Beasely and Edu but it’s so hard and Jay DeMerit in the Championship is a favorite of mine. Time is such an issue now and the MLS is coming and have to follow my Fire who are on TV for every game. A problem of riches really.
Having ESPN do the early EPL match is a break since I can watch that now while I work out. Next season it sounds like they will have a Sunday game which will help.
Getting back to a post of the Gaffer’s on MLS Talk, which I have some disagreement with all the action we have available to us I think is a good thing but it makes it harder to watch all things such as MLS when the seasons overlap or the Concacaf CL when the UEFA CL is still going strong. Lucky to be an American if your a soccer fan.
Could this years FA Cup be a photo finish?
What? Do you mean the Premier League?
I watch 2 matches on Saturday. Then I will watch 1 match on Sunday. I also watch 2 or 3 matches during the week. All EPL teams.
I’ll get in about 3-5 matches a week. English/French/Italian. Maybe some midweek if we have Europa and CL scheduled. But I work in the sport, so it feels like I’m consumed 24/7.
When the US and European leagues are playing matches at the same time I’d say I watch about six matches per week on TV and one or two live and in person. Thank you TiVo!
Not as many I used to since Uverse hasn’t picked up FSC Plus or HD.
If there are mid-week matches either in England or in Europe, I typically watch 8-9 matches each week.
Not sure if anyone else is doing the same, but I’ve found myself watching more Serie A games on Fox Soccer Channel recently than La Liga games on GolTV. It’s probably more due to convenience after watching the late Saturday kickoff and the Serie A game beginning almost immediately after.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
5 – 6 games (EPL,Serie A,CL if available) . i am on TWC..
Not many I’m afraid. I work Saturday morning so by the time I get home I can usually watch the last half of the afternoon EPL game, then a Serie A match if I’m not doing something else. Sunday I usually watch the EPL game and at least have the Serie A game on in the background.
i wood say that i watch about 20 gams a week if ther is cl on god i watch to much football
My preference is to watch live matches involving Arsenal and Club America. After that, I usually watch games featuring Everton, Fulham, Pachuca and other games that on paper at least should offer a good game. I avoid matches involving Chelsea and Manchester United unless they are playing Arsenal.
3-4 as I DVR them all
I am only interested in my own teams games and big rivals
Thats it
Will try to watch all the big4 games…
But I can only watch online, http://www.eplp2p.com
about 3-5 per week but I’m a sports junkie in general.
I watch maybe 1 or 2. Usually Fulham and then one of the big 4.
I read more about soccer than I seem to watch.
I’ll watch
- any weekend PL game on UK TV of interest (usually 1 or 2)
- Match of the Day on a Saturday and/or Sunday
- any Champions League game featuring a PL team
- final stages of any major competition (FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League)
- any England game
- any Leicester game shown on TV
This is sort of funny. I didn’t become a huge football fan until about five years ago. I grew up in Texas and Arizona, and we simply didn’t play or care about soccer in the least. However, as a sportswriter, I got assigned to cover high school soccer in Illinois in 2003 — and those kids got me hooked. I watched all or part of about 56 of the 64 games in the 2006 World Cup, and then got credentialed to cover the 2006 MLS All-Star game vs. Chelsea and I was now a full-blown, irrational fan, with Chelsea being my favorite team.
Now I have DirecTV so I get FSC, FSC+ and GOL TV — This weekend I watched six EPL matches and one Serie A. Tomorrow and Wednesday I will watch four Champions League ties (and living and dying with Chelsea as they try to knock out Inter). As a general rule, I see about 6-8 games per week, more during CL weeks. I haven’t gotten into the Europa League, and after watching EPL, La Liga and Serie A, I have trouble watching MLS. It seems like watching double A baseball compared to watching the Major Leagues — fun in a way, but not particularly engrossing. It also hurts that the nearest MLS team is in LA — if Phoenix ever gets a team (and they should, what a huge market still going untapped), then I’ll probably watch a lot of MLS as well.
One question — I am definitely NOT getting the HD broadcasts on FSC. It shows HD up in the corner of the screen, but it is certainly not HD. Does anyone else have this problem, or is it only DTV that is not broadcasting the channel in HD? Just curious…..
Mission Man, the only TV provider actually broadcasting the FSC games in HD right now is DISH Network. The hope is that DTV will do add FSCHD in April.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Too many. Basically, as much as is humanly possible.
Totally agreed Barry. Plus I have the iphone and downaload matches and the sort onto my phone This applies to work as well having to screens on while watching and working on the same time. I think I am border line crazy, but my boss is a football nut as well, so I guess I am lucky tha t way. But I couldnt live without my iphone and the games that I do miss, I either PVR (Greates Invention of all time!!!) them, or download on my computer and iphone. Get the skysports apps and video links, they will blow you away. I caught Sky Sports News while on the subway, walking, running, you name it. Thanks to technology I can have my cake and eat it to.
Robbie, which apps do you use to download matches? I’m not aware of any that do that now other than perhaps the Slingbox app. Also, how did you watch Sky Sports News on your iPhone?
Cheers,
The Gaffer
I watch 5-6 matches a week. Too much and not enough…..too much because I don’t have time,and not enough because I would like to watch more…..nothing else compares to this magnificent sport….all other sports are so broken up with timeouts ads etc. by comparison….I watch EPL Bundesliga, CL and Europa League
I think American football has peaked and soccer will continue to (slowly)grow in US TV viewership. not that it matters except to justify the efforts of FSC and GolTV, not to mention ESPN, to bring us the game.
thanks for this blog, feeling a little less crazy now….
jt