EPL Talk » ESPN

Can Diamanti Emulate Di Canio?

David Schiavone — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:17:19 +0000

Can Diamanti emulate Di Canio?

Can West Ham United’s new Italian talent have the same impact on the Hammers as club legend Paolo Di Canio did between 1999 and 2003? Gianfranco Zola signed Alessandro Diamanti for a fee of around £6 million in the summer. Big money for an untested player especially in light of West Ham’s supposed financial handicap. But it could prove to be a smart acquisition by Zola in light of the past weekends game.

After scoring a controversial penalty against Liverpool on Saturday he has been thrown into the limelight for the wrong reasons. Chris Waddle who commentated on the match for ESPN UK was convinced that Diamanti touched the ball twice – as he took the penalty- but the Italian himself is adamant he scored a legitimate goal, “I don’t care what TV shows. It deserved a goal. I don’t believe I touched it twice. I was trying to hit it down the middle and that is what happened.” I will leave you to make up your own mind.

Signed from Livrono in Serie A, Diamanti was a star in Serie B last year, guiding the Amaranti to promotion with six goals in the final ten matches of the season as the Tuscan side went up via the playoffs. He is also accustomed to scoring magnificent long-range efforts, such as the edge of the box volley for Livorno against Triestina.

His current boss has likened the player to himself and former Hammer, Di Canio, as Zola told Italian sports daily, Gazzetta dello Sport: “He’s a cross between myself and Paolo Di Canio.” These are large boots to fill given the standing Di Canio has amongst the West Ham faithful and after the performance against Liverpool he showed that the potential is most definitely there.

Alessandro Diamanti is a very pacy player with fantastic ball control and explosive shot, with the added bonous of being a set-piece specialist, it appears West Ham have unearthed another Italian gem. He is somewhat of a late bloomer, spending most of his career so far in the lower divisions of Italian football with hometown club Prato, and it wasn’t until he befriended Fabio Galante who recommended him to the Livrono chairman.

More recently, for West Ham reserves he banged in two magnificent free kicks in a 6-0 rout over Birmingham, after almost six months out. It is his goals but also his personality that will win over the fans, Diamanti stated on joining, “I chose West Ham because the club have the tradition of playing great football. Also, because the West Ham fans are really passionate and that is the way I am.”

Once full match fitness is achieved he will be a real thorn in the side of Premier League defences. You have been warned.

ESPN’s EPL Coverage At Its Best When It Stays Out of the Way

Dave Warner — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:06:26 +0000

When ESPN won the rights to show Premier League matches in the U.S., the biggest worry for most football fans in America was that the “Worldwide Leader” would somehow ruin the presentation of the game with subpar announcers and other bells and whistles that often make MLS matches annoying to watch.

If today’s Wigan v. Manchester United broadcast is any indication, however, that won’t be the case. ESPN has wisely chosen to leave the match broadcasting itself to the Premier League’s direct feed and presenters the same way Fox Soccer Channel does, rather than shoving Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth into the infamous “Bristol broom closet,” as they did during EURO 2008 and UEFA Champions League broadcasts. ESPN only intruded during the match itself with a handful of graphics; the infamous “Bottom Line” showed up only twice briefly in the second half to show scores — it stays up the entire time during MLS and U.S. National Team matches — and a graphic stating the colors of the kits popped up twice in each half but took nothing away from the broadcast. The few satellite drops ESPN had early on were gone by halftime.

That said, ESPN has a few kinks to work out in its studio presentation.

The studio team of Georgie Bingham and Robbie Mustoe won’t make anyone forget about Setanta Sports’ Paul Dempsey and Pat Dolan, though even Dempsey would admit that Bingham is easier on the eyes than he is. In her first attempt as studio host, though, Bingham appeared a bit less self-assured than she usually is in her reports on ESPN SoccerNet. Several times she seemed to struggle with the timing of the broadcast, misreading a couple of score reports and looking unsure about when to send the broadcast back to the DW Stadium — which, at one point, she called “The WD Stadium.”

To be fair, that might have been more of a problem with direction than with Bingham herself. This was ESPN’s first use of a studio broadcast in conjunction with the EPL feed, and it’s possible that the studio director didn’t have the timing down just yet. This sort of thing made such transitions feel unnecessarily hurried.

As for Mustoe, he’s certainly no worse than Warren Barton as a studio analyst, and he’s a vast improvement over, say, Alexi Lalas or Marcelo Balboa. His biggest flaw might be that he’s a little vanilla. His commentary lacks the sort of penetrating insight that Dolan provides on a regular basis. He’ll explain things well enough, but little that he said made me feel like I was learning something new about the tactics and strategy of the game — the sort of thing that ESPN probably should be giving its viewers in advance of the World Cup.

Perhaps Mustoe was chosen here simply for his EPL experience and his accent. After all, those British accents sure sound a lot more authoritative. I can’t help but wonder, though, if Mustoe would work better with another analyst to play off of him. Having dual studio analysts works well for ESPN’s college basketball broadcasts. (Incidentally, I hear Kenny Hassan is available.)

For the most part, though, these issues are fixable with time and experience. Bingham and Mustoe seem certain to improve as they get more comfortable with the timing of the broadcast, and they only have a small role to play. So long as ESPN leaves the rest of the match presentation to the experts, it will do just fine. Plus, we can be thankful that ESPN actually promoted EPL matches on non-ESPN channels. Usually, the WWL keeps it in the family, but ESPN clearly wants to grow its soccer audience in advance of the World Cup, and it recognizes that a rising tide floats their boat, too. That’s a big plus for everyone.

How ESPN Could Get the Champions League Back — And Much More

Dave Warner — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:30:22 +0000

Earlier this morning, our friend The Gaffer lamented that ESPN’s loss of the UEFA Champions League TV rights would be bad for soccer in America. After all, ESPN remains the primary vehicle for sporting culture in this country, and if the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” suddenly doesn’t care enough to keep this planet’s biggest club football competition on its networks, then what hope does soccer have of becoming more than a niche sport here?

You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe the final chapter has been written in this story just yet. ESPN has not lost interest in soccer, nor has it forgotten the ratings success and critical praise it garnered from EURO 2008. What ESPN might be doing, though, is getting ready to acquire the broadcast rights to the Champions League, the Premier League, the Europa League and much, much more, by making only one move — buying out Setanta Sports.

This is not a new rumor, to be sure, but we should examine ESPN’s recent manuevers to get a better understanding of the bigger picture. First, let’s establish this: the notion that ESPN could not afford the rights to the Champions League because of the sagging economy is complete and utter bollocks…

According to this New York Times article by Richard Sandomir, ESPN earns a whopping $4.3 billion from cable and satellite subscribers every year. This not only insulates ESPN from economic hardship, but it gives the WWL a huge war chest that it can use to outbid any other network for any sports property it wants to air. ESPN recently outbid Fox for the much-maligned Bowl Championship Series by more than $100 million. If ESPN wanted to take the Olympics from NBC or the NCAA Basketball Championship from CBS, it could. No problem.

Setanta Sports, meanwhile, is not swimming in these Olympic-sized pools of cash. Last month, the Telegraph reported that Setanta was busy renegotiating all of its TV deals because it was struggling to make payments. This cash-poor position makes Setanta a prime takeover target for a monolith like ESPN.

Buying Setanta Sports also gives the WWL a huge inventory of broadcast rights — including the Champions League and the Premier League — which would have been far more expensive if bought separately. Plus, ESPN would get the infrastructure it needs to broadcast the games and, perhaps more importantly, all that on-air talent — Jon Champion, Paul Dempsey, Pat Dolan, James Richardson, and many, many more. This would be a huge boost for the WWL’s football coverage in the USA, and it would help it establish a stronger foothold overseas.

But where would ESPN put all these games, you ask? That’s where this article from Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal comes in:

Executives in Bristol are set to allow cable and satellite distributors to swap ESPN’s classic sports channel for its college network, ESPNU, which they hope presents a newer, hipper alternative to Classic’s staid, dated programming…

An interesting wrinkle to ESPN’s proposal would allow operators to move ESPN Classic to a sports tier, where it would be ESPN’s first channel to reside on the traditionally low-penetrated mantle.

On the surface, this is a smart move for the WWL, as ESPN Classic’s ratings have dwindled in recent years, and having its own college sports network on standard cable and satellite tiers would allow it to compete with similar offerings from CBS and the Big Ten.

Meanwhile, about a year ago, Ives Galarcep let slip that ESPN was thinking of converting Classic into an international sports channel, with the Premier League as its top draw. (On a side note, I got Ives into a little bit of trouble with ESPN after I quoted his blog for that FanHouse piece, which proved to me that there was some truth to that rumor. I do hope he’s forgiven me since then.)

By purchasing Setanta, ESPN could have that international channel right away and, with minimal conversion, drop it into the spot currently occupied by Classic, thus putting it on the same sports tiers where Fox Soccer Channel and GOLTV currently reside.

The end result would give soccer fans all the matches they can handle on one tier, without having to shell out the extra $15 a month for Setanta. It would also bring the Champions League back to ESPN, who could very easily put those games back on ESPN2 to grab those casual viewers — complete with bumpers encouraging everyone to contact their cable and satellite companies right now to get the all-new ESPN International for even more soccer action.

So don’t lament the loss of the beautiful game on ESPN just yet. The WWL may have lost the Champions League final, but it hasn’t given up on soccer. It’s just setting us up for the perfect through ball.

What If Fox Soccer Channel Loses Its EPL TV Rights Deal?

Christopher Kull — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:24:57 +0000

Within the next two months, we’ll learn who will win the bid for the US TV rights to the Premier League for the 2010-2013 seasons. What if Fox Soccer Channel loses its EPL TV rights deal to ESPN and/or Setanta. What should they do to make up for the massive loss?

If Fox Soccer Channel loses out on the TV rights deal, FSC should make a play for Man United TV, Chelsea TV, Arsenal TV, or Liverpool TV and whatever programming they offer in England. From what I understand they offer replays of games 48 hours after they happen along with a propaganda news program show, classic games, and youth games. Would it make sense for a FSC to go after 2 of the teams rights for their re-airs where they can play them on Tuesday and Wednesday Night, get the filler of classic games, along with youth team games which would be fun to watch if you want to see guys work their way up the reserve team? I could see it as a viable option.

I could see a club love to get as much publicity as possible on a channel like FSC which is in more households than Setanta and/or GOL TV over here in the States. I really think the best that FSC can hope for is the 12pm Saturday Game and either the 2nd or 3rd choice 10am game on Saturday if ESPN is serious about getting the rights to the Prem. With the American influence of ownership groups of Liverpool, United, Villa, as well what ownership Kroenke has in Arsenal they have realize that FSC does reach soccer fans and could use the Club TV shows as a way to push their club/brand in America.

FSC hasn’t shied away from airing Milan TV before and currently air Barca games on delay. I think in a perfect world United would be one of the clubs they would focus on since they just seem to be most friendly with their current and past success to target. I know that they are on Setanta now but I wonder if the money saved on getting all of the packages that FSC before could be used to prise United’s TV shows from Setanta giving the the club more exposure here in the States.

Myself, I am hoping that ESPN2 ends up with the Premier League rights to the 7:45am ET game and the 1st choice game on Saturdays at 10am ET along with the double header on Sunday and Monday Games with FSC getting the 2nd choice game on Saturday and the noon ET kick off here in the States.

ESPN Loses Premier League UK TV Rights Battle

The Gaffer — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:16:30 +0000

Breaking news: The Premier League has announced that out of the six TV packages available for bidding in the UK for the 2010-2013 seasons, Sky Sports won five of those packages with Setanta getting the sixth and final one. That means that ESPN’s attempt to bid on the rights ended in failure — in the UK, at least.

This is a huge win for Sky Sports who have increased their number of packages from four (for the 2007-2010 seasons) to five. Setanta Sports will be showing less games because they’ll be moving from two packages (2007-2010 seasons) to one. But the biggest loser is ESPN who despite a lot of the chatter about the Disney-owned company making an aggressive raid on rights to the UK EPL TV market ended up empty handed.

Now that we know who will own the UK TV rights for the Premier League for 2010-2013, the next step for the Premier League is to allow broadcasters to begin bidding on the US TV rights to the Premiership. We should expect to hear who wins that battle in 1-2 months from now. Stay tuned to EPL Talk for all of the latest developments.