Now that it's confirmed the United States will be participating in next year's World Cup, the American sports media will be ramping up their coverage of soccer here in the States. It's the way of the world that mainstream outlets only really care every four years; as we get closer to 2010 and the run-up to South Africa, the number of places to find soccer news is steadily increasing. Subtle signs of things to come have to be promising to American soccer fans, even if the amount of coverage the game receives here might never actually satisfy.
ESPN is, and always will be, at the forefront of any discussion on sports coverage in the US. The "Worldwide Leader" is finally coming around on the beautiful game, having recently invested in English Premier League and Spanish La Liga matches for ESPN2. Ratings for those matches have been solid by most reports, and though it's discouraging that more Americans aren't giving their domestic league more of their attention than they already do, the overall affect of success for European soccer on ESPN can only be positive. ESPN's turn toward European soccer, both with broadcasting matches and disseminating more soccer news, is encouraging. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though that increased coverage has completely translated to the US National Team, which only seems to be featured in the hours immediately preceding and following a match.
Still, it's something, and ESPN can at least be said to be creeping slowly towards wider coverage. Distinguished and credible ESPN voice (one of very few at the network) Bob Ley anchored coverage of the US-Costa Rica game from RFK on Wednesday night, perhaps a sign that the network realizes the need for stronger coverage. Ley was also in San Pedro Sula, Honduras last weekend to cover the Americans' trip there, as well as Mexico City back in August; this despite the fact that ESPN was not broadcasting either game.
ESPN owns the American television rights to next year's World Cup, and is already promoting the tournament during soccer broadcasts. That should naturally intensify over the next six months; it would stand to reason that news and analysis would increase as well, the better to augment that promotion and push more casual American sports fans toward their World Cup broadcasts. The investment is not insignificant, and it behooves the network to be as proactive as possible, even months out from kickoff, in driving up interest. The ancillary benefit of that push could be education of fans who need it, and gratification of fans who just want to see more soccer content.
ESPN's investment, and their interest in seeing that investment succeed, makes it difficult to use their increased coverage as a barometer of American attitudes towards the sport. Instead, it's probably more proper to check other outlets to see if soccer is beginning to hit the mainstream. Newspapers, local media, and secondary sports networks without a incentive to push the game, and for whom resources are at a premium, better indicate the general public's tastes. While they are often slow to respond to trends, they usually catch on eventually.
Unfortunately, I have no statistical data to illustrate how those outlets are covering soccer. I can say, however, that the number of credible and respected news outlets with strong Internet presences covering the game seems to be increasing. Newspapers may be dying a slow death, but their online dissemination of news is still important, and is becoming a more significant part of their footprint. Often the stories that appear on those sites is Associated Press or Reuters content, meaning that it's not originally produced; though that weakens the argument that soccer news appearing in those spaces means something, it still indicates the desire of the newspaper to give a sport its due that previously received zero space.
My perception is that things are getting better. Flipping through TV channels or scanning the web yields more soccer content than ever before, a trend that should only become more pervasive as the World Cup approaches.
Share your thoughts on the current state of soccer coverage-are we in store for a massive increase, or is it likely to be a slow burn until the World Cup?
I was tempted to comment on the widespread reporting of Charlie Davies' tragic car crash, but decided against it. The fact the Davies' plays for the US is the reason it received so much interest, but it would be incorrect to relate that interest to increased soccer coverage in general.
