To the officials at ESPN:


I am sending you this letter in protest of your decision on the commentators for the World Cup. The largest sporting event in the world deserves the best coverage possible. An estimated 28.8 billion viewers watched the 2002 tournament with 1.1 billion tuning in for the final. Even the World Cup finals draw had 300 million viewers world wide.

As a sports leader and the largest cable sports network it would make sense that the company would want to have the best coverage of the event possible. Putting someone who has never done soccer commentary at the head of your broadcast team will only serve to alienate fans and move more viewers to Univision and other networks covering the games. You wouldn’t put **** Button on the Superbowl announcing team or John Madden on the World Series telecasts, why would you put a baseball announcer in the World Cup broadcasts?

The fans deserve better. They deserve intelligent announces who are highly regarded in their field. The idea that Americans would not accept foreign announcers for the games is ludicrous. Most knowledgeable fans in this country pay more attention to leagues overseas than to the domestic game. One reason for this is that the game is taken more seriously in many other parts of the world. Please do not add to the stereotype of ignorant Americans who bring nothing to the sport.

Add quality announcers who are available regardless of nationality. Having announcers who do not know the proper names of the positions on the field and who mispronounce the players names is aggravating, frustrating and annoying to real soccer fans and that should be your market. The typical soccer mom is not going to sit through game after game of the World Cup. Please attempt to rectify this situation by including professional commentators who have experience in the sport at the highest levels.

Thank you for your time and consideration concerning this matter sincerely,