I spend considerable sums of money to watch soccer on on other networks because of the consistently poor coverage provided by the mainstream american networks, yours included.
I reccommend getting a local coach, or soccer legend to be a broadcaster, as he would bring experienced insight, and bring the passionate views needed to be heard by America, so the whole USA can start to become excited about our game, our team, and our future.
ESPN and ABC have the $$ to buy the rights to televise the WC - But I guess they don't have the $$ to buy common sense .Why could'nt they have some agreement with FSC to "sub-contract" some knowledgable announcers ????
They can pay 100 million dollars for american rights through 2014, but they dont treat it like 100 million dollars. But when the bad announcers are on , my volume will be turned down
Your recent coverage of the Arsenal v. Barcelona was right on, great play by play and color commentary. Do the American soccer fan a favor and reconsider your decision.
The Scott and Irish guy who did the Gunners-Barca game are very good -- I'd like to see them call the games, with Balboa, who I also think is good, playing a supporting role.
Please reconsider. The CL Final where Tony Lapaglia was dragooned in to shill his show was an embarrassment. 'Cello Balboa was too. "What's your favorite CL Final, "Cello?" 'Cello-"Uh, well...last year's."
Disgraceful.
Dave O'Brien is a disgrace. That choice just insured that I will be watching the Spanish language telecasts. The only way to do it right, until we have seasoned and extremely well knowleged announcers of our own, is to use English League announcers.
If ESPN makes watching the World Cup unpleasent by using loud and relativley uniformed announcers, how do they plan to build support for the game. Soccer fans are different than your typical american sport fan and ESPN would do better to gain the support of those who love the game before trying to convert fans from other sports by blindly following the format of other sports. The MLS playoffs as opposed to a single table is a classic example of how the american sports model does not fit the world's favorite game. By the way I came to the same conclusion of this petition way before I became aware of this petition!!!
-- c'mon guys. You can still appeal to the casual American audience without insulting the serious fans. Geez. I too would much prefer Derek Rae. Barring that as a possibility, Bob Ley. These insufferable announcers that don't know the game are a real pain to listen to. Sorry Dave, I know you're a nice guy and all.
This is ESPN's opportunity to take part in a historic remaking of soccer's image in the US. Don't blow it with a commentator who is alien to the game; you are shooting yourself in the foot here. Get the best qualified commentators you can get and you will get the credit and the attention for helping finally elevate soccer to its rightful place in US sport.
Please... let the games develop on the screen - we don't need the social chit-chat & mind-reading of players that passes for game commentary in this country.
ESPN have the most unknowledgable announcers when it comes to soccer. Its sad when you watch the spanish channel and, being someone who does not speak spanish, would rather hear that spanish noise instead of english morones talking about soccer.
It will be terribly frustrating for us to have to listen to commentators who do no specialize in the field. This will severely cut down on the amount of time I will spend watching espn(which I normally love) and I will seek out some sattelite coverage in bars to watch the games.
Please give us an expert
thank you
Football is a nuanced game that requires years of experience to announce. Using non-football experts as your announcers is a poor decision, and I strongly urge you to reconsider. There is a wealth of talent that announces football for the English Premiership on a weekly basis, in English, so perhaps you could find a suitable announcing team in their ranks.
