Although soccer may have worldwide appeal, it certainly lags behind in popularity here in the US. Thankfully, the NBC Sports Network decided to make a bold move and air numerous English Premier League (EPL) games and stream all of them via the NBC Sports Live Extra App. So rather than having the occasional Manchester United vs (insert bottom standing team here) on ESPN or Fox, you'll now be able to see Manchester United vs Manchester City on a major US cable network. I have waited a long time for a major network to pick up a full season of the League and hopefully this will spark some interest here in the states. Here are some reasons why you should also be excited for the EPL coming to NBC.
Crowds
I've always argued that the three rowdiest and loudest crowds in sports are college basketball crowds, college football crowds, and soccer crowds. The main thing that all three have in common is the high amount of passion that they have for their team. Here's a photo from a Manchester City vs Manchester United match. Those are the Man U fans on the right, Man City fans on the left and an entire column of security who stayed there the whole game. That might speak to more rowdiness than passion, but you won't see that at a Red Sox Yankees game.
Similar to college stadiums, some EPL teams have certain sections reserved for die hard fans, similar to student sections a la Cameron Crazies, that are designed to rattle the opponent. Throughout the game you'll hear chants, songs, cheers, and jeers from the first whistle to the last. An NBA crowd during a regular season game doing that? Forget about it. While the crowd is just one part of the whole sporting experience, it can make an impact on how enjoyable the game is to watch. I'd rather watch a LSU-Eastern Illinois game at Tiger Stadium than watch it at EIU's stadium. The atmosphere is more intense, adding to the whole experience. You'll find plenty of raucous crowds in the EPL, making the games quite enjoyable to watch.
Morning Sports
I don't know about you, but I can only take Sports Center so many times. Unfortunately, there's nothing else sports related on so it's either watch SC or listen to Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith argue about Tebow for the umpteenth time. Relief comes in the form of EPL games which, due to the time difference, will have the majority of their games aired before noon. The opening day of the EPL has game start times of 6:45 am, 9 am, and 11:30 am central time, with the two earlier slots on NBC Sports Network and the latter on NBC. I would much rather watch soccer, or rather any sport, than hear about Mark Sanchez getting a hangnail in practice.
One thing that concerned me at the start was that games would overlap with college football and/or the NFL. While some of them do, it wouldn't cut into the football games that much because the start times are so early. This could actually work out perfectly if the EPL games finish on time. For instance, on Sunday, September 22nd, Man U plays Man City at 10am central. NFL games don't start until noon so whatever overlap there will be, won't affect your NFL watching that much.
No Commercials
Extra point, good. Let's go to commercial. Kickoff for a touchback. We'll be right back after this commercial. Three and out, punt. Fair catch. We'll be right back after this commercial. This was the exact sequence I saw in a preseason game earlier this year, and a sequence that is frequent in the NFL. NBA is the same way especially in the last minute of a close game. I'll know more about the new Lexus car model that is coming out than I will about the two teams playing by the end of the game. Soccer doesn't play that game. It's 45 minutes of straight play, plus stoppage time which is usually no more than four or five minutes. Then halftime, then repeat.
People criticize soccer for being too boring, but I would argue that when you factor in the time outs and commercial breaks, that soccer has the same number of exciting moments as football, if not more. If football players had to play for 90+ minutes with only halftime as a break, I'm sure there would be some lulls in the action. It would be ridiculous to think you could go full speed for 90 minutes (exception: Adrian Peterson). Commercial breaks just ruin the flow of the games. With soccer, anything can happen at anytime which makes every kick of the ball that much more important. Even if you're not that interested in the game, it's still something good to have on in the background while you're doing something. I do that with baseball games now. So forgot those small commercial breaks where Bob Rohrman tries to sell me a Hyundai; now I can enjoy sports for a guaranteed 45 minutes before I see a commercial.
International Appeal
America is a melting pot of different ethnicities, yet does a sub par job of representing that diversity in sports. Baseball and recently the NBA have been good about expanding, but the NFL, America's most popular sport, falls way behind. It makes it much easier for someone to get interested and involved in a sport if someone from their home country and/or town plays for a team in said sport. Let's take Manchester United's upcoming squad as an example, as they are one of the best teams in the EPL and probably the most well known here in the US.
They feature players from (not including England) Spain, Brazil, France, Northern Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Mexico, Serbia, Portugal, Netherlands, Chile, Scotland, Ecuador, Italy, Japan, and Belgium. Now let's say that Shinji Kagawa (Japan) finishes in the top 10 in scoring this year in the EPL. You don't think that Japanese interest in soccer in the US (Japanese people in the U.S. ≈ 1.2 million) would increase due to the exposure that he would get with the NBC Sports Network? Of course it would. There would probably be more interest in Kagawa scoring than if Forte scored in the NFL, even if football is the preferred sport of interest. I think the increased exposure will help drive an interest in soccer in numerous ethnic groups, allowing the sport to become more significant in the U.S.
Bad Team vs Bad Team Matters
Last year, Week 17 of the NFL season, Kansas City (2-14) played San Diego (7-9). Did anyone watch or care? Didn't think so. That's because what was the incentive there to win? If anything, there was an incentive to lose to obtain a higher draft pick. So in that scenario, the winner actually loses in the long run, and doesn't do anything to help their cause in the current season. Luckily the EPL has a promotion and relegation system that takes care of this problem.
The way this works is that, after the season is over, the bottom three teams from the EPL move down and are replaced by the top three teams from the league below them. A demotion from the EPL is an important issue as TV rights, money, and general interest are all lost. You can imagine then, how fierce the race to stay out of those last three spots is. If the bottom two teams are playing on the last weekend of the season, you can expect a competitive, intense game. It might not be the prettiest of all things since these teams aren't exactly the most skilled, but the atmosphere and excitement should reach a fever pitch. You won't get that in any of the major sports over here because there is really no threat to losing late in the year if you're already eliminated from the playoffs. This makes it so the games other than Man U vs Man City can be looked forward to and watched.
Rivalries
Rivalries are what make sports. You can go 0-15, but if the Bears beat the Packers to ruin their perfect season, then all is well in the world. Rivalries bring out the best, or worst, in fans, players, and cities. Being a Cowboys fan, watching a game against the Broncos is okay, but watching one against the Giants is much more intriguing. I have no problem if Peyton Manning stays in the game and goes for 300 yards, but I would want Demarcus Ware to injure Eli Manning on the first play of the game. Rivalries add the needed spice to long sports seasons and the EPL is no different.
These rivalries are made even more intense simply because of the size of England. There are some great rivalries here in the US, but the US is pretty big. Imagine if 20 teams (size of the EPL) was confined in a space the size of about Wyoming. You can imagine how easy it would be to ignite rivalries. Add in the fact that many of these teams have seen each other often, whether it is within the league or other tournaments, and you have everything you need for a good rivalry. Skim this article and tell me honestly if anything in the US gets that rowdy. A 2 1/2 mile alcohol exclusion zone? Golf balls and darts that were to be used to throw at opposing players confiscated?
There are three kinds of rivalries in my opinion and that's players vs players, fans vs fans, and players vs fans. EPL rivalries seem to cover all three. For instance, a players vs players rivalry would be something like Eagles-Giants where the players really do not like each other. A fans vs fans rivalry would be something like Mets-Yankees. The two fan bases can't stand each other, but apart from when Roger Clemens threw a broken bat at Mike Piazza, the play on the field has been tame. A player vs fan rivalry would be something like Maryland-Duke in college basketball. Maryland fans make it a point to harass Duke's players as much as possible, regardless of their records. The EPL incorporates all of these elements, making rivalries in the EPL some of the more explosive in any sport in the world.
Make US Soccer Stronger
The popularity that hopefully grows from seeing more high level soccer could influence younger, highly skilled athletes to choose soccer instead of football or basketball. Since countries can only pull from those that are citizens, it puts the US at a disadvantage since the culture of soccer is not as prevalent as it is in the Brazils and Spains of the world. The demand for a better US soccer team is there as my Facebook blows up every time the US national team plays a game. Still, the fact that the US needs a second half hat trick to beat Bosnia by one goal shows how far behind the US is. By comparison, in the 2013 Confederations Cup, Spain put in all of their back ups (their B-Team) and beat Tahiti 10-0. Clearly there is work to be done.
Things seem to be trending in the right direction though. Clint Dempsey, one of the more popular US players, decided to come back to the States and leave the EPL club Tottenham Hotspur and join the Seattle Sounders. This is a great move for US soccer and is something that more US born players should do. The MLS is considered a joke because most of the US's highly skilled players go play overseas. If more would stay, then the MLS might turn into a formidable league and gain popularity within the States. Another good thing are the new concussion studies that are coming out. Now, I'm not saying concussions are good, but the results of these studies might cause parents to steer their kids towards soccer rather than football. This way soccer would acquire the naturally gifted athletes, making it easier to develop them into skilled soccer players. Even though the games are in England, I think seeing the likes of Chelsea, Man U, and Man City play instead of Chicago, Dallas, and New York will spark interest in youths, leading to wanting to play soccer, leading to honing their soccer skills, leading to a better US national team that can legitimately contend for a World Cup.
The EPL on NBC starts at 6:45 am central time on August 17th with Liverpool vs Stoke. Give the EPL a chance even if you have preconceived notions of what soccer is. Hopefully you can learn to appreciate the sport and be all "soccer-ed" up by the time next summer rolls around when the US will battle in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.
Matty O
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