Feb 04
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Feb 04
Feb 01
ESPN and ABC have made the speculation official, Dave O’Brien and Eric Wynalda are no longer commentators for their soccer broadcasts. This includes MLS and US soccer matches.
Replacing them will be JP Dellacamera doing play by play and John Harkes with analyst. The rest of the team will be Allen Hopkins (sideline reporter), Julie Foudy (studio Analyst) and Rob Stone who will sub in for Dellacamera.
I really like this lineup. Dellacamera knows the game well and can call a fine match while Harkes should be able to explain why things are happening without looking to pick fights about every little thing.
One little bit of interest, Bruce Arena is nowhere on the list. Bruce has a lot of knowledge but his broadcast skills needed some serious work, so I’m happy about this.
Labels: 2010 World Cup, Dave O’Brien, Eric Wynalda, ESPN, John Harkes, JP Dellacamera, MLS, Television, US Soccer
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Jan 31
Jan 28
Even as time moves on, Pennsylvania officials appear to be no closer to reaching an agreement on funding part of the soccer stadium needed to land Philadelphia a MLS franchise.
When asked if the state would provide the needed $45m to make the stadium a reality, State Sen. Dominic Pileggi, the Republican Senate majority leader, said ‘undetermined.’ He then went on to note that ‘GOP legislators have pledged to avoid new spending, and it’s unclear whether they will want to provide millions of dollars for a sports stadium when roads, bridges and schools need help.’
However, he made sure to point out that since the proposal is not just about building a stadium, but revitalizing a large portion of the Chester waterfront, he thinks Republicans would be willing to back the plan, especially since ‘an award of state money would be contingent on assurances that the housing, restaurants, and other facilities would be built, and that job-creation projections would be met.’
So here we are at the end of January, and the original MLS deadline, and we appear to be no closer to a resolution to this issue. Philadelphia still needs the state money and St. Louis still needs richer investors to get the nod. The league moved their deadline back 30-45 days, but Pileggi doesn’t seem overly concerned with the new date saying, “I don’t think they’re going to set up any artificial deadlines as long as there continues to be positive discussion.”
That’s all fine and good, but if MLS really wants this team to start playing in 2010 and to do so in their permanent home, a decision needs to be reached soon. Other soccer stadiums have taken 18-24 months to build, meaning that if a stadium is to be ready by April 2010, they need to start building in the next 2-6 months (interestingly, the article says that the 2010 deadline allows for ‘two and a half years for construction’, however, that would place opening date in July or three months later then MLS currently opens their season).
To me it seems obvious that the league prefers Philadelphia to St. Louis, but at some point, they either need to scrap the 2010 expansion idea or make a choice. Although the St. Louis ownership group apparently isn’t as loaded as Philadelphia, if they have a stadium deal, it is hard to argue against them.
Labels: Chester, Dominic Pileggi, Finance, MLS, MLS expansion, Philadelphia, St. Louis
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Jan 21
SYDNEY FC are headed for a showdown with Australia boss Pim Verbeek after John Kosmina foreshadowed a club-versus-country row heading into the A-League finals.
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Jan 13
Jan 12
Fox Soccer Channel will air 28 USL games in 2008 starting April 25. Of these games 25 will be USL First Division (22 regular season/3 post). The three other games will be the title matches for the W-League, PDL and USL Second Division (all of which will be in August).
Here is the full list of TV Broadcasts (all times ET):
Friday April 25 Montreal @ Atlanta 8:00 pm
Friday May 2 Seattle @ Atlanta 8:00 pm
Friday May 9 Miami @ Charleston 8:00 pm
Friday May 16 Minnesota @ Atlanta 8:00 pm
Friday May 23 Seattle @ Vancouver 11:00 pm
Friday May 30 Portland @ Montreal 8:00 pm
Friday June 6 Puerto Rico @ Atlanta 8:00 pm
Friday June 13 Vancouver @ Rochester 8:00 pm
Friday June 20 Minnesota @ Charleston 8:00 pm
Friday June 27 Portland @ Carolina 8:00 pm
Friday July 4 Puerto Rico @ Miami 8:00 pm
Friday July 11 Seattle @ Rochester 8:00 pm
Friday July 18 Miami @ Montreal 8:00 pm
Friday July 25 Montreal @ Rochester 8:00 pm
Friday August 1 Vancouver @ Carolina 8:00 pm
Sunday August 3 W-League Championship TBD
Thursday August 7 Seattle @ Portland 11:00 pm
Saturday August 9 PDL Championship TBD
Friday August 15 Miami @ Carolina 8:00 pm
Friday August 22 Portland @ Vancouver 11:00 pm
Saturday August 23 USL Second Division Championship TBD
Friday August 29 Puerto Rico @ Charleston 8:00 pm
Friday September 5 Minnesota @ Montreal 8:00 pm
Friday September 12 Puerto Rico @ Rochester 8:00 pm
Friday September 19 Carolina @ Charleston 8:00 pm
Sunday September 28 USL-1 Quarterfinals - Second leg TBD
Sunday October 5 USL-1 Semifinals - Second leg TBD
Saturday October 11 USL First Division Championship TBD
Labels: Fox Soccer Channel, Premier Development League, Television, USL, USL First Division, USL Second Division, W-League
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