In news that may shock NBA and NHL fans across the country, ESPN is reportedly in negotiations to purchase the television rights to soccer's English Premier League for the 2010/11 season and beyond. One of the crown jewels of football broadcasting, the EPL currently receives between 3M and 5M per game, and the most recent deal with BSkyB and Setanta Sports was 1.7B for 3 years. The TV rights to some of the biggest clubs in Europe would be a valuable acquisition for the media giant, and has the potential to create a wave of new European subscriptions. ESPN is currently in 10M European households and such a move would increase those numbers dramatically. Das FanHaus can only hope and pray that the Mouse House leaves the broadcasts relatively untouched. Cut-aways to sideline reporters, Berman-isms, and other forms of sports entertainment journalism forced onto the EPL audience could create an international incident. "Who's Next?" alone could cause the US to be evicted from NATO.
(H/T: BBC Sports)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-11-2007 @ 12:14AM
blades said...
lose soccer - get hockey
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12-11-2007 @ 9:24AM
Irishoutsider said...
They can certainly add both unless the NHL plans on playing games at 8 in the morning. Theres plenty of room on the family of networks for all sports as long as they decide to, you know, actually show games instead of "original programming" and poker.
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