Football: The summer of selling (out)

[BigFatCoward]

just had to get a train into Wembley for work, all of a sudden there is a lot of Man City fans live in Oxfordshite, Glory hunters are the fucking worst. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

15 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

It is, and I think she already said she will.

Yep.

Not surprised by the result though it sounds like it was wacky. The sucky part is we were missing a few of our better players going into the tournament and the coach is terrible. I doubt he'll be having the job much longer. But hats off to Sweden. 

I also don't want Australia/NZ to ever hold a major event again outside of the Open. All these games happening in the middle of the night is ridiculous. 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Tywin et al.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

5 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

just had to get a train into Wembley for work, all of a sudden there is a lot of Man City fans live in Oxfordshite, Glory hunters are the fucking worst. 

Yeah, and in a few years, you will see a lot of disgusting wannabe the Geordies. Inshallah.

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I also don't ever want Australia/NZ to ever hold a major event again outside of the Open. All these games happening in the middle of the night is ridiculous. 

European TV market.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

European TV market.

Are they playing at good times for Europeans who work? Frankly I think most of these international competitions should just be in Western Europe because it gives you the most flexibility to space things out for the target audience.  

[polishgenius]

I'll be honest: I don't think American time sensibilities should play any part whatsoever in deciding where the football is played. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Are they playing at good times for Europeans who work? Frankly I think most of these international competitions should just be in Western Europe because it gives you the most flexibility to space things out for the target audience.  

Not really.

TV schedule for the next games looks like this. (CET)

Monday

England - Nigeria (9:30 am)

Australia - Denmark (12:30 pm).

Tuesday

Colombia - Jamaica (10 am)

France - Morocco (1 pm)

Friday

Spain - Netherland (3 am)

Japan - Sweden (9:30 am)

Saturday

Winner (France Morocco) Winner (Australia Denmark) (9 am)

The other QF (12:30 PM)

During the 3 games a day group stage it was pretty similar. One game stashed away in the night time. One in the morning (9-10am) and one game around noon).

The schedule is always compromised around TV schedules (mainly in Europe as the biggest market).

They can't push the games into more convenient time slots due to the different time zones, unless you want the ladies plays some time around 3 am in Oceania.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

I'll be honest: I don't think American time sensibilities should play any part whatsoever in deciding where the football is played. 

So the audience for the top team shouldn't matter? Great way to make future TV deals buddy, because that's where the money is. 

[polishgenius]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

So the audience for the top team shouldn't matter?

Maybe, but we were talking about the US? 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 minute ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Not really.

TV schedule for the next games looks like this. (CET)

Monday

England - Nigeria (9:30 am)

Australia - Denmark (12:30 pm).

Tuesday

Colombia - Jamaica (10 am)

France - Morocco (1 pm)

Friday

Spain - Netherland (3 am)

Japan - Sweden (9:30 am)

Saturday

Winner (France Morocco) Winner (Australia Denmark) (9 am)

The other QF (12:30 PM)

During the 3 games a day group stage it was pretty similar. One game stashed away in the night time. One in the morning (9-10am) and one game around noon).

The schedule is always compromised around TV schedules (mainly in Europe as the biggest market).

They can't push the games into more convenient time slots due to the different time zones, unless you want the ladies plays some time around 3 am in Oceania.

Those times are literally when when most people are sleeping or working.  That's just dumb marketing. Only the Saturday games make sense. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

So the audience for the top team shouldn't matter? Great way to make future TV deals buddy, because that's where the money is. 

European market is bigger overall.

You get to sell the game licenses to 20-30 different providers.

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

Those times are literally when when most people are sleeping or working.  That's just dumb marketing. Only the Saturday games make sense. 

Once again, problem with different time zones. Oceania time is seven and a half hours ahead.

So it's now 16:00 CET and 23:30 Oceania.

You want the ladies game in a prime time slot (20:00 CET) that would be 03:30 AM in Oceania time.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Maybe, but we were talking about the US? 

I'm talking more generally. They could have played the game earlier because some start at 9PM or at midnight, but in general it's a bad idea to hold these tournaments in Australia/NZ just like it would be a bad idea to have them in California. Central and Western Europe gives you the ability to schedule matches at times each audience can reasonably see and most major cities already have the infrastructure so you don't end up with the crazy pictures of stadiums rotting in Brazil, for example. It just seems like the most reasonable way to do it. 

[Raja]

US can only be a proper football country when they get heartbroken before 10am. This is the way.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

European market is bigger overall.

You get to sell the game licenses to 20-30 different providers.

Once again, problem with different time zones. Oceania time is seven and a half hours ahead.

So it's now 16:00 CET and 23:30 Oceania.

You want the ladies game in a prime time slot (20:00 CET) that would be 03:30 AM in Oceania time.

 

Might be bigger, but you're cutting off the biggest individual market. Likewise I think a lot of people are going to be pissed at the times games take place when the 2026 WC is here. Putting events like this or the Olympics in Europe is probably the best way to balance the time zones. There's no perfect solution, but no matter where you live no one wants to have to watch a game or match in any sport in the middle of the night, especially if they have to be at work in the morning.

[Raja]

It's the World Cup - no issues it being in NZ & Australia. Everyone else just has to learn to cope. We have one every 4 years!

[Consigliere]

I'm in favour of world cups being held around the world and not just in Western/Central Europe but only in countries that have the existing infrastructure or can make good use of the new stadia after the event. Otherwise you end up with white elephants like in Brazil and South Africa that are left to rot and become a black hole draining taxpayer money. I don't think this would be an issue in Australia and New Zealand though. The Asia/Pacific region is also a potentially huge market.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Consigliere

[ljkeane]

It's 2023. Just record it and watch it when you get up. I quite like sporting events in the middle of the night over the weekend, it means you can get up and watch it in the morning before you have to go out and do stuff.

Is Zinchenko injured?

[Denvek]

1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Anyway, also wanted to say, that we will get a new World Cup winner by the end of the tournament.

Not necessarily. Japan are still in and looking good.

[Spockydog]

Lee Dixon is a fucking cretin. 

[Soylent Brown]

Fully expecting Arsenal to win here, given that City deliberately go easy with their preseason schedule.

 

[polishgenius]

I'm watching our friendly and Sancho is the most prominent player up front, where he's technically playing, in the 10 position, where Van de Beek is playing, and on the right, where Pellistri is playing. Not a great sign for the other two if they want to persuade ETH to give them more chances.