NYCFC in the Media Thread - 2019

CBS*, Fox*, NBC, ESPN, NFL network, Amazon Prime, ESPN+
*Select regional affiliates, not nationwide.

It's tough to be an NFL fan apparently, or not, because if your interested in watching your team play you spend the 4 seconds it takes to look up what network they are on.
 
i think the problem with NYCFC games is not that they're on a variety of channels/networks, but that they are on channels and networks that are 1) not publicized well and 2) not easy to get access to at times.

i'm tech savvy and know exactly where i should be going to watch a game - but sometimes that FSG doesn't work for me. then ESPN+ is blacked out cause it's supposed to be on a local channel. and then the twitter stream is a buffering mess with the worst commentary guys in the business - if you can find it at all. the twitter stream is probably the hardest one to find. not sure why the club doesn't give the link or embed the stream into the web site.
 
Similarly, MLS broadcasts are never at a reliable time of the week.

If you are an NFL fan, you know there will be games at 1pm and 4pm on Sunday, with national games on Sunday and Monday nights. For college football, games start at noon, CBS has the big SEC game at 3:30, and ABC has a big national game at 8pm. Every Saturday.

MLS has none of this consistency. Games are on at different times from week-to-week, and don’t get me started on Univision.

I think the league really suffers from this lack of reliability.
 
i think the problem with NYCFC games is not that they're on a variety of channels/networks, but that they are on channels and networks that are 1) not publicized well and 2) not easy to get access to at times.

i'm tech savvy and know exactly where i should be going to watch a game - but sometimes that FSG doesn't work for me. then ESPN+ is blacked out cause it's supposed to be on a local channel. and then the twitter stream is a buffering mess with the worst commentary guys in the business - if you can find it at all. the twitter stream is probably the hardest one to find. not sure why the club doesn't give the link or embed the stream into the web site.

The Twitter stream sucks, Univision coverage is the worst professional sports coverage in America. But unless the game is tape delayed on YES, it's always on an easy to find channel. ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, FOX, ABC, Univision are all right in the middle of the TV listings, and obviously everyone in this area knows where YES is.

I'm not sure what more you're looking for regarding publication -- the team lists it on the website, MLS has it on their website, YES lists it whenever they show the upcoming schedule ... it's no different for us than it is for Yankees fans, who have YES, PIX-11, ESPN, FS1, FOX to get through. And the Yankees are the highest-rated sports team in the area. No one complains about trying to find their games even though they're consistently on at least five different broadcast channels, plus MLB Network if you live out of market.
 
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Similarly, MLS broadcasts are never at a reliable time of the week.

If you are an NFL fan, you know there will be games at 1pm and 4pm on Sunday, with national games on Sunday and Monday nights. For college football, games start at noon, CBS has the big SEC game at 3:30, and ABC has a big national game at 8pm. Every Saturday.

MLS has none of this consistency. Games are on at different times from week-to-week, and don’t get me started on Univision.

I think the league really suffers from this lack of reliability.

Last season, Yankees games were played at 16 different times over the course of the season. Didn't impact the fact that tons of people watch their games.

We can make excuses or we can deal with the real problem: Not enough people make MLS and NYCFC appointment viewing. The Yankees are appointment viewing every night, the Knicks, Giants, Jets, and Rangers are appointment viewing for their fanbases. Aside from the diehards of which there are not enough, NYCFC and MLS writ-large are not appointment viewing in this city or in this country.
 
Last season, Yankees games were played at 16 different times over the course of the season. Didn't impact the fact that tons of people watch their games.

We can make excuses or we can deal with the real problem: Not enough people make MLS and NYCFC appointment viewing. The Yankees are appointment viewing every night, the Knicks, Giants, Jets, and Rangers are appointment viewing for their fanbases. Aside from the diehards of which there are not enough, NYCFC and MLS writ-large are not appointment viewing in this city or in this country.
There are like 100+ baseball games each season, so a fan can miss 4/5ths of them and still catch 20-30 on the one channel/one day a week they are comfortable/familiar with, which, for a non-retiree, is plenty.

Expecting an MLS fan to make appointments every week, sometimes 3x/week, that covers potential Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday matches with start times for 12pm, 1pm, 3pm, 3:30, 4pm, 5pm, 7pm, 7:30, 8pm, 9pm, etc west coast late starts is ridiculous. That’s not that the viewership is lazy or uninterested, but that the league has an absolute shitty arrangement with the networks and hasn’t figured out there’s a real marketing opportunity with a “Monday Night Football” type consistency to draw in fans/viewers.
 
There are like 100+ baseball games each season, so a fan can miss 4/5ths of them and still catch 20-30 on the one channel/one day a week they are comfortable/familiar with, which, for a non-retiree, is plenty.

Expecting an MLS fan to make appointments every week, sometimes 3x/week, that covers potential Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday matches with start times for 12pm, 1pm, 3pm, 3:30, 4pm, 5pm, 7pm, 7:30, 8pm, 9pm, etc west coast late starts is ridiculous. That’s not that the viewership is lazy or uninterested, but that the league has an absolute shitty arrangement with the networks and hasn’t figured out there’s a real marketing opportunity with a “Monday Night Football” type consistency to draw in fans/viewers.

Except that Yankees fans don't just watch once a week. The team is appointment viewing nearly every game. For the most part MLS games are once a week, same as the NFL. If fans wanted to watch every game, it's not that gigantic a commitment to watch 25 of the 34 games. Fans choose not to, not because of the differences in start times but because people have decided they can make better use of their days than watching MLS. It's an apathy issue.
 
Except that Yankees fans don't just watch once a week. The team is appointment viewing nearly every game. For the most part MLS games are once a week, same as the NFL. If fans wanted to watch every game, it's not that gigantic a commitment to watch 25 of the 34 games. Fans choose not to, not because of the differences in start times but because people have decided they can make better use of their days than watching MLS. It's an apathy issue.
Spoken like a single person without family or children commitments.
 
NYCFC had the 4th best Goals Against in MLS in 2019 yet managed 4 of the 10 worst defending moments according to ESPNFC. Two were in the Toronto playoff game.


If we avoid those mistakes...

4 more regular season points (both incidents occurred during ties), resulting in 68 points (still 4 behind LAFC)

Probably advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals vs. Atlanta at home (whenever that game will be played)
 
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