The five games on the opening weekend of the 2014-15 English Premier League season on NBC and NBCSN averaged 545,000 viewers, up 23 percent from the five games on last season's opening weekend when NBC Sports Group took over as the EPL rights-holder in the United States.
The addition of the English Premier League to NBCSN's program lineup is largely responsible for it being television’s fastest growing sports cable network in total day viewership over the last year. And the opening week bump follows the mid-summer lull on NBCSN. (No program the week before had more than 206,000 viewers.)
Some Week 1 highlights ...
-- Saturday's Arsenal-Crystal Palace match on NBC averaged 885,000 viewers, making it the most-watched opening weekend match in U.S. history, up 12 percent from last year’s opening weekend match on NBC (Swansea City-Manchester United).
-- The four weekend matches on NBCSN averaged 463,000 viewers, an increase of 30 percent from last year’s 356,000 average viewership for the four games on NBCSN.
-- Sunday's Newcastle-Manchester City match on NBCSN averaged 514,000 viewers, making it the most-watched opening weekend match on cable in U.S. history, breaking the record of 476,000 viewers for the Arsenal-Sunderland match on ESPN in 2012.
(As a matter of comparison, the two MLS games on NBCSN -- Real Salt Lake-Seattle and Houston-Philadelphia -- averaged 183,000 and 82,000, respectively.)
-- Reflective of the growing popularity of live streaming broadcasts, fans streamed more than 8.9 million minutes of action via NBC Sports Live Extra for the best-ever Premier League weekend and an increase of 56 percent from last year’s 5.7 million minutes.
"The unmasking thing was all created by Devin Nunes"
- Richard Burr, (R-NC)
Skjellyfetti wrote:Hmmm. Still no post-World Cup lull in interest.
That's a bit ingenuous. Fans of soccer won't have a lull, but the general public doesn't know that soccer is played more than once very four years. As soon as you hear terms like "fastest growing" you know that means you had nowhere to go but up.
Stopped on a United game on TV last week. Maybe 8,000 people there.
Skjellyfetti wrote:Hmmm. Still no post-World Cup lull in interest.
That's a bit ingenuous. Fans of soccer won't have a lull, but the general public doesn't know that soccer is played more than once very four years. As soon as you hear terms like "fastest growing" you know that means you had nowhere to go but up.
Stopped on a United game on TV last week. Maybe 8,000 people there.
Pretty tough to judge how many people are in a 90k seat stadium if it isn't full....
Location hurts DC United.
They need their own 20-25K seat stadium....hell, partner with Georgetown....in a decent location and they'd fill it
89Hen wrote:
That's a bit ingenuous. Fans of soccer won't have a lull, but the general public doesn't know that soccer is played more than once very four years. As soon as you hear terms like "fastest growing" you know that means you had nowhere to go but up.
Stopped on a United game on TV last week. Maybe 8,000 people there.
Pretty tough to judge how many people are in a 90k seat stadium if it isn't full....
Location hurts DC United.
They need their own 20-25K seat stadium....hell, partner with Georgetown....in a decent location and they'd fill it
clenz wrote:Pretty tough to judge how many people are in a 90k seat stadium if it isn't full....
Location hurts DC United.
They need their own 20-25K seat stadium....hell, partner with Georgetown....in a decent location and they'd fill it
No on the first part. RFK is a 45,000 seat stadium, but they only use the lower bowl which holds way less than half the total because there is no lower bowl in one end. This photo is not from the game this week, but that's exactly what it looked like on TV...
They are supposed to be building a new soccer stadium and it will be in a WORSE location than the current. It will be in the same basic area as Nats Park which is a PITA to get to. Only problem is that it will be 7-8 blocks further away from the Metro.
clenz wrote:I don't know that area so if you say so then so be it.
I just know I hear a lot of people bitch about getting their for a Skins game so I imagine getting there, in general, is a bitch.
Landover is an absolute bitch to get to on game day (one of many reasons I don't go anymore). But I'm referring to closer suburbs than Landover
FedEx is about as close to DC as you can get without being in DC. It MUST be Metro accessible, period. Verizon location is absolutely fan-friggen-tastic because the Metro is practically in the building.
bandl wrote:
Landover is an absolute bitch to get to on game day (one of many reasons I don't go anymore). But I'm referring to closer suburbs than Landover
FedEx is about as close to DC as you can get without being in DC. It MUST be Metro accessible, period. Verizon location is absolutely fan-friggen-tastic because the Metro is practically in the building.
89Hen wrote:
FedEx is about as close to DC as you can get without being in DC. It MUST be Metro accessible, period. Verizon location is absolutely fan-friggen-tastic because the Metro is practically in the building.
Soccer stadium in Chinatown
Would be awesome, but I didn't say that's where it could/should be. Just saying that EASY Metro access is a must. I hate the trip to Nats Park because of the transfer and the fact that everyone is going one direction at the end of the night. Buzzard Point would be the same, only with a MUCH longer walk to the train.
Skjellyfetti wrote:They are working on getting approval for a soccer specific stadium at Buzzard Point.
Correct, that's why I said...
89Hen wrote:They are supposed to be building a new soccer stadium and it will be in a WORSE location than the current. It will be in the same basic area as Nats Park which is a PITA to get to. Only problem is that it will be 7-8 blocks further away from the Metro.
tribe_pride wrote:Donovan's retirement game tonight. Assume he plays the first 80-85 minutes or so and then gets to come off to a standing ovation.
I read he'll play about 30-35 minutes
First 30 and then come off to the celebration or come in around the 60th minute (normal time for a sub for nonfriendly matches) and finish off the game?
The Council of the District of Columbia approved the District of Columbia Soccer Stadium Act of 2014 in its second and final vote on Wednesday, approving the development of a new, 20,000-25,000-seat stadium for D.C. United in the Buzzard Point neighborhood of Southwest Washington.
The legislation’s passage targets the opening of the stadium in 2017 and ensures that D.C. United will make the District of Columbia their home for generations to come.
The Council of the District of Columbia approved the District of Columbia Soccer Stadium Act of 2014 in its second and final vote on Wednesday, approving the development of a new, 20,000-25,000-seat stadium for D.C. United in the Buzzard Point neighborhood of Southwest Washington.
Not the exact location... but, I've been to Nationals Park. I didn't think the area around the stadium was bad at all. I certainly enjoyed it more than a trip to RFK.
Unless things fall off a cliff in the half mile from Nationals Park to Buzzard Point... I really don't think it's an issue.
"The unmasking thing was all created by Devin Nunes"
- Richard Burr, (R-NC)
Not the exact location... but, I've been to Nationals Park. I didn't think the area around the stadium was bad at all. I certainly enjoyed it more than a trip to RFK.
Unless things fall off a cliff in the half mile from Nationals Park to Buzzard Point... I really don't think it's an issue.
I don't think 89 feels comfortable in any area with a median income under six figures.
Not the exact location... but, I've been to Nationals Park. I didn't think the area around the stadium was bad at all. I certainly enjoyed it more than a trip to RFK.
Unless things fall off a cliff in the half mile from Nationals Park to Buzzard Point... I really don't think it's an issue.
It was somewhat of a rhetorical question as nobody has been to that part of DC. As I said earlier in this thread, Nats Park is a PITA to get to via Metro and this new park will be far worse as it's another several blocks away from basically a one-way stop.
BTW, as far as your falling off a cliff comment... I guess you haven't spent much time in cities? Every city I've ever been in has many areas that fall off the cliff. Go a couple blocks north from the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. You go from stadiums, the aquarium, chain restaurants to:
FedEx is about as close to DC as you can get without being in DC. It MUST be Metro accessible, period. Verizon location is absolutely fan-friggen-tastic because the Metro is practically in the building.
