We’re a little bit notorious around the league for railing about RSL’s lack of national TV games.
One of our favorite topics, the Claret-and-Cobalt’s dearth of nationally broadcast matches – the team has just three this regular season – was brought to the forefront again last week when Portland came to town for RSL’s only home national TV game of 2013.
Players and coaches were asked about the lack of national exposure for RSL in the build up to Friday’s game, with defender Nat Borchers giving the money quote, calling it a “joke” that the Claret-and-Cobalt isn’t on national TV more.
Of course, RSL put on quite the show for the NBC Sports Network on Friday, slamming the Timbers 4-2 in front of a raucous, sold-out crowd of 20,252 at Rio Tinto Stadium. It was a great spectacle for the league – and a great advertisement to put RSL on the national airwaves more often.
Unsurprisingly, observers around the country picked up on the high quality on the field and in the stands from Friday’s match, with some now calling for RSL to be put on national TV more.
Best Soccer Show host Jared DuBois – give him a follow @jrodius – had plenty to say on the subject on Tuesday’s edition of ESPN 700’s OnFrame, going on for about four minutes when asked about the subject. Part of his quote is below – click here to listen to Jared’s entire interview.
“I think when we talk about viewership and tuning in and ratings and everything like that, we need to get out of just the numbers aspect and start looking at the quality aspect,” he said. “What do you actually gain when you have a Chicago vs. Colorado match on national TV? Not much. I’m sorry, but not much. I’d much rather see the quality teams than the big market teams. And maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m naïve, I don’t work in that industry, but from a peripheral view this is a fan telling you I don’t even tune in if it’s not a quality product on the field. You guys have that at RSL, and you guys have every reason to be aggrieved by [the lack of national TV games]. I’ll be honest with you, watching that Portland game last week, RSL-Portland, I’m watching that game and RSL has a chip on their shoulder. They’ve got something to prove, not just to the other teams in the league, but to the league itself. They said, ‘Listen, put us on.’ That result I saw was Eddie Johnson saying pay me. It’s RSL’s team saying ‘Pay me, put us on TV and this is what you get.’”
We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves. Time to pay up.
RSL will be on national TV once more this regular season, taking on the Seattle Sounders on NBC Sports Network at CenturyLink Field on Sept. 13.
