[Official] Vancouver Whitecaps Thread

[Gurn]

The football tourney nobody is hearing about:

No worries- after all, it is only The Women's World Cup- that's not a super big thing is it?

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/other/there-are-no-winners-in-the-women-s-world-cup-broadcast-fiasco-only-losers/ar-AA1chxaf?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=e80924bfd02f4c0495fb6e89017f252f&ei=30

"

If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? If a World Cup kicks off on the other side of the world but no one can watch it, does it really happen?

We are 43 days out from the Women’s World Cup starting in Australia and New Zealand but, with Fifa threatening a blackout because of low offers for the broadcast rights from the biggest European footballing countries, you wouldn’t know it. There are no adverts, no references to coverage and there is no buildup. Instead, prospective viewers and existing fans in those countries have been left in limbo.

How on earth did we get here? The Fifa-backed official Women’s World Cup began in 1991 after decades of unofficial events and demands for the world governing body to get behind the women’s game. Even that tournament, while it was run by Fifa for the first time, was held at arm’s length and called the “1st Fifa World Championship for Women’s Football for the M&M’s Cup”, to avoid any risk of it tarnishing the World Cup branding.

Since then, commercial and broadcast rights for the showpiece tournament, which failed to embarrass and thus was bestowed with the more traditional branding to become the “Women’s World Cup” for the 1995 edition, have been bundled and sold as part of the deals for the rights of the men’s World Cups. Except it has not been equal billing as value has not been attributed to the women’s edition. Instead, it has been an add-on, a freebie thrown in to make the huge sums thrown at the men’s edition more palatable. It feels like a lot of money to be spending? Well, broadcasters, you’re getting the women’s too! What a bargain.

 

There has been little effort to gauge the value of the tournament in its own right, which has held back women’s football. From the big – undervalued rights – to the small – not enough official merchandise and low kit availability – for almost 32 years the Women’s World Cup has been been pretty much deemed worthless and unprofitable by Fifa. It has been charity. It is loss-making and Fifa will take the hit because the optics of not supporting a Women’s World Cup in an increasingly progressively minded society is not acceptable.

Returning to the present day the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, was outraged by the low offers from broadcasters for the rights to show the Women’s World Cup, which kicks off on 20 July, describing it as a “slap in the face of all the great Fifa Women’s World Cup players and indeed of all women worldwide”. Fair enough, some might say. The bids are low. Staggeringly low in some cases. The opening offer in Italy was believed to have been €300,000 (£283,000), compared with the €160m that was paid for the rights to the men’s competition in Qatar. In England, the figure for the joint offer from the BBC and ITV is believed to be around €9m, about 8% of what was paid for the men’s edition.

The problem is that the demand for a huge increase in funds allocated from broadcasters for the Women’s World Cup is being demanded by an organisation that has historically been responsible for the undervaluing of the tournament. When the global governing body places little value on a tournament, why should federations, broadcasters, sponsors or anyone else act differently?

In addition, Fifa is not arguing for a reallocation of broadcasters’ budgets for major football tournaments, but a massive increase in them. There is an assumption that the rights for the men’s World Cups will remain as high as they are and that broadcasters should be finding money to bring the value of the rights for the women’s tournament closer in line with that, with the ambition of it eventually being level. That is what Fifa is doing with prize money, after all, raising the Women’s World Cup prize pot to $110m (£88.4m) for this year’s tournament and committed to matching the men’s prize pot by the 2027 edition.

However, while the status of football as the world’s No 1 sport keeps the governing body’s coffers full, broadcast journalism is not a growing industry at the moment, it is a shrinking one. In England, the BBC has made huge cuts to local TV and radio services, while Sky Sports has axed Soccer AM and asked football presenters to reapply for their jobs as part of a restructure. The BBC and ITV have reportedly told football pundits they will not receive any pay increases next season.

So while Fifa is right to suggest (less of the demanding please) more should be spent on the rights, it is also important to consider where that money can come from. How about accepting that broadcasters will need to offer less for the men’s rights in order to start closing the gap?

One thing is for sure: playing hardball is not the right tactic. In this scenario, where essentially a media blackout in Europe’s biggest footballing countries is threatened, no one wins. Fifa does not get more money and broadcasters do not get the viewing figures. And, crucially, the biggest loser is the historically underfunded and undervalued women’s game, which is reliant on major tournaments to boost interest and investment in it.

What can Fifa do instead? How about using less aggression and more discussion? Bring broadcasters to the table to have a fair and holistic discussion about the broadcast rights of the men’s and women’s tournaments and how you sustainably grow audiences, tournaments and revenue all round. And do it now.

[thedestroyerofworlds]

51 minutes ago, Gurn said:

The football tourney nobody is hearing about:

No worries- after all, it is only The Women's World Cup- that's not a super big thing is it?

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/other/there-are-no-winners-in-the-women-s-world-cup-broadcast-fiasco-only-losers/ar-AA1chxaf?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=e80924bfd02f4c0495fb6e89017f252f&ei=30

"

If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? If a World Cup kicks off on the other side of the world but no one can watch it, does it really happen?

We are 43 days out from the Women’s World Cup starting in Australia and New Zealand but, with Fifa threatening a blackout because of low offers for the broadcast rights from the biggest European footballing countries, you wouldn’t know it. There are no adverts, no references to coverage and there is no buildup. Instead, prospective viewers and existing fans in those countries have been left in limbo.

How on earth did we get here? The Fifa-backed official Women’s World Cup began in 1991 after decades of unofficial events and demands for the world governing body to get behind the women’s game. Even that tournament, while it was run by Fifa for the first time, was held at arm’s length and called the “1st Fifa World Championship for Women’s Football for the M&M’s Cup”, to avoid any risk of it tarnishing the World Cup branding.

Since then, commercial and broadcast rights for the showpiece tournament, which failed to embarrass and thus was bestowed with the more traditional branding to become the “Women’s World Cup” for the 1995 edition, have been bundled and sold as part of the deals for the rights of the men’s World Cups. Except it has not been equal billing as value has not been attributed to the women’s edition. Instead, it has been an add-on, a freebie thrown in to make the huge sums thrown at the men’s edition more palatable. It feels like a lot of money to be spending? Well, broadcasters, you’re getting the women’s too! What a bargain.

 

There has been little effort to gauge the value of the tournament in its own right, which has held back women’s football. From the big – undervalued rights – to the small – not enough official merchandise and low kit availability – for almost 32 years the Women’s World Cup has been been pretty much deemed worthless and unprofitable by Fifa. It has been charity. It is loss-making and Fifa will take the hit because the optics of not supporting a Women’s World Cup in an increasingly progressively minded society is not acceptable.

Returning to the present day the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, was outraged by the low offers from broadcasters for the rights to show the Women’s World Cup, which kicks off on 20 July, describing it as a “slap in the face of all the great Fifa Women’s World Cup players and indeed of all women worldwide”. Fair enough, some might say. The bids are low. Staggeringly low in some cases. The opening offer in Italy was believed to have been €300,000 (£283,000), compared with the €160m that was paid for the rights to the men’s competition in Qatar. In England, the figure for the joint offer from the BBC and ITV is believed to be around €9m, about 8% of what was paid for the men’s edition.

The problem is that the demand for a huge increase in funds allocated from broadcasters for the Women’s World Cup is being demanded by an organisation that has historically been responsible for the undervaluing of the tournament. When the global governing body places little value on a tournament, why should federations, broadcasters, sponsors or anyone else act differently?

In addition, Fifa is not arguing for a reallocation of broadcasters’ budgets for major football tournaments, but a massive increase in them. There is an assumption that the rights for the men’s World Cups will remain as high as they are and that broadcasters should be finding money to bring the value of the rights for the women’s tournament closer in line with that, with the ambition of it eventually being level. That is what Fifa is doing with prize money, after all, raising the Women’s World Cup prize pot to $110m (£88.4m) for this year’s tournament and committed to matching the men’s prize pot by the 2027 edition.

However, while the status of football as the world’s No 1 sport keeps the governing body’s coffers full, broadcast journalism is not a growing industry at the moment, it is a shrinking one. In England, the BBC has made huge cuts to local TV and radio services, while Sky Sports has axed Soccer AM and asked football presenters to reapply for their jobs as part of a restructure. The BBC and ITV have reportedly told football pundits they will not receive any pay increases next season.

So while Fifa is right to suggest (less of the demanding please) more should be spent on the rights, it is also important to consider where that money can come from. How about accepting that broadcasters will need to offer less for the men’s rights in order to start closing the gap?

One thing is for sure: playing hardball is not the right tactic. In this scenario, where essentially a media blackout in Europe’s biggest footballing countries is threatened, no one wins. Fifa does not get more money and broadcasters do not get the viewing figures. And, crucially, the biggest loser is the historically underfunded and undervalued women’s game, which is reliant on major tournaments to boost interest and investment in it.

What can Fifa do instead? How about using less aggression and more discussion? Bring broadcasters to the table to have a fair and holistic discussion about the broadcast rights of the men’s and women’s tournaments and how you sustainably grow audiences, tournaments and revenue all round. And do it now.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Canada ended up with the 2015 edition because the other country that bid (Zimbabwe) withdrew their bid at the end of the bidding process.  That meant the Canadian bid was "chosen", and we ended up with the artificial turf World Cup.

[UnkNuk]

The Whitecaps game against (in) Colorado is on TSN tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6:30pm.

 

Colorado is at the bottom of the Western Conference table so this should be three points for our boys but these are the Whitecaps we're talking about.

[UnkNuk]

Highlights from the Colorado/Vancouver game yesterday :

 

 

[RUPERTKBD]

35 minutes ago, UnkNuk said:

Highlights from the Colorado/Vancouver game yesterday :

 

 

I am in Haida Gwaii for work and when I got to my hotel around 7:30, I turned on TSN. According to the guide, the 'Caps-Rapids game should have still been going, but they were showing Misplays of the Month instead. I checked Sportsnet to see if there were any highlights and although they showed Toronto and Montreal, there was no mention of the Whitecaps at all.

 

I pulled out the iPad and checked both sites. Nothing. By this point I was thinking "WTF? Did I sail into some kind of Twilight Zone where the Whitecaps don't even exist?

 

I mean, FFS!  If you look at the banner at the top of any page on those two sites, it will tell you the scores of every baseball/basketball/hockey/football game and if it's delayed, or postponed, it will tell you that as well. For some reason, Canada's two so-called sports networks don't seem to GAF about MLS at all.....unless TFC has just signed another Italian.....

[UnkNuk]

The LAFC/Whitecaps game on Saturday will be on TSN1 at 7:30. 

[Mj2345]

On 6/23/2023 at 1:30 PM, UnkNuk said:

The LAFC/Whitecaps game on Saturday will be on TSN1 at 7:30. 

Whitecaps up 2-0 on LAFC 23 minutes in

[UnkNuk]

Whitecaps 3 LAFC 2

 

Well, that was a pleasant (and entertaining) surprise.  Vancouver gets its first road win of the season and their first win at LAFC ever.

 

The Caps dominated most of the first half.  LA scored a late goal in the first and came alive in the second.  But Vancouver soaked up the pressure.

 

Many good performances.  And even though he didn't score (again), Cordova showed some signs of life.

[thedestroyerofworlds]

 

[Mj2345]

Toronto FC Fired Bob Bradley

[UnkNuk]

Vancouver Whitecaps FC's Ryan Gauld named Player of the Matchday

 

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/vancouver-whitecaps-fc-s-ryan-gauld-named-player-of-the-matchday

 

[UnkNuk]

22 hours ago, Mj2345 said:

Toronto FC Fired Bob Bradley

MLS writer Sam Jones opines:

 

"Point being, it’s hard to see this magically improving now that Bradley is gone. Which means Toronto are in a terrible place to be in any sport: Stuck with a “win-now” roster that isn’t winning. The group as a whole is old, the young players have struggled to improve and there are a whole bunch of contracts that are relatively new, relatively expensive and really, really hard to move on. It feels like they need to do a renovation of the entire thing beyond Bradley, but parting ways with Bradley is the easy part. Reshaping the roster will take time."

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/your-tuesday-kickoff-is-bob-bradley-s-exit-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-for-toron

[UnkNuk]

Gotta love Vanni  

 

 

[Mj2345]

Sporting Kansas City 3 Whitecaps 0

[RUPERTKBD]

11 minutes ago, Mj2345 said:

Sporting Kansas City 3 Whitecaps 0

It gets worse...

 

Team Canada is scoreless with Guatemala in the 81st minute....

[RUPERTKBD]

Nil-Nil final between Canada and Guatemala.

 

Who'd have thought that Canada would go into their last group stage match in a "must win" position? In fact, if I'm interpreting this correctly, a win over Cuba might no even be enough.

 

If Canada beats Cuba 1-nil and Guatemala and Guadeloupe draw 3-3, that puts all three teams at 5 points. AFAIK, the first tiebreaker is goal differential, so Guadeloupe would win the group with a +3 GD. Canada and Guatemala would both be +1. That means we would need to go to the second tiebreaker, which is usually goals scored.

 

In the above scenario, Guatemala would finish with 4 goals scored, while Canada would finish with 3. We would be 3rd in the group and out of the knockout stage.

 

First the Jays lose, then the Whitecaps and now this disappointing performance by TC in the Gold Cup....all in all, a brutal Canada Day....

[greenbean30]

I'm heading to Van for the week of July 10-14th for work. Thinking of hitting the Whitecaps game on the 12th vs Austin FC. I've never been to a Whitecaps game before, only games in England. Was thinking of getting tickets for the Southsiders section, is grabbing a seat in that section the best or purchasing a GA ticket?

Also any other recommendations for getting the most out of the game?

[UnkNuk]

23 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Nil-Nil final between Canada and Guatemala.

 

I was scanning another soccer forum and people there were pointing out that maybe it was just as well this game wasn't on network tv.  

[Mj2345]

MLS All Stars play Arsenal on July 19th

[Mj2345]

El Trafico Tonight…80,000 fans expected, will be an MLS Record

 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37959145/la-galaxy-vs-lafc-rose-bowl-break-mls-attendance-record