MatchNight is shutting down soon. Their situation is kind of emblematic of a lot of the change coming to U.S. soccer.
In some ways, if U.S. soccer was still puttering along without much attention, the coach of the team would probably be an absolute no contest for Bob Bradley. Staying the course would be considered a fine thing.
But instead, there's been so much increased expectations, that for many new and demanding fans and other involved persons, a U.S. coach isn't good enough. The "big time" is demanded and may be granted.
It's the same with media. Honestly, a lot of little sites existed because they were covering MLS when no one else was. However, if the mainstream media rushes in, and there's good coverage of MLS on local news and papers, a lot of those who have faithfully plugged away won't be able to be unique any more. Their limited resources won't grant them the access that the Johnny-come-lately's will be able to pull, and they could be overshadowed.
Matchnight is pulling out of the game gracefully.
I'm happy about the increased profile of U.S. soccer, but I'm not kidding myself that there are no drawbacks. Nor am I confident that the ones who know best the American game are going to stay involved, either at the media level or elsewhere. The way British press suddenly descended on Los Angeles after Beckham signed made that abundantly clear. You'd think the Galaxy never existed before.
Right now, a lot of local journalists, especially the freelancers, are waiting to see how it's all going to shake out. It could be a great thing for many of us, with our articles and features in great demand. Or we could get pushed aside if bigger media outlets who have suddenly deemed MLS worthy of coverage send in their own writers to provide it.
2 comments:
I would think that involvement of the bigger media outlets would not necessarily be a bad thing for good freelance writers. There are simply not enough qualified American mainstream journalists to write about the sport (I cannot think of anyone other than Grant Wohl, Graham Jones, and, possibly, the folks who ran NY Times' World Cup blog). So, knowledgeable freelancers might actually find themselves in big demand
It all depends.
When I talked to Grant Wahl soon after the Beckham signing it was to congratulate him on a very nice piece he'd done about the behind-the-scenes work of Tim Leiwekie. Grant filed that article from L.A. and when I called him, I asked if perhaps that meant he was moving to a regular soccer beat.
I thought that after the Beckham signing, perhaps SI would consider soccer big enough to place Grant on that assignment full-time.
"No," said Grant. "Sadly, that's not happening yet."
Grant really enjoys covering college basketball, but if he could write about soccer all the time, he would.
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