Analysis CROWS (and the rest of the AFL) ON USA TELEVISION

[AmericanCrow]

So, I was curious and had a little time to see how the Crows fared as compared to the rest of the AFL on airing live in the United States. I broke it down some as well. These figures are of course unofficial, but I did my best to be accurate.

First, some general thoughts---the Crows aired live 14 times in the USA. That put them in a tie for 6th overall. In the USA, the stations can be thought of as being "tiered" in how many homes have a particular station. That "tier" in order of homes reached is: FoxSports1--FoxSports2--Fox Soccer Plus. The Crows aired on Fox Sports1 a total of 4 times, ranking tied for 4th. We aired only 3 times on Fox Sports2, ranking tied for 7th. We aired 7 times on Fox Soccer Plus, ranking tied for 5th.

Admit to being very surprised to see that Richmond took top spot with 18 live appearances.

Hawthorn made as many appearances on Fox Sports 1 as Essendon.

Finally, that other team that I think is around somewhere in SA aired 11 times, but hey, they almost aired as many times as the 17th place team (Fremantle) on the ladder--so they have that going for them, which I am sure is nice.


Here are the numbers for total appearances and Fox Sports1:

Total Live US appearances:
1. Richmond--18
2. Collingwood--17
3(t). Sydney--16
3(t). Hawthorn--16
3(t). North Melbourne--16
6(t). Adelaide--14
6(t). Geelong--14
8(t). West Coast--13
8(t). Western Bulldogs--13
10. Fremantle--12
11. Some other team, name escapes me, unimportant really--11
12. Melbourne--9
13. GWS--7
14(t). Carlton--6
14(t). St. Kilda--6
16. Essendon--5
17. Brisbane--4
18. Gold Coast--1

Appearances on Fox Sports1:
1. Richmond--7
2(t). Geelong--5
2(t). North Melbourne--5
4(t). Adelaide--4
4(t). Sydney--4
4(t). name escapes me/not important--4
7(t). West Coast--3
7(t). Melbourne--3
7(t). Western Bulldogs--3
10(t). Collingwood--2
10(t). Fremantle--2
10(t). St. Kilda--2
13(t). Essendon--1
13(t). Hawthorn--1

GWS, Carlton, Brisbane, Gold Coast never appeared on FS1.

 

[cammo6556]

Bloody Richmond dominating over there too!

 

[AmericanCrow]

I have to admit, I was stunned myself...that was a head scratcher.

 

[FR0GGY]

Lucky you don't go for the Gold Coast

 

[AmericanCrow]

Lucky you don't go for the Gold Coast

They were not around when I started following closely.

 

[Tex200]

Do the AFL have any input into this? Or just sell it and ignore?

 

[AmericanCrow]

Do the AFL have any input into this? Or just sell it and ignore?

Excellent question--My guess is this, that the "prime" games--Thursday/Friday/Saturday Night are automatic pick ups. I would think perhaps the American office of Fox can decide what other games from a particular weekend they show perhaps with "suggestions" from the home office in Australia?

Merely a wild guess on my part though.

 

[betterthanu]

I got to watch the Crows/Melbourne game on delay at 12pm Toronto time in a packed sports bar (who were all watching the soccer euros). Then the Carlton game at 10pm Saturday night in a packed New York bar called 'The Australian'. Pretty impressed at the accessibility over there. Missed the North game while in Mexico however.

 

[AmericanCrow]

I found this on this link on the internet, but does not really answer your question Peter:

http://www.afana.com/drupal5/tvinfo

Highlights of info:
Primary coverage in 2016 is on Fox Soccer Plus (FSP).
FSP carries 2 to 4 live and tape delayed matches per week and frequent repeats.
FSP will carry some finals live (others will be on FS1 / FS2 or tape delayed, see below). FSP (only) will have the 2016 Grand Final live. FSP will also carry the AFL highlight show each week. FSP has a contract running through the end of the 2016 AFL season. See our TV schedules page for the latest schedules. Should Fox convert FSP to another Fox channel or eliminate it, it is probable that the AFL will land on another Fox channel in the future. Based on Fox statements, we only know that Fox has not made any decision public.

As of Round 4, 2015, all coverage is available in HD (high-definition) on the HD versions of FSP and FS2 regardless of the Australian source network
There are live and repeats of AFL coverage also on...

• Fox Sports 1 (FS1) (Update 3/31/16: Effective with Round 3, 2016 one AFL game per week will be live on Fox Sports 1. This replaces one of the games on FS2 (see below). FS1 is widely available and reaches 73% of US homes. FS1 and FS2 are available on many services where FSP is not, for example on Sling TV.)

• Fox Sports 2 (FS2) (nationally in USA by satellite and cable, debuted on 8/17/13 and was formerly Fuel TV). Fox Soccer 2 is a sports channel that is included in some extended cable packages and is part of an extra fee sports tier in others. FS2 is expected to reach over 40% of US homes during 2016. Coverage on Fox Soccer 2 consists of mostly live matches with few repeats To date, FS2 has typically carried two live matches per week but this varies.

 

[jenny61_99]

I got to watch the Crows/Melbourne game on delay at 12pm Toronto time in a packed sports bar (who were all watching the soccer euros). Then the Carlton game at 10pm Saturday night in a packed New York bar called 'The Australian'. Pretty impressed at the accessibility over there. Missed the North game while in Mexico however.

When we lived in the US and Canada in the 80's, we had to wait for a video tape to be sent from home to watch the games. Even with 100+ cable channels, there was absolutely NO coverage of AFL games. Great to see that has improved.

 

[relapse]

Sounds like you get access to nearly as many games as people in Australia do that don't have Fox Footy (cable tv).

 

[AmericanCrow]

I get all our games regardless, but yes--14 out of 22 games airing live for the Crows is not bad at all.

 

[Niximus]

That's a lot more live games than I'd have expected. Good stuff.

 

[GreyCrow]

How many into China? That's the big question.

 

[relapse]

I get all our games regardless, but yes--14 out of 22 games airing live for the Crows is not bad at all.

The interesting thing is that you're getting access to more live Crows games than the interstate Crows supporters get on local free to air TV.

 

[relapse]

How many into China? That's the big question.

hahahahahahahahahahaha

As long as they got to see both Showdowns, that's enough to show them which SA club is worth supporting.

Port have most probably tried to pretend in their propaganda videos that the lowest score wins the game

 

[subaru]

So, I was curious and had a little time to see how the Crows fared as compared to the rest of the AFL on airing live in the United States. I broke it down some as well. These figures are of course unofficial, but I did my best to be accurate.

First, some general thoughts---the Crows aired live 14 times in the USA. That put them in a tie for 6th overall. In the USA, the stations can be thought of as being "tiered" in how many homes have a particular station. That "tier" in order of homes reached is: FoxSports1--FoxSports2--Fox Soccer Plus. The Crows aired on Fox Sports1 a total of 4 times, ranking tied for 4th. We aired only 3 times on Fox Sports2, ranking tied for 7th. We aired 7 times on Fox Soccer Plus, ranking tied for 5th.

Admit to being very surprised to see that Richmond took top spot with 18 live appearances.

Hawthorn made as many appearances on Fox Sports 1 as Essendon.

Finally, that other team that I think is around somewhere in SA aired 11 times, but hey, they almost aired as many times as the 17th place team (Fremantle) on the ladder--so they have that going for them, which I am sure is nice.


Here are the numbers for total appearances and Fox Sports1:

Total Live US appearances:
1. Richmond--18
2. Collingwood--17
3(t). Sydney--16
3(t). Hawthorn--16
3(t). North Melbourne--16
6(t). Adelaide--14
6(t). Geelong--14
8(t). West Coast--13
8(t). Western Bulldogs--13
10. Fremantle--12
11. Some other team, name escapes me, unimportant really--11
12. Melbourne--9
13. GWS--7
14(t). Carlton--6
14(t). St. Kilda--6
16. Essendon--5
17. Brisbane--4
18. Gold Coast--1

Appearances on Fox Sports1:
1. Richmond--7
2(t). Geelong--5
2(t). North Melbourne--5
4(t). Adelaide--4
4(t). Sydney--4
4(t). name escapes me/not important--4
7(t). West Coast--3
7(t). Melbourne--3
7(t). Western Bulldogs--3
10(t). Collingwood--2
10(t). Fremantle--2
10(t). St. Kilda--2
13(t). Essendon--1
13(t). Hawthorn--1

GWS, Carlton, Brisbane, Gold Coast never appeared on FS1.

Gold Cost and the team that everyone forgets about coz they're irrelevant should be a super drawcard in China then......

w***ERS

 

[Dean1]

Does this include finals?

 

[mistylake]

I get all our games regardless, but yes--14 out of 22 games airing live for the Crows is not bad at all.

Better than Qld if I only watched on fta.
Probably 4/6 games a year. Minor round
Only

 

[AmericanCrow]

Does this include finals?

No, I just took a look at the regular season.

Every Finals game was televised live on one of those stations. So, including Finals the Crows were on 16 times in 24 games. (Both Crows Finals appearances were on Fox Sports1)

 

[relapse]

No, I just took a look at the regular season.

Every Finals game was televised live on one of those stations. So, including Finals the Crows were on 16 times in 24 games.

So how much coverage of the games do you get?

Do you get the pre-game and post game stuff or do you only get siren to siren coverage ?

 

[AmericanCrow]

So how much coverage of the games do you get?

Do you get the pre-game and post game stuff or do you only get siren to siren coverage ?

On television it comes on roughly a half hour before first bounce. Depending on what time the game is for me, I generally listen to an hour or so of FiveAA before the game. I then synch up the play by play to the television and mute the broadcasters.

If it is one of the ones not televised (which as you can see really is not that often) I just stream the game thru the smart tv and synch up the radio broadcast.

At the end of the game the television may capture a player interview coming off the field but that is it and it heads to other programming. I listen to the boys post game on FiveAA

 

[Roo Lives Again]

How popular is AFL in the states? Shocked so much of it is on tv. We get a reasonable whack of NFL on free to air, but I still get the NFL Pass. Probably should get Foxtel instead. Need to look at that as it may be cheaper with all the data I churn through. Mind you I won 12k this week on NFL so that eases the bill pain I've been getting. Sorry but had to brag (especially to Jenny) seeing as though she thinks gamblers never win.

 

[AmericanCrow]

How popular is AFL in the states? Shocked so much of it is on tv. We get a reasonable whack of NFL on free to air, but I still get the NFL Pass. Probably should get Foxtel instead. Need to look at that as it may be cheaper with all the data I churn through. Mind you I won 12k this week on NFL so that eases the bill pain I've been getting. Sorry but had to brag (especially to Jenny) seeing as though she thinks gamblers never win.

There are pockets that the game has carved out a bit of a niche following. (Shameless plug time) The Crowcast has an episode with the Captain of the Austin Crows that play in an American Aussie Rules league. He is an Aussie ex-pat and worth the listen as Feenix did a superb job interviewing him.

The biggest hurdle is the time difference...it makes it really difficult to make huge inroads because of that from the Mississippi eastward. The west coast doesn't have as big an issue with a drastic time difference and it is somewhat easier for the AFL to attract eyeballs on tv.

I believe that if the time difference were similar to the UK, Aussie Rules would be making great strides as an up and coming sport. For the most part the eastern half of the United States still has the better talent pool for physical sports like Aussie Rules. Out west kids have so many things they can do as a result of good weather year round---for us Midwesterners and easterners..Aussie Rules would be a very attractive sport to play in the fall/spring.

 

[Roo Lives Again]

There are pockets that the game has carved out a bit of a niche following. (Shameless plug time) The Crowcast has an episode with the Captain of the Austin Crows that play in an American Aussie Rules league. He is an Aussie ex-pat and worth the listen as Feenix did a superb job interviewing him.

The biggest hurdle is the time difference...it makes it really difficult to make huge inroads because of that from the Mississippi eastward. The west coast doesn't have as big an issue with a drastic time difference and it is somewhat easier for the AFL to attract eyeballs on tv.

I believe that if the time difference were similar to the UK, Aussie Rules would be making great strides as an up and coming sport. For the most part the eastern half of the United States still has the better talent pool for physical sports like Aussie Rules. Out west kids have so many things they can do as a result of good weather year round---for us Midwesterners and easterners..Aussie Rules would be a very attractive sport to play in the fall/spring.

I remember seeing a news report on a teacher teaching his class how to play Aussie rules. Thought it was awesome. I get up at 2:30am Monday mornings to watch games and still go to work. I'd pull my phone out and watch games at my desk too (being in the military can be a bludge sometimes). It's just sleep to me. When I first started watching NFL in 1988 they used to screen a game a week (usually Cleveland with Bernie Kosar dropping bombs to Webster Slaughter). Used to be on in the early hours then too but I didn't care. Both games are unique and really interesting to me. Two best sports in the world. Both incredibly skilful and demanding and complex. Love them both.