Can ESPN grow LaLiga in the United States? World Soccer Talk Podcast

In the NEW episode, number 228, Christopher Harris and co-host Kartik Krishnaiyer cover a range of topics including: • ESPN tasked with growing LaLiga in United States – can they do it? With the broadcaster having...

In the NEW episode, number 228, Christopher Harris and co-host Kartik Krishnaiyer cover a range of topics including:

• ESPN tasked with growing LaLiga in United States – can they do it? With the broadcaster having spent 1.4 billion dollars on the rights to the Spanish league until 2029, ESPN has made a major investment in trying to grow LaLiga. Yes, Barcelona and Real Madrid are already household names, but will the broadcaster be able to attract a large number of new fans? And if so, how will they do it? We can expect to hear more from ESPN in the coming weeks, but the other discussion point is what ESPN’s acquisition of LaLiga rights means for their coverage of the other leagues they have the rights to, and the other rights they may bid on, which could open up opportunities for CBS Sports and Paramount+ to acquire more rights that ESPN used to have in the past.

• In a story that we broke first, the U.S. rights to the Scottish Premiership are on the move again. The top-flight Scottish league has bounced around so many different streaming providers in recent years, but their new home now has the league for the next four seasons. Will it have an impact on growing the audience in the United States? We debate the topic on this podcast.

• With the world of cord cutting becoming more the norm, how has this impacted our viewing of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and its coverage of soccer and other sports? We go into more detail about what our experiences have been like.

• We also discuss the steps that Qatar have made to turn their national team into a force, as well as discussing whether fans of the United States Men’s National Team will ever be satisfied with the performances of the team in competitions. Is the bar raised too high?

• We delve into a number of other topics too, including why Borussia Dortmund and PSG have so many fans in the United States, but the viewership numbers for those games don’t match up with the interest in the team.

Listen to the show via the player above or via this link.

Launched in 2006, the World Soccer Talk Podcast is the longest running podcast on the planet. Every week, we share the latest news about watching soccer on television and streaming, in addition to discussing what we like and dislike, and featuring your questions and feedback in our Listener Mailbag segment.

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