Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Top Soccer Shows on Cable (since restart)

Top 20 US Cable Soccer programs since the restart (June 27, NWSL)
Viewers (000)Event/GameNetworkDate
675UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: PARIS / BAYERNTUDN8/23/2020
668PREMIER LEAGUE L: ARSENAL/TOTTENHAMNBCSN7/12/2020
663LIGA MX SAT 2: AMERICA / GUADALAJARATUDN9/19/2020
557PREMIER LEAGUE L: LEICESTER/TOTTENHAMNBCSN7/19/2020
555PREMIER LEAGUE L: BURNLEY/LIVERPOOLNBCSN7/11/2020
550PREMIER LEAGUE L: CHELSEA/LIVERPOOLNBCSN7/22/2020
494PREMIER LEAGUE L: WEST HAM/ARSENALNBCSN9/19/2020
464MLS REGULAR SEASON L: ORLANDO/MIAMIESPN7/8/2020
458LIGA MX SAT 2: AMERICA / TOLUCATUDN9/12/2020
428PREMIER LEAGUE L: LEICESTER/BOURNEMOUTHNBCSN7/12/2020
403PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIONBCSN7/12/2020
402UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SAT: CITY / LYONNAISTUDN8/15/2020
400UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SAT: BARCA VS NAPOLITUDN8/8/2020
392LIGA MX SATTUDN9/19/2020
387PREMIER LEAGUE L: SOUTHAMPTON/PALACENBCSN9/12/2020
387PREMIER LG LIVE STUDIONBCSN7/11/2020
378FA CUP SOCCER L: NORWICH CITY/MAN UNITEDESPN6/27/2020
375PREMIER LEAGUE L: ARSENAL/ASTON VILLANBCSN7/21/2020
367PREMIER LEAGUE L: MAN UNITED/ASTON VILLANBCSN7/9/2020
365MLS REGULAR SEASON: PORTLAND/ORLANDOESPN8/11/2020



Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Crew on ABC, MLS Returns to ESPN

Dust off your hardhat and get ready to fire up your Sony Trinitron TV - the Columbus Crew are going to host a nationally televised game on ABC on November 1st, 2020. This will effectively be a send-off for Crew Stadium as the team moves into her new home next year. 

MLS games on terrestrial television are a relatively rare thing. Usually, the only one fans get on ABC is the final, but even those stopped being regular there a decade ago. Only FOX, year in and year out, carry games. Even there, it's rare. Less than a handful each year.

MLS released the remainder of the league schedule yesterday. ESPN finally returns to host a couple of regular-season games for the first time since the summer bubble.

1 - ESPN Oct 11 Seattle / LAFC

2 - ABC Oct 25 LA's

3 - ESPN Oct 28 Portland  LAG

4 - ABC Nov 1 Crew v Philly

Outside of the Disney family of networks, FOX will host one more (along with FS1 having just a couple). Univision and TSN also have a few. All in all, however, MLS has been largely absent from the national TV landscape. No reason has been given, but it's likely due to the log jam of NBA, MLB, and College Football games.

Monday, September 21, 2020

Crew on Top

Columbus exits the 12th week of MLS play on top of MLS. First in Points per Game and 2nd only behind Seattle in Goal Difference per Game.

PPGClubGD
2.25Columbus1.33
2.00Philadelphia0.83
1.91Seattle Sounders1.45
1.83Orlando City0.75
1.83Toronto FC0.50
1.73FC Dallas0.64
1.67Sporting KC0.42
1.50Minnesota0.33
1.50Portland0.08
1.42NYC FC0.08
1.36LA Galaxy-0.09
1.33Montreal Impact-0.17
1.33Colorado0.00
1.25New England-0.08
1.25Vancouver-0.58
1.25LAFC-0.17
1.25Houston Dynamo0.08
1.17NY Red Bulls*-0.42
1.17Real Salt Lake-0.33
1.09Nashville*-0.36
1.00Cincinnati***-0.75
0.92Inter Miami-0.33
0.92Atlanta United*-0.42
0.92D.C. United-0.50
0.92San Jose*-1.33
0.75Chicago**-0.83

You have to go back about 11 seasons to find a Crew team performing this well after this many games. There is a caveat, however. 9 of the Crew's 12 games have been against pretty terrible teams.


Saturday, September 19, 2020

MLS Player Ratings, update

Here's a positional list of the top players according to my Helltown Player Rating System*. This system uses traditional stats ("box score") and mixes them with playing time and team position on the overall true table. Basically, if you are filling the box score and playing a lot on a good team? You'll do well here. This system was created to help me get to the better players fast without wasting my time endlessly sorting tables. It works!

Anyway, here we go. As of last night (September 18).

FORWARDS

Player ScorePlayer Name(TEAM)
10.00Gyasi ZardesCLB
9.82Raúl RuidíazSEA
9.25Kacper PrzybyłkoPHI
9.10Jordan MorrisSEA
8.56Diego RossiLAF


MIDFIELDERS

Player ScorePlayer Name(TEAM)
9.26Alejandro PozueloTFC
8.66Cristian RoldanSEA
8.25Darlington NagbeCLB
8.25Brenden AaronsonPHI
8.24Alejandro BedoyaPHI
7.97Ján GregušMIN
7.95Nicolás LodeiroSEA
7.91Jamiro MonteiroPHI
7.87ArturCLB
7.64Sebastian LletgetLAG


DEFENDERS

Player ScorePlayer Name(TEAM)
8.83Jonathan MensahCLB
8.29Kelvin LeerdamSEA
7.90AuroTFC
7.80Graham ZusiSKC
7.78Omar GonzalezTFC
7.72Harrison AffulCLB
7.67Reto ZieglerFCD
7.59Ray GaddisPHI
7.55Anton TinnerholmNYC
7.44Mark McKenziePHI


GOALKEEPERS

Player ScorePlayer Name(TEAM)
8.56Stefan FreiSEA
8.05Andre BlakePHI
7.72Pedro GalleseORL
7.39Quentin WestbergTFC
7.22David BinghamLAG


*SINCE 2011, the oldest and longest-running player rating system in MLS