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NBC Sports Group Acquires U.S. Rights to Six Nations Rugby Championship

Started by bing101, October 05, 2017, 02:09:53 PM

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bing101



english si

There's enough that claim Irish and Italian ancestry to tap into that as a marketing strategy. Sadly Italy are the 6th nation, and while they crushed all the other European teams (maybe not Romania and Georgia who are now doing the same thing) time and time again, they still feel second-tier and struggle with the big boys: I'm not sure the Italian-Americans will stick around long when they realise that a very good year for Italy is to go 2-3 and a good year is to win one of the five games and also not getting the Wooden Spoon!

There's the growing playing of Rugby in the US.

There's a lot that American sports watchers like - the physical contact and somewhat high-scoring of (American) Football (which is a bastard offshoot of Rugby Football), the constant pace of Ice Hockey or Basketball, etc

There's the large crowds of the most-attended (per game) sports competition in the world - they sing (and well), they cheer, they entertain (and not like the pitch invaders that England's men's football team have running onto the pitch to try and liven things up) - so even when the sport is having a lull, the crowd in the stadium still suck you in.


There's potential if NBC want to push it, but i don't think they will (not least as they are terrible at sports coverage - though at least the commentators for the rugby games would be the BBC's and so good). It's a "there if you want it" thing - like lots of sports being televised on sports channels in the UK (eg College Football - no promotion for it, but it's on throughout the season).

The games are 3 a week for 5 of 7 weeks (2 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off, 2 on), and timed for European audiences - Saturday afternoon at 2:15 and 4:45 and either Friday night at 8pm or Sunday afternoon at 3pm, with the last week as a triple bill on Saturday afternoon at 12:30, 2:45 and 4:45 (all times GMT, so take between 4 and 8 hours off, depending on timezone and whether the US is on DST come March 17th) - it's competing as live sports programme in the US with soccer from Europe and that's about it. That 4.45 game would be over by 6.30pm GMT and might eat into some College Basketball or something, but the others are just too early in the day in the US to interfere with televised US sports games.

SP Cook

Rugby and American football clearly evolved from a common ancestor.  If you like American football, you can easily pick up on Rugby (and Australian football). 

Sadly, the vaginification of America means that American football is devolving back towards rugby.


english si

Quote from: SP Cook on October 06, 2017, 09:24:29 AMRugby and American football clearly evolved from a common ancestor.
Yes, Rugby.

However the Americans couldn't cope with not wearing body armour, not stopping for a breather every few seconds, playing for 80 minutes, having to carry the ball through the opposing team every time, going to ground to score the big points, etc and so American Football was born.
QuoteSadly, the vaginification of America means that American football is devolving back towards rugby.
:-D :-D :-D

Ageing Rugby players often look at American Football to extend their sporting career as it puts less of a toll on their bodies. Few make the change as there's only really demand for the specialised kickers - who, in Rugby, play the full 80 minutes rather than coming on at a few plays, often have awkward angles, and so many see it as a cop out.

bing101


english si

I'm trying to work out what language that is. Spanish, I guess, because they are in Uruguay?

The USA is quite good at Rugby - they are considered 'High Performance', which was 'tiers 1 and 2' before they realised that's a bit flattering to Argentina, Italy and occasionally other teams (Scotland in a bad patch, say) who are still fishes out of water when it comes to playing with the old Five and Tri- Nations teams (Argentina has won 3 out of 33 games in the Rugby Championship, Italy 12 of 90 Six Nations games), and a bit harsh on teams that aren't far behind. The US are the current champions of the Americas Rugby Championship (Argentina 2nd team - who came second on bonus points, USA, Brazil, Canada, Chile and Uruguay), though they are only ranked 17th in the world* currently (I don't think this Americas Pacific Challenge counts towards rankings, as - while all games not including Argentina are considered full internationals, it is between second teams).

*while not a place that Americans would consider great, it's in a sport they don't care about much and also better than the 27th they are in Mens Soccer (the USA are #1 for Women's Soccer and a highly respectable 5th for Women's Rugby)

english si

Anyone watching this? Sadly I missed yesterday's games - I gather France-Ireland was a really good match with both sides playing well. With Wales flattening Scotland means the competition is shaping up well - Wales laying down the gauntlet that they can win it (having come a miserable 5th last year), France and Ireland saying that they too mean business. And Italy being given hope that they at least ought to get something off a hapless Scotland, ending their two year drought without even picking up bonus points!

english si

USA beginning their World Cup campaign playing England in about 2 hours (good ol' Japanese time - the Olympics next year will be all early morning).

While the Eagles are clear underdogs, they are all pro now, and could (like Uruguay did yesterday - ranked 19th, beat 9th-ranked Fiji) cause an upset. Though it's more likely to be against France than England. They did beat Scotland in Houston last year, and the Scots are ranked higher than France and Argentina - USA are 13th (and haven't really played the big boys much, despite being above tier 1 Italy). A tough pool, possibly the hardest, but the USA have a good chance of coming third (automatic qualification for next time), and perhaps second (advance to the quarter finals). They'd have to win two of their four matches to do it - Argentina and Tonga being the most likely, but France is possible, and England theoretical - and I think they can pull that off.

While I'm a partisan Englishman, a USA win today would be great for the sport. I don't think a close run thing that says that the USA are a serious threat and have made it on the world stage would work in the US due to the sporting culture - you need 'World Championship'/'World Series' stuff between different teams from the US with the possibility maybe of some Canadian teams, meaning that the USA can't really lose - so narrow defeat in a group stage game isn't going to sell Rugby to America. :P

*Seedings (and World Rankings) in Pool C are: England 2 (3), France 6 (8), Argentina 9 (11), USA 13? as second ranked unseeded team and no one explicitly seeded 10th, 13th or 14th (13), Tonga - (15).

english si

Pool C is the group of death! The seeded teams are the best set of three, and the average world ranking is the highest, with the smallest spread. Does it mean the US has a good chance of doing well - the latter suggests so, but the former suggests the hardest top three for middling sides to break into.

Pool A - 3 seeded teams total: 20 (4+5+11), average World Ranking of the 5 teams: 10.8 σ 6.68 (1, 7, 10, 20, 16)
Pool B - 3 seeded teams total: 23 (1+7+15), average World Ranking of the 5 teams: 13 σ 8.76 (2, 4, 14, 23, 22)
Pool C - 3 seeded teams total: 17 (2+6+9), average World Ranking of the 5 teams: 10 σ 4.20 (3, 8, 11, 13, 15)
Pool D - 3 seeded teams total: 23 (3+8+12), average World Ranking of the 5 teams: 10.2 σ 5.04 (6, 5, 12, 9, 19)



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