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Americans were NOT happy that their Sunday morning shows were pre-empted for Premier League soccer

Posted by on May 15, 2016 11:15

Championship Sunday. One of the best days of the year for any fan of English soccer. These days it’s even better if you’re a fan in America as thanks to the NBC/Universal family of networks every game is show live on US TV. With 10 games originally set to be shown live, that means networks such as E! Esquire, MSNBC, SyFy, and Bravo preempt their regular Sunday morning programming not only to show sports, but a foreign sport nonetheless.

It’s important to remember, NBC doesn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. One of the ways they won the TV contract for the Premier League was their ability to show every game on the last day of the season live. They’re contractually obligated to do this.

Despite the fact that this happens every year, it still seems to catch the loyal viewers of these channels by surprise and they’ve taken to twitter to not only express their displeasure, but to also make complete fools of themselves. Remember, the idea of America was a melting pot. By definition that means it’s a place welcoming of foreign cultures that then blend together. Apparently there are many Americans who have forgotten this and therefore think NBC showing a foreign culture is very un-American.

This year thanks to NBCSN showing a Formula One race prior to their Premier League coverage they were able to piss off an even larger group of people.

https://twitter.com/rdowns/status/731850093104640000

Very astute observation. Now onto the fun stuff. It’s an election year and MSNBC just maybe one of those important channels. I know it’s only May but apparently if you don’t give people their election coverage for two hours on a May Sunday morning it’ll swing the entire election. Joy Anne who hosts a popular show weekend mornings sent out a warning, but apparently twitter was not the place to warn people who were then going to complain on twitter. 

No politics on MSNBC and no Meet the Press on NBC, this could decide the election and people needed to have their say! 

https://twitter.com/KevinBuffalo/status/731836226190344192

Yes, because Trump can do things about TV contracts. 

https://twitter.com/Harleen3000/status/731847940466040833

My favorite one. Fox News is hammering Hillary into the ground on this May Sunday morning. She’ll obviously never recover from this and it will cost her the election!

Reliably aired? This happens one Sunday a year! Come on guys we do this every year! How hard is it to remember that one Sunday in May this is going to happen?

https://twitter.com/usfmtnman/status/731850354162204672

Ruined Sunday morning or gave us the best Sunday morning ever?

Love this one. Sorry for the colorful language but clearly soccer is the fault of liberals! Bringing in other cultures is what America was built on but now if you do it your an anti-American liberal! 

He’s not the only one! 

https://twitter.com/TheRealJSeo/status/731850606034358272

Progressive America! Isn’t it great?

https://twitter.com/JKH2/status/731851124966330368

https://twitter.com/RobbinMoore/status/731853125200564224

To the untrained eye all soccer matches may look alike but I can assure you these were different games.

https://twitter.com/BarbaraMadea/status/731852959240327169

Again, I’m pretty sure they just made it better. Let’s just say you’re getting “cultured.”

Yes, but if you’re a soccer fan you should know there are 10 games and they therefore need 10 channels.

It’s a very lucrative decision actually.

https://twitter.com/GoshKevin/status/731851223851270144

I’m a huge hockey fan but come on dude even this is extreme. It’s the World Championships and look at that roster. USA Hockey is completely mailing it in saving everyone for the World Cup in September. The team even struggled to beat France last week. They’re doing you a favor. 

And then there’s the other side. Apparently we’re no longer complaining that soccer is on TV but now we’re complaining that it’s on channels located all over the channel guide that it’s not easy to just scroll through? Come on Kellen! Be appreciative of what we have. 

Seriously NBC. A lot of fans apparently either don’t have Esquire network or don’t have it in HD. Once that the Manchester United vs. Bournemouth game was cancelled it just makes sense to move Tim Howard’s final Everton match over to a network everyone has. Let us enjoy Timmy just one more time before we’re crying about his performances this summer at the Copa America! 

It’s a shame we didn’t get a tweet from America’s leading soccer hater Ann Coulter this year. Maybe she’s learned what a TV contract is and how insignificant two hours on a Mid-May Sunday morning really is. Maybe the next year the rest of America will remember that this happens every year.

I doubt it, but maybe. Otherwise this blog will see you again next year!

 

 

About Pauly Kwestel

Pauly is a Producer for WFAN in New York and the CBS Sports Radio Network. He has been writing about the beautiful game since 2010 and can be followed on twitter @pkwestelWFAN

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