Portland Timbers Announce Regional Broadcasting Partner in ROOT SPORTS [Updated]
by Geoff Gibson on Mar 8, 2011 9:54 AM PST
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PrintThe news we've all been waiting for has finally landed today, less than two weeks from MLS First Kick 2011. ROOT SPORTS has been officially announced as a founding Portland Timbers partner and will broadcast 16 of the Timbers 34 games this year. ROOT SPORTS is currently your Fox Sports Northwest channel, but will completely rebrand itself beginning April 1st (and no this is not an April Fools joke).
"It is a tremendous opportunity to be a founding partner of a new franchise, to help in developing the relationship between the team and a community of sports fans, and we are uniquely positioned to do so because we too are fans," said Mark Shuken, President & CEO of DIRECTV Sports Networks, parent company of ROOT SPORTS. "With passion, connection and quality we will share the stories, the sights and the sounds of Timbers soccer and help build a fanbase that will serve as the foundation of this partnership."
Personally, I'm a little disappointed by this news. As somebody without access to cable, this severely limits my access to Timbers on television. However, I can also see the advantage in this partnership over a local broadcaster. ROOT SPORTS will provide access to more people in the entire Northwest area including Alaska, Idaho and Montana as opposed to just the metro Portland area.
Keen eyed observers will also note that with these 16 games by ROOT SPORTS (one cross over with FSC), 3 by ESPN, and 5 by FSC that leaves an additional 11 games left to be broadcast. It's my guess that these games will be the ones broadcast by the heavily rumored local partner KPTV, Fox 12 although nothing has yet been announced.
UPDATE: And in a second press release the Portland Timbers have announced that FOX 12 KPTV or it's sister network KPDX will air 11 Timbers games outside of the ROOT SPORTS deal. For the 2011 season, the Portland Timbers will have a grand total of 4 broadcasting partners. Additionally Sportsradio 95.5 The Game will continue to be the Timbers flagship radio station with News Radio 750 KXL taking over some spots.
Spanish broadcasts will be hosted by Estrella TV for television and La Pantera 940 AM and KSND 95.1 FM on radio.
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Could be worse . . . much worse
For example, the Blazers TV deal
The DirectTV people could charge Comcast more
but I am sure comczst would just pay them more for it. That whole Blazer deal problem rests with these “root TV” people…
"What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?"
— Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
Still...
Each non-nationally-televised match should be on Fox12. Period.
by Samuelson on Mar 8, 2011 10:03 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Thats my thought exactly,
I guess I only care about seeing the non-nationally televised away games, I got the home games covered! But yeah, I was hoping that Fox12 was going to have more games, I guess they don’t want to mess with their cash cow American Idol….
That'd be nice if all things were equal.
But since they’re not, I’m okay with the Timbers going for the deal that makes the most financial sense because it is tied to things like the sponsorship of the ROOT Sports Lounge, etc. I think it’s in my best interest as a fan that the Timbers be as financially succesful as possible.
Make sure everyone you know sits down and watches
and particularly if they are a nielsen family that month.
"What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?"
— Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
Timbers > Mariners
I’m a fan of both, but c’mon man, I think the Beavers coulda beaten the M’s on any given day last year!
Blazers win!
My Detroit Tigers lost to small Florida college team in Spring Training a few years ago
That was almost as humbling as living in Virginia and my best friend attending U Va when Chaminade beat them. You need the whole drawn out E.T. version of the pronunciation of “aaaaOooooouuuuUuuccchhhh.” for that.
One of the funniest things I've ever seen was the Beavers beating the Mariners at PGE several years ago
and I’ve seen some hysterical Mariner things in my day.
Please
Baseball.. Really? Please lets talk sport here…
by Sinan Ovcina on Mar 8, 2011 11:09 AM PST up reply actions
I don't come in to your living room and insult things you like
Please accord me the same courtesy. Thanks.
by pdb on Mar 8, 2011 5:14 PM PST up reply actions
Please
Pittsburgh Penguins….. Really? Please lets talk real teams here…
See how that works? If you don’t like something doesn’t mean it is stupid or not a sport cause everything takes talent, yes even NASCAR, just different talent.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
You r right
My apologies to you and pdb
by Sinan Ovcina on Mar 9, 2011 10:01 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Thanks
I am with you I don’t like baseball :) and thank you for the apology.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
YOU'RE ALL HEATHENS
(kidding!)
Seconded on the thanks for the apology.
by pdb on Mar 9, 2011 3:04 PM PST up reply actions
Mariners fan and Angels fan come together at long last
HEATHENS!
"I have something 95 percent of all those All-Stars only wish they had: a World Series ring. If I had to choose between that and being an All-Star, it would be no contest. I’d grab the gold ring and never look back." -Tim Salmon
see this is the problem with this deal right here
Root has too many things going on, scheduling will likely prove to be a disaster for some fan somewhre…
"What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?"
— Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
When I ROOT, I ROOT for the Timbers.
The only surprise here is that FSNW is re-branding. I had no idea.
This is what everyone was expecting months ago, and I think its a pretty good deal. A mix of national, regional, and local broadcasts, and every game on tv, is a great thing for the Timbers. The bigger news is what knuckle-heads are going to be calling the matches and where.
THe MLS has gotta to sort out their TV deal though
The Crew for example have exactly 0 nationally televised games. nonsensical
"What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?"
— Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
ALSO
It is the bomb that ALL Timbers matches will be aired live. Some other cities ^ are not so fortunate….
Timbers should have seen the problems the Blazers having with cable
I bet $5 Comcast will bury the new Root/Fox Sports NW deep, deep in the 300-400 digital cable only land.
Well… I hope Merritt has a deal that allows to distribute an internet feed for games seperately.
There’s plenty of places around town to go watch Timbers road games, too.
I guess this means, with my non-existent cable package
I will be using this shall-not-be-named-website if I cannot find a place to watch it. Bars are not my thing since I don’t drink.
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
well
there are a few bars where the food is good enough to warrant a visit for a mtahc regardless of your status as a drinker….
"What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?"
— Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
2 questions
1. Is Root/FSNW available in HD?
2. will timbers ROOT games be available in seattle? Like us or not, sounders fans will want to watch timbers game if we can.
Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.
I have heard no on 2 before
…based on sonics/blazers in the past. But I would like to see the official word.
Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.
Yes on No. 1.
Not sure on No. 2. The more soccer the better as far as I’m concerned. I liked being able to watch sounder games on FSNW last summer.
Hate sounders
but enjoyed games last couple years also…
by Sinan Ovcina on Mar 8, 2011 11:08 AM PST up reply actions
I sent an email
asking for status from FSNW. If I hear I will post here.
I think both sides (timbers and sounders fans) whether they like the other team or hate em are more interested in seeing the other cascadia teams than the other random teams on ESPN each week. I hope no party involved blocks them for us. It seems like it only grows the sport to have more eyes watching your league. And honestly I do not see seatle people watching Timbers games instead of Seattle games or vice versa. I would think it would be more likely that if I watch 2 games in a week it will be my team and if I can the other cascadia team.
Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.
For you, the only sounder fan I would help out :P jk
Under the agreement announced today, FSN will screen 16 games across their catchment area which includes Washington State.
from Prostamerika
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
Awesome!!!
I love it! My wife might not be so happy… she is not a fan of sports and prefer I not watch them.
So I assume the opposite will be true and seattle replays will still be played in Portland?
Scoreboards, not billboards.
Regular season, not pre-season.
Safe bet
to assume that the opposite is true.
Contributing editor to Stumptown Footy the Portland Timbers SBN blog.
You should have married a fellow sports fan
These kind of problems could have been avoided
Blazers win!
Does anyone known if Estrella TV
Will be broadcasting all of the games or will they only be broadcasting the ones that will be on KPTV?
You're saying that they look like they're giving it their all. And you know why they look that way? Because they're bad, and it literally takes them the maximum physical effort to accomplish basic baseball tasks like throwing the ball from short to first. When David Eckstein throws the ball to first base, he has to wind up like a shot-putter, spin around forty-three times, and launch it at an angle 89 degrees from the horizontal. Afterwards, he undergoes an IV drip for a fortnight and he's so out of breath that he requires several months of acupuncture to regain the power of speech. For this we laud him. -Junior of Deadspin on 'scrappy' players
I am trying to get my family into Timbers
and I can’t find an English or Spanish press release mentioning the partnership or anything from Estrella, can somebody help me out? Thanks!
Hic Sunt Dracones
Send them this link.
http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2011/03/timbers-announce-broadcast-partners-2011
Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.
This just says that they are the broadcast partners...
I was wondering if this phrase “Additionally, Timbers matches will be televised in Spanish on Estrella TV in 2011” meant just the KPTV games? I would assume so, but I didn’t know if ESPN Deportes or Galavision would be picking up the cable games or if the games would just be broadcast in Spanish on Estrella…
Hic Sunt Dracones
The link above lists three games on Galavision...
…the home games against Colorado and NYRB, and the Houston away game, FWIW.
West Side, West Side, sing us a song!
No cable?
Don’t sweat it! It will be a great excuse to have viewing parties at a sponsored 107ist bar with some of your fellow TA!
~n
I'm already planning...
On being at 442 for every (non-sick) Timbers away game. Probably make an event out of it.
RCTID - Stumptown Footy
Moderator of /r/MLS
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