Another SKC All Star, and Local TV in Trouble?

Two questions that could loom large over Sporting KC in the coming days.  First is a rumor that has come up only today.  LA Galaxy midfielder, David Beckham had been named to the MLS all star team that will be taking on Chelsea at PPL Park this coming Wednesday.  But the opening ceremonies for the London Olympics are on Friday, and Beckham is possibly going to play a role or want to attend those ceremonies.  Should Beckham go to London, DC United head coach Ben Olsen, who is also coaching the All Star team, will have to name a replacement. The rumor, according to Steven Goff, is that a Sporting KC player will be named to replace Beckham should he not go to the all star game.

The safe bet on the player to replace Beckham, should it be a Sporting KC player, would be Kei Kamara.  Kamara can play the wing position that Beckham likely would have been playing.  He's had a good season so far, scoring 7 goals this season for KC.

Conspiracy theorist could look at it differently though.  If Olsen were to name Kamara, or another Sporting player to the roster, that would make 4 KC players on the all star list, joining Aurelien Collin, Jimmy Nielsen, and Graham Zusi in traveling to Philadelphia for the game.  With Olsen's United team currently 3 points back, with a game in hand on KC, those that are wearing the tin foil hat could say that Olsen is looking to tire out some of KC's best players by having them travel to Philadelphia for the game.

Time Warner and KCTV-5 Contract

Time Warner cable recently had KMBC-TV and KCWE go black due to a dispute over the contract.  Now it appears that Time Warner and KCTV-5 are in the same boat.  Their contract runs through July 25th, at which time KCTV-5 and it's sister station, KSMO.  That's big news for Sporting KC fans as KSMO is Sporting KC's TV partner.  If no deal is reached and KSMO goes black, Sporting's games would not be on television in the KC metro area for those that have Time Warner cable.  The first game that it would affect would be a home game on July 28th at home vs Columbus.

Both sides are obviously blaming each other for the potential loss of the channel.  The thing that could work in Sporting's favor is the fact that KCTV-5 also broadcasts Chiefs games.  And with the Chiefs season getting closer, a prolonged dispute between the two will cause great animosity among many in the KC area, and that will likely fall mainly on Time Warner.  So it's probably in their best interest to get a deal done.  But we shall certainly see.

Sporting KC Extend Deal With KSMO

Sporting KC today announced a new TV deal with KSMO today. Not only today did KC announce that KSMO will be broadcasting the 2012 season, but KSMO will also be broadcasting the 2013 season as well. There's plenty of good news out of the deal that was announced today.

First, all 28 games that are not being broadcasted on national television will be shown live on KSMO. So outside of the games on ESPN, ESPN2, and NBC Sports, KSMO will be the home of Sporting KC. To add onto how good the relationship between KC and KSMO is, KC will have two of their games this season on sister station, KCTV5, the local CBS affiliate. They will be showing KC's home game against the Houston on 7/7, the first of three Eastern Conference final rematches. That game's kickoff time has been moved up 30 minutes to accommodate the new station. KCTV5 will also be showing the September 22nd game from Saputo Stadium. This is a good sign of how well Sporting KC has done this past year in KC, reports were that KC's ratings improved as the season went on and were higher than anyone really expected I think. It shows good faith in the team by KCTV5 that they're going to put the games on.

As part of the deal, the 30 minute preshow continues on KSMO, which I really like. It continues the "major league" feel of the broadcast. The fact that there is pregame, hyping the game and looking at both Sporting and the opposition just seems to give the broadcast that extra level of legitimacy.

Also returning is the Sunday evening Off the Pitch. The weekly recap show was another step forward for KC last season. Good content and good insight into the week that was for KC. I'd like to see some of the production values improve, but overall I'm extremely happy that this show has returned for me to watch.

In unsurprising news, Callum Williams and Jake Yadrich will be returning together to the booth. I like the move, Williams is extremely good in the booth and will only continue to improve. Yadrich brought stability to the color position after the first bit of the season saw KC rotate through who was in the booth with him.

New Broadcaster for Sporting KC

Earlier today on Bigsoccer someone pointed out this Tweet by BBC commentator/report, Callum Williams. Gooch over at the Star has been able to get confirmation of this that Williams would be heading over to become a presenter and commentator on the television broadcasts on KSMO. It looks like he will be the lead commentator on the broadcasts, replacing Dave Borchardt. Williams is young, he's still in his early 20's, but has most recently been working for the BBC, manly doing Chesterfield games. It should add an interesting dynamic to the games this year.

New Broadcast Partner for KC

Sporting KC announced tonight that they'll have a new broadcast partner for the upcoming season. The Wizards will not be back on KCWE this year. Instead they will be moving to KSMO-TV. KSMO will be showing all games that are not nationally televised on FSC or ESPN. The games will be preceded by a 30 minute pregame show. There will be no post game show this year, which is a bit of a disappointment, but they will have a 30 minute weekly soccer show on 9:30 on Sunday nights, which is a plus, I look forward to what that show brings to soccer in the city.