Home NASL & USL FC Edmonton Nine FC Edmonton games to be broadcast on The Score

Nine FC Edmonton games to be broadcast on The Score

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As a broadcaster, I sometimes have to sit on some announcements that, well, I am contractually obligated not to publicize.

But, Friday (even though, if you’ve been diligent in checking the TV listings, you know about this already) FC Edmonton and Rogers have announced a new broadcast partnership. With Gareth Hampshire on play-by-play and myself on colour, nine FCE matches will be broadcast coast-to-coast on The Score this season. Rogers just got the all-clear to complete its acquisition of the Score two weeks ago and it is now part of the Sportsnet family, and has already been to a couple of Toronto FC games.

Going forward, fans can expect to see a large promotional campaign for the Eddies with the Rogers family of stations. Expect to see Citytv trucks with FCE signage and promotions on air.

We’ll be excited to take our broadcasts to a larger national audience. And, with Ottawa coming into NASL next season, it gives us the chance to introduce more of Canada to our league.

Our first Rogers/Score broadcast goes this Sunday, when the Eddies host the Atlanta Silverbacks in a newly revamped Clarke Stadium.

This will be the first game played in Clarke since the new stands were installed, which boost the capacity of the field from 1,200 to 4,000.

The game kicks off at 2 p.m. MT. Our Score broadcast will be on at 6 p.m. MT, or 8 p.m. ET. Because of pre-existing programming commitments at The Score before Rogers officially took over the station, there isn’t a window to show the game live. And that’s how it will be for the first three broadcasts of the season. They will be on same-day tape delay, airing at 6 p.m. MT/8 p.m. ET. Beginning June 16, we’ll be live at 1:30 p.m. MT/3:30 p.m. ET start time, including a 30-minute pregame show.

And this is where it gets a little tricky. On the matchdays of our nine Sportsnet/Score broadcasts — whether live or on tape — our normal live stream of the game on NASL.com will only be available outside of Canada. For local viewers, if you want to see it live, come on down to Clarke or you’ll need watch it on The Score (and, for the three taped broadcasts, turn off the Twitter!).

All home games will be broadcast live on TEAM 1260 in Edmonton.

One of the reasons the official announcement came so close to the actual start of our programming schedule is that Rogers could not legally administer any of The Score’s operations until the CRTC blessed the sale of the channel a couple of weeks ago. Even though the proposed sale was pitched in 2012, the CRTC doesn’t allow the buyer to take over the station until it gets the all-clear from the regulatory body.

FC EDMONTON ON THE SCORE
ALL TIMES MT

May 12 vs. Atlanta, 6 p.m. (delay)
May 26 vs. Fort Lauderdale 6 p.m. (delay)
June 2 vs. Tampa Bay 6 p.m. (delay)
June 16 vs. Carolina, 2 p.m.
June 30 vs. Minnesota United, 2 p.m.
Aug. 11 vs. San Antonio, 2 p.m.
Sept. 22 vs. Minnesota United, 2 p.m.
Oct. 6 vs. Carolina, 2 p.m.
Oct. 27 vs. Tampa Bay, 2 p.m.

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6 Comments

  1. footy

    May 11, 2013 at 8:35 am

    Good news of course. And I must say well deserved considering the fact that you guys provide the best commentary in the NASL and also a lot better than a lot of American MLS-commentary.

    I’m only not a big fan of tape-delay though. Soccer is perfect for 10 mins – 15 mins summarization. But hey, at least FCE is out there and this is fantastic from a marketing point of view.

  2. Greg

    May 11, 2013 at 3:03 am

    If i recall NFL has local blackout too sometimes. It happens, but am I glad to see the Eddies on National TV. And can’t wait for Ottawa

  3. John Anderson

    May 10, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    Who is the jersey sponsor

  4. Mike

    May 10, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    Congratulations Steve!

  5. Clay

    May 10, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    Encouraged to see these positive developments ( TV deal, increased seating) for my Eddies. Onwards and upwards.

  6. David

    May 10, 2013 at 12:51 pm

    Good news. Even though I live in Ontario, I have always tried to keep track of all the Canadian professional soccer teams.

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