Waiting for Tomko

Sounders and Timbers Fans will Have to Wait for Baseball to Finish

June 24

In an uncanny repetition of events last week, when Sounders fans watching ESPN had to wait for a baseball game to finish, Prost Amerika can reveal that coverage of the Portland v Sounders cup tie on July 1st will start only when the Seattle Mariners baseball game in New York is completed.

The fixture at Yankee Stadium begins at 4.05 Pacific time, and the cup tie in Portland is scheduled to start at 7pm.

FSN’s Brian Piper told us that typically the network allows for three hours for a baseball game to complete and he is hopeful everything will run smoothly.

This is unlikely to assuage the soccer community’s feelings after ESPN2 blocked coverage of the Sounders match to allow a College Baseball game to be shown in full, although Mr. Piper further added that the network were aware of the issues involved and had their teams on alert to deal with it.

There are 162 Mariners games in a season, and this is likely to be the last Portland v Seattle derby for two years, until the Timbers join Sounders in MLS for the 2011 season. FSN are the sponsors of the Sounders Fans Membership Alliance, and have secured themselves exclusive access to Sounders players and officials through it. They also have a broadcasting agreement with the Portland Timbers.

Reaction from Sounders fans leaders was quick and largely unprintable. Greg Mockos is head of the Emerald City Supporters Club, and an elected member of the Membership Council. He described the decision as “b******s.”

A more printable reaction from an ECS leader came from Mackenzie Clark who said, “The Sounders front office and greater fan community has already proven the immensity of the demand there is for the club. Pair this alongside this being just as exciting for Portland fans, and the fact that both clubs have a tremendous rivalry, it’s pretty pathetic that those not traveling to see the match cannot be guaranteed the game in its entirety on TV.”

Kevin Zelko, one of the nine elected members of the Membership Alliance Council and leader of Gorilla FC, the second largest fan group, said, “It is the Sounders duty to find out and release just how much money FSN paid to be our sponsor, and that money should be refunded. There has to be a numerous amount of stations just lining up to be in partnership with the Sounders.”

Mason Adair, a Timbers fan leader, noted the importance of the game to fans and advised them not to rely on the television. “Timbers fans are flying in from around the country and world just for this match. For supporters of either team that don’t want to miss a minute of this match due to baseball . . . tickets are still available.”

All this may be a storm in a tea cup; perhaps the Mariners will dispose of Brett Tomko and his Yankees in less than three hours. Even if they do, the feeling that soccer comes second may become one more widely felt than it was even last week.