OLN/VS.

[BCWWF]

I was watching this channel some last night and I decided that if this channel can acquire the rights to some sort of soccer league it has the potential to be a strong station. It isn't the same type of sports station as ESPN because it doesn't and likely won't ever have any of the major US sports. That being said, it already has some great niche sports, covers them well, and seems to be moving away from the "outdoor" aspect that the channel was created on.

The big draws the channel has right now are: Tour de France, National Hockey League, International Track and Field meets, World Team Tennis, Americas Cup, as well as some boxing and other small, meh, sports.

Right now that is not all that impressive other then the first maybe three that I listed. But if this channel could just acquire the rights to a few more leagues. The two that I think would put it over the edge would be a major soccer league and a major racing league. Add some smaller tennis tournaments, one of the lacrosse leagues (MLL or NLL), grab something like the rugby World Cup. These are all sports that have large bases in the US, but on the national TV scene they don't really show up.

God knows that the big problem with ESPN right now is the lack of sports. Daytime programming includes at least five or six shows based on random suits speculating the events or various leagues and then a lot of bullshit, like poker. I think that there are a lot of sports that could get more airtime and have large amounts of potential fans, but ESPN either can't or just doesn't choose to air it. Just think about how many lacrosse players there are now, give them a better venue to watch it. Same goes for tennis. With soccer and NASCAR, you already have fan bases, you get these programs and you immediately bring in fans. Who the hell has NASCAR right now anyway, isn't it like USA or TNT?