Even in the technological golden age of 2014, one can only watch so many soccer games at a time.
Sure, you can pull up your streaming subscription on smarthphone, tablet and computer to go along with your actual television — remember those? — and have something like four or five games going at once.
And although we're generally spoiled with staggered start times in MLS, those magical UEFA Champions League nights — or mornings and afternoons here in North America — when there are eight games being played simultaneously during the group stage, things get a bit unwieldy.
Nobody wants to miss a great goal. The same can be said for a miraculous save by the goalkeeper or clearance off the line by an outfield player. Controversial penalty awarded (or not whistled)? Everybody wants to have an instant, hot take on those.
So Fox Sports has done the sensible thing and created its own NFL RedZone-type whip-around show, called Multimatch 90, to air on Fox Soccer Plus during the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League.
Essentially, a two-man team — a producer and director in Los Angeles — will curate the best action from the day's games, live and on replay, as rapidly as possible.
So when Eden Hazard caps off a mazy run through midfield with a slotted finish at Stamford Bridge and Lionel Messi does the same a matter of seconds later in a remote Eastern European city, you'll be able to see both golazos without touching your remote. Unless, of course, you want to hit rewind and watch it again and again.
Fox will offer a free preview of Fox Soccer Plus on DirecTV, Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse from Oct. 18 to 26, while Dish will offer a preview from Oct. 15 to 29. A free seven-day trial of FoxSoccer2Go will also be offered on Sept. 16 and 17, the first two days of the group stage.
NBCSN twice aired an MLS whip-around show, MLS Breakaway, during the 2013 season, and did so to rave reviews. It was just a matter of time before someone else caught on that the concept works in soccer.
Whip-around style shows are very plainly the future of sports broadcasting, but in your opinion, does it work for soccer as well as it does for many other, less fluid sports? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
