Every four years, June slows down, time stops and the world puts aside its differences to spend the majority of the month in front of the TV. It’s not the end of Lost or the end of ten years of American Idol. It’s soccer time baby and the World Cup has officially begun.
People talk about the economics of sport on TV and make glorious note of how much money CBS will pay for the NFL or the amount of money nobody is paying for hockey when it comes to America. But soccer is the thing that brings viewers together. Canada’s national broadcaster, the CBC, is currently foaming at the mouth that they have the full broadcast right for the World Cup this year.
TV’s everywhere are going to be locked to three games a day, every day, for the entire month. It’s a reflection of the glorious immigrant nature of Vancouver and, indeed, of Canada. East Vancouver will be exploding as the city’s Brazilian, Spanish and Italian communities come out in force to their local bars, coffee shops and restaurants to watch the games. You have not lived the concept of the communal experience until you have sat in one of the city’s few Brazilian-owned cafes and watched a room explode as Robinho scores a goal.
It’s TV that brings people together. Vancouver’s Anza Club is guaranteed to be mobbed, turning it’s little haven of quiet off of main street into a rampaging focus point for the city’s Australian community. Even the bars, pubs and karaoke houses that ring the little Korean portion of the west end of downtown will be exploding as every black and white TV and 56″ plasma screen lives and dies with the South Korean team.
The actual content itself is easy to describe. The best broadcasters talking about the best soccer players in the world. It’s almost zen-like in its simplicity. For this month alone, there will be more blood, more action and more tears than a full year of an ABC prime-time show can provide. It’s TV at its finest and there’s nothing else like it, no matter who you support.