Chapter Six: ESPN, Indoor Soccer and The Highlight Culture

2024-04-15

Founding Futbol is a year-long exploration of the critical moments that have led to football's emerging popularity in America.When ESPN began broadcasting in 1979, no one knew if a 24-hour sports cable station would work. The concept was new. The format was new. And there was no data to suggest the American public would watch. But ESPN not only worked, it changed the sports culture globally by giving airtime to sports that previously went unbroadcast and by creating a highlight culture. Soccer benefited ...

Founding Futbol is a year-long exploration of the critical moments that have led to football's emerging popularity in America.

When ESPN began broadcasting in 1979, no one knew if a 24-hour sports cable station would work. The concept was new. The format was new. And there was no data to suggest the American public would watch.

But ESPN not only worked, it changed the sports culture globally by giving airtime to sports that previously went unbroadcast and by creating a highlight culture. Soccer benefited from these factors – as ESPN broadcast the Major Indoor Soccer League, bringing fans to the game in new and interesting ways. It also gave sports fans distilled key moments from various soccer matches exposing more people to the beautiful game.

JP Dellacamera has broadcast 17 World Cups, making him the voice of soccer for many Americans. He joined the show to discuss the start of his career at ESPN and how the game has evolved with the cable sports networks over the decades.

Leading up to the summer Olympics in Paris, Founding Futbol is a great place to learn the history of both the men's and women's US national teams competing in the tournament. We've already brought you several episodes on our feed that delve into the emergence of the programs -- like the 1989 US Men's National Team that qualified for its first World Cup in 40 years on the back of Paul Caligiuri's famous goal. And the 1991 US Women's National Team that won the first Women's World Cup. There are four specific episodes that Founding Futbol will release in the build up to the summer games, starting at the end of July, that advance that story even further, with interviews from US Soccer legends.

On June 17, Chapter 15 on the 1994 World Cup will be released.
On June 24, Chapter 16 on Alexi Lalas will be released. That episode features an interview with Alexi. We will have a snippet of that show on the Arsenal Vision Pod before releasing it on our main feed as well.
On July 8, Chapter 18 on the beginning MLS will be released. That episode features an interview with MLS legend Jeff Agoos. We will have a snippet of that show on the Arsenal Vision Pod before the episode comes out.
On July 15, Chapter 19 on the 1996 Olympics will be released. That episodes features an interview with the USWNT all-time caps leader, Kristine Lilly. We will have a snippet of that show on the Arsenal Vision Pod before releasing it on our main feed as well.
For those of you that haven't jumped into Founding Futbol yet, there's also a second episode every week called Extra Time. It features an interview with someone connected to the core topic of the week. On July 18, Shannon Mac Millian, who scored one of the most famous goals in US Soccer history at the 96 Olympics, joins Extra Time. And host Kent Malmros is working on bringing additional Extra Time guests.

Founding Futbol is a great place to find content that will get you connected to and excited for the US soccer team's journey in the olympics. And for those of you that haven't been listening, you can learn about the history of American soccer in other episodes as well.

Visit our website for more information: ⁠⁠FoundingFutbol.com

Host: Kent Malmros

Guest: JP Dellacamera (Broadcaster)

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