As the Premiership season is close to being wrapped up, many soccer fans will go into hibernation this summer before they return in August. Others will watch Major League Soccer. But while some soccer fans may take it easy this summer, it’s time for Fox Soccer Channel (and other networks) to get some more hard work done.

Here’s my wish-list of the things that Fox should change for next season:

  1. Reduce the time delay. This season,FSC’s 10am ET match on Saturday has been guilty of kicking off matches as much as five to six minutes late. Reason being is that the show would begin at 10am, introduce the teams, go to commercial, come back and give the team lineups and finally go to the “live” match. But, in the real world, the match itself actually kicked off at 10am. The solution is simple. Fox should begin their coverage five minutes earlier for all Premiership matches allowing adequate time for introductions and advertisements.
  2. Cancel or change Super Saturday +. I have no issue with the show itself except that it could be better. But more importantly, the time of the show is inconvenient. For soccer fans who begin watching the Premiership on a Saturday morning through to the end of the 2:30pm match at 4:30pm ET, Super Saturday + becomes irrevelant. Sure, the show is intended more-so for viewers who missed most of the coverage earlier in the day. But I feel it would be better to air the show between Noon and 12:15pm and the second half of the show between 2:15pm and 2:30pm. The format of the show should be more analysis than reporting the news or showing the highlights.
  3. Provide soccer matches via broadband. Rumors are that this is already in the works, but how Fox provides this will be important (in terms of pricing and options). To me, the pricing should be low ($5 to $10 a month) to encourage fans to adopt the new technology and get them used to experiencing the Premiership via broadband. A monthly subscription model would be preferred, or a pay-per-match option.
  4. Create a remarkable new show. Fox provides some quality programming with the Fox Soccer Report and Fox Football Fone-In (although it is very repetitive for those who listen to the WSD radio show). However, Fox has the opportunity to create a new show where they can offer soccer fans with content that breaks new ground, doesn’t copy other shows out there and resonates with soccer fans throughout North America. I have several ideas of what that should could be. It would be something remarkable that would win soccer fans over and get them hooked.

Those are my four ideas of how Fox Soccer Channel could improve. Of course, broadcasts of Premiership matches in high-definition would be nice, but I don’t see that happening this year.

What ideas do you have for Fox Soccer Channel on how they can improve their coverage of the English Premier League? Click the ‘comments’ link below and let us know.