The 2010 world cup in South Africa looks promising to be the best yet. There’s huge quantities of talent spread out across the Groups. In addition to the football being played on the pitch, here are five reasons this summer’s world cup will be the best yet for the fans.
1. HD – The beautiful game in High Definition is truly a remarkable thing to see. Any football enthusiast will tell you the difference between standard definition and HD is night and day. World Cup 2006 was the first to be shown in HD, but it was rare. It was far less common for someone to own an HD television than it is now as they were more expensive and people had yet to see a need. HD programming was not yet easily available to everyone, let alone on ESPN. It was more common on the networks, which is why World Cup 2006 games being seen in HD were mostly on ABC . HD was still in the beginning stages just four years ago.
2. DVR and Tivo – Similar to #1, DVR’s and Tivo’s were far less common in 2006. World Cup matches are on during typical work hours on weekdays. While I think the world should be allowed the month off, and I’m sure other football fans will agree, it’s not possible for everyone to watch the matches live. So we’ll just have to be content with getting through the day to come home and watch the recorded matches. Your spouse will understand (hopefully).
3. Familiarity and Knowledge – Football fans, especially in the United States, are exponentially more exposed to football and the leagues around the world than we were 4 years ago. Thanks to ESPN, Fox Soccer, GOLTV, and Setanta we have been able to follow leagues overseas like never before. We take these things for granted now, but it was far more difficult just four years ago to do this. This means we are much more familiar and knowledgeable of the players of the 32 countries competing this summer. Not only do we get to see the most popular players more often, but we have the ability to be familiar with the lesser known players. It won’t just be the Ronaldo’s, Messi’s, and Rooney’s that grab our attention this summer, but our relationship with the De Jong’s, Assou-Ekotto’s, and Song’s will be just as appreciated.
4. Location – This World Cup is the first to be played in the continent in the history of the competition. I can only imagine the sense of pride this brings to the 5 African national teams competing to do well, including the host country which has the potential to advance. South Africa will also be a great venue for the World Cup because 6 of the 10 stadiums hosting the matches have been completed or renovated in the last 2 years, giving fans a new and unique atmosphere throughout the tournament.
5. Devices – Technology has given us the ability to get more involved with the World Cup. ESPN3 has given us the ability to watch the matches from our computers and even on replay later. ESPN Mobile TV streams games to our cell phones, iPads and iPhones (via Mobi TV), or FLOTV devices. ESPN has also launched an official World Cup app that brings news, updates, and stats for everything World Cup. EA Sports has come out with the official 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa video game available on April 27th, putting you in the tournament.
Technology has come a long way in the last four years. I can’t even imagine what World Cup 2014 will bring us. Why do you think World Cup South Africa 2010 will be the best?
