King for a day: 5 changes at Fox Sports

This week we’ll do something new at Awful Announcing – a series that is a great intellectual endeavor for us that will put fear into the hearts of network executives around the country.  In this series, we’ll imagine a scenario where we are put in charge of each of the major sports networks for one day with the mandate that we can change five things at the network.  The five things can be anything… but they have to be somewhat based in reality and possible to implement.  Hey, we’re realists here, no monkey’s paws allowed.

View our five changes at ESPN here.

So what are the five changes we would make if AA was king for a day… at Fox Sports.

1) Increase Fox Sports 2’s distribution

This is much easier said than done. It’s easy to forget that Fox launched not one but two 24/7 cable sports networks in August 2013. Nevertheless, while Fox Sports 1 has gotten all the press, Fox Sports 2 has been forgotten by almost everybody in the sports world. And it’s simple the reason why – at last check Fox Sports 2 was in 45 million homes, which is less than pretty much every other major sports network by a long way.

FS2 has mainly been a dumping ground for UFC Reloaded reruns, Australian football, and Mike Francesa… but with Fox picking up more and more live rights, it could be a real focus point for Fox Sports going forward. Even if Fox was taking a below market, below expectations deal from cable providers (hello, Comcast) across the country, isn’t *any* rights fee better than nothing?

With the popularity of European soccer continuing to soar in America, fans actually being able to watch the Bundesliga, Champions League, and Europa League games that get shunted to Fox Sports 2 would only be a good thing. Right now Fox Sports 2 is the black sheep of the cable sports universe and anything to get it in front of more eyeballs and more television sets would be a good thing, even if Fox has to take a hit in the short-run. Turning Fox Sports 2 into even a semi-legitimate option for sports fans should be one of the company’s top priorities.

Also, when events (baseball, college football, NASCAR, UFC) run over, having wider distribution for FS2 could allow Fox to start events on time on a network other than FX and not infuriate fans in the process.

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