Welcome Back!

It's been a long, amazing summer and now it's time to prepare for the 2010/11 Serie A season. The first round begins Saturday August 28, a bit late compared to the other big leagues. There have been some note-worthy changes in the scheduling of games:

1) There will be Sunday afternoon matches, creating an earlier third timeslot
2) A few Monday night matches will happen (alla EPL)
3) Teams with upcoming Champions League matches will play Fridays

All of this will be made clearer after the first round. Essentially, its a good step forward, in my opinion, to make Serie A more contemporary. I do have a major concern though when it comes to how games will be televised. As Fox Soccer rises, as does Fox Soccer Plus, and how they decide to prioritize EPL over Serie A. Since FS+ requires its own subscription (which I'm not willing to pay), some bigger Serie A matches, which would normally be broadcasted on FSC, could get the boot in favor of EPL matches. All of this is only speculation though, as we'll see how it really goes in the coming months. As a friendly reminder, here are my suggestions to check out weekly matches:

1) RAI: While requiring subsciption, they broadcast the most games and have the best coverage of Serie A.
2) Fox Soccer Channel: Available in most digital cable packages, FSC offers a solid amount of matches.
3) Fox Sports en Espanol: Its not uncommon when FSC delays Serie A matches that they will air live on FSE. Not a bad resource to forget about.
3) ESPN3.com: It's not TV, but its free with most internet providers and has at least 2 matches per round, up to four.
4) GolTV: Holds the primary TV rights to the Coppa Italia and Europa League.
5) Fox Soccer Plus: While they seemed to have aired live Serie A matches, I'm not willing to pay X-amount in subscription for one match per week.

As for Champions League, Fox again holds the rights this season so look to FSC, FS+, and FSC.com for broadcasts.

In the coming days, I'll be previewing the new season, transfers, favorites, and expectations. I'm also hoping to share some experiences I had in my very first trip to Italy. I got to see some of my favorite stadiums and took some great photos. Being able to finally see the cathedrals you watch on TV each week sheds a whole new light on the great game. I can't even imagine what its like to watch a real match over there.