The Zapper

U.S. soccer fans are a long-suffering breed, a point underscored last weekend when an important World Cup 1998 qualifying match between the U.S. and El Salvador (page 48) was seen live in zero households nationwide. Instead, the game was available only on closed-circuit TV at commercial establishments willing to pay fees ranging from $700 to $5,000 to Inter-Forever Sports, which holds the rights to all of El Salvador's home games. Inter-Forever had turned down ESPN's $10,000 offer for domestic rights, believing it could earn more from closed-circuit subscriptions. The losers were U.S. Soccer, which realizes limited pay-TV is no way to attract much-needed support, and soccer fans, most of whom didn't get to see a game they should have been able to see at home for free.