Think there will be more than a few of Bristol’s brass checking out the U.S. women’s national team against Costa Rica at 6 p.m. (ET) this evening on ESPN2 or ESPN3.com.

In a stunning upset, the U.S. women’s squad lost to Mexico 2-1 in a World Cup qualifying match in Cancun on Friday Nov. 5. Now, FIFA’s No. 1-ranked team is in jeopardy of not making the tournament next summer in Germany. To qualify, the U.S. must beat Costa Rica  in the third-place CONCACAF match on Nov. 8, then topple Italy in a home-and-home series on Nov. 20 and Nov. 27.

If not, the sports programmer would be on the hook for covering the 16-team tourney from June 26 and July 17, sans the U.S. side.

While the 2011 Women’s World Cup isn’t likely to be anywhere near the ratings magnet that the 2010 men’s tourney became — even if the soccer and cultural gods aligned again like they did in 1999, the tournament is being played in Deutschland — it’s still an important piece of business for ESPN.

Asked by Multichannel News editor in chief Mark Robichaux at the end of OnScreen Media Summit panel last month what was coming up on network, Sean Bratches, executive vice president of sales and marketing at ESPN, replied succinctly: Women’s World Cup.

Moreover, new senior vice president of marketing Carol Cruse talked about wanting to get involved with FIFA’s tourney next summer, during her first interview since accepting the job.

Queried about the importance of U.S. playing well and advancing beyond the Group C stage at last summer’s tournament from South Africa, ESPN officials invariably toed the party and non-jingoistic line, stating that while they hoped the men’s team would perform well, it wouldn’t stop the worldwide leader from covering FIFA’s famed event as the global competition that it is.

If things don’t fall right tonight — and then later this month — ESPN executives would have to encounter a different line of questioning heading into next summer’s event.

Women’s Professional Soccer would also take a major hit if the U.S. team didn’t qualify for WC 2011. Indeed, the distaff domestic circuit that saw its Los Angeles team, featuring Brazilian superstar Marta fold after its rookie season, and had another squad from St. Louis kick it during the middle of its second campaign, now has two other squads teetering on the brink of financial failure. A strong showing in Germany could give WPS some much-needed juice.

WPS’s predecessor, Women’s United Soccer Alliance — borne out of this nation’s defining futbol moment, Brandi Chastain’s jersey-baring, 1999 World Cup triumph — showed that three isn’t always a lucky number when it comes to female futbol.

The cable-centric WUSA, which was championed by John Hendricks and included Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Cox Enterprises Inc., Cox Communications Inc., Amos Hostetter’s Pilot House Soccer LLC and the Discovery Communications founder as owner/operators in the single-structure entity, collapsed after its third campaign, right before the 2003 Women’s World Cup kicked off.

Of course in the spirit of what doesn’t kill you on the pitch, can only make you stronger, ESPN could be sitting pretty here. Clearly, the U.S. was supposed to breeze through the CONCACAF qualifying. Now there is interest in something that was only the radar of the most fervid futbol fanatics. Should the ball fall the right way tonight against Costa Rica — the U.S. is 6-0 lifetime against it, including a 4-0 pasting earlier in the qualifying event — Abby Wambach and crew would also be heavily favored against the Italians, ranked 11th by FIFA.

But the U.S — 24-0-1 against No. 22 Mexico, outscoring their neighbors to the south by a 106-9 count, and 21-0-0 in WC qualifying via a combined score of 131-3, before last Friday– was never supposed to be in this position. To paraphrase Chris Berman on “The Blitz,” that’s why they play the matches.

Somehow, if the U.S. doesn’t find the back of the onion bag enough, there could be a lot of tears — and not only from the American players.

(The U.S. took care of business against Costa Rica behind a pair of Wambach goals. Now, it’s on to Italy, against which the Americans hold an 8-4-1 edge, but have been booted all four times they’ve played on The Boot.)

At least Cablevision and Fox didn’t finish their retransmission-consent contractual contretemps as best buds.

Cablevision and Fox — after forestalling the festivities last year when the New York Yankees were a much more likely candidate to play in the American League Championship Series (the broadcaster had the rights) and meet the National League-favorite Philadelphia Phillies in the Fall Classic — had been out of contract since Oct. 16. After continually swiping at each other over, they finally struck a retransmission accord in principle in time for the first pitch of Game 3 of the 2010 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers.

As such, the signals for Fox’s broadcast stations in New York (WNYW FOX5 and WWOR MY 9) and Philadelphia (WTXF FOX 29) DMAs, as well as Fox Deportes, Fox Business Network and Nat Geo Wild, were back with Cablevision shortly before 7 p.m. on Saturday Oct. 30.

The parties’ dispute drew local and national political proclamations from on high, not to mention assorted character and economic aspersions (think Gordon Gecko’s greed, not paens on Glee) from each other. In the process, it also tackled Dr. Gregory House and NFL games, including Eli Manning’s New York Giants versus the mighty Detroit Lions; fanned the former tenants of the Polo Grounds in their six-game triumph over the Phils in the National League Championship Series; and shut out the first two games of the Fall Classic for some on local TV for the first time since 1994, when Bud Selig and the Major League Baseball Players Association engaged in their own game of economic disconnect.

The Cablevision and Fox deal, terms of which were not disclosed, came the day after the programmer and Dish Network ended their own license-fee stalemate. That one had kept 19 regional sports networks, FX and Nat Geo from Dish customers since Oct. 1. The accord also averted a much wider retrans battle with Fox owned-and-operated stations that could have ensued with the expiration of their deal on Nov. 1.

That prompted Gleeful statements from the formerly conflicted: “After prolonged negotiations to reach a fair deal, we’re pleased to enter into a long term agreement with Fox and to assure our customers that they can continue to enjoy these channels,” said Dave Shull, senior vice president of programming for Dish Network, in a statement. “We thank our customers, our retail and channel partners, and our employees for their support through these negotiations, which we believe resulted in a fair deal that reinforces Dish Network’s position as the best value in television.”

For his part, Mike Hopkins, president, Fox Networks affiliate sales and marketing, enthused: “I want to thank our partners at Dish Network who worked tirelessly to help us reach a successful conclusion. This agreement provides a strategic partnership between Fox and Dish to bring the best programming to Dish subscribers.”

But when all was said and done on Saturday evening, the programmer and the predominant New York MSO couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to feign Hollywood kisses.

Fox was matter of fact with its statement: “Fox Networks and Cablevision announced today that they have reached an agreement in principle for a new distribution agreement to provide more than 3 million households with programming from WNYW FOX5 and WWOR My9 in New York, WTXF FOX29 in Philadelphia, and the cable channels Fox Deportes, Fox Business Network, and Nat Geo Wild. The signals for all stations and cable channels were restored Saturday prior to the first pitch of World Series Game 3 on Fox.”

The cable operator wasn’t: “In the absence of any meaningful action from the FCC, Cablevision has agreed to pay Fox an unfair price for multiple channels of its programming, including many in which our customers have little or no interest. Cablevision conceded because it does not think its customers should any longer be denied the Fox programs they wish to see.”

Cablevision then thanked the 175 government leaders that echoed its call for binding arbitration, before rallying again for legislative correction: “It is clear the retransmission-consent system is badly broken and needs to be fixed.”

The MSO concluded by saying: “In the end, our customers will pay more than they should for Fox programming, but less than they would have if we had accepted the unprecedented rates News Corp. was demanding when they pulled their channels off Cablevision.”

Say what you will about the value of Fox, versus other broadcasters and the license fees paid to cable networks of varying quality and viewership.  It’s called pay TV for a reason, and it’s inevitable that distributors and ultimately consumers — unless they’re dropping out of the TV game altogether or cutting cords to inconveniently receive less access to the hundreds of available networks, and replace them in large part by video clips on smaller screens — are going to pay more for it.

In recent years, the parties on both sides of the traditional viewing equation have voted to air their license-fee negotiations and retransmission-consent laundry in public. Those elections may finally result in real — as opposed to the threat of — government and/or FCC intervention in these matters. Can’t imagine programmers and distributors truly see that as a happy Hollywood ending.

Kiss. Kiss.

The bookmakers might be happy with the upset-forged match-up, but it’s not so easy to figure Fox executives’ feelings about this year’s Fall Classic.

The 2010 World Series lineup is set and it doesn’t include the New York Yankees and/or the Philadelphia Phillies as the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants made sure of that. Last year, the Bronx Bombers’ dethroning of the then-defending champion Phils averaged 19.4 million viewers over six games. That was almost a 6-million viewer jump from the 13.6 million average for the rain-doused, five-game Philadelphia-Tampa Bay mess, the least-viewed World Series ever.

Moreover, Yanks-Phils, representing DMAs No. 1 and No. 4, amassed the largest audience for the Fall Classic since 2004, when the Boston Red Sox buried the St. Louis Cardinals and the Curse of the Bambino before 25.4 million viewers on average.

A rematch of the game’s most storied franchise — if the love-em or loathe-em Yankees had sent the ALCS to a Game 7 on Saturday night, TBS would have no doubt scored cable’s largest MLB audience ever, eclipsing the 13.4 million for the ultimate game between Tampa and the Bosox in the 2008 ALCS — and the cultural phenomenon the Phillies have become in the City of Brotherly Love, certainly would have had its merits.

Just not so much of lock with the Nielsens because of Fox’s retransmission-consent battle with Cablevision. Out of contract with the MSO since Oct. 16, Fox swung and missed with its coverage of the Giants’ six-game elimination of the Phillies in the National League Championship Series on WYNW in New York and WTXF in Philadelphia (the MSOs’ customers are also learning to live without Fox Deportes, NatGeo Wild and Fox Business Network). Yankees fans didn’t have to worry about the ALCS because TBS was at the Dish.

Speaking of which, Fox owned-and-operated stations also face the prospects of a retransmission-consent World Series shutout with the nation’s No. 2 DBS provider on Nov. 1 — it’s been out of contract with Dish since Oct. 1 with FX, National Geographic Channel and 19 regional sports networks. Should the 2010 World Series prove to be competitive, Games 5, 6 and 7 are slated for Nov. 1, Nov. 3 and Nov. 4, respectively. If a renewal accord can’t be reached, Dish Network topper Charlie Ergen won’t be able to invite his subscribers to “let’s watch TV” and the concluding Fall Classic contests.

Although Fox’s MLB programming leverage in Philly and New York has been benched, the programmer and Cablevision now don’t have to worry about enduring louder Bronx cheers from consumers that would have co-mingled with the assorted constituency cries of  local politicians had the Yanks-Phils squared off again.

As such, maybe the upcoming Rangers-Giants battle, which is not exactly small town — Dallas-Ft. Worth is the fifth-largest DMA, while San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose ranks sixth  — doesn’t look so bad after all. Indeed, the story lines are straight out of Tinseltown.

The Rangers, recording their first two postseason series win to get there, have never been to a World Series since their forbear’s inception in 1961. Their new ownership group, headed by Chuck Greenberg and former Rangers fireballer, Hall of Famer and now team president Nolan Ryan, bought Tom Hicks’s club (A-Rod is still looking for his) out of bankruptcy this summer and later inked a $1.6 billion contract extension from Fox Sports Southwest with an $80 million upfront payment for next season that could keep ace Cliff Lee away from the New York Yankees and the YES Network.

For their part, the Giants haven’t won since 1954, when a fellow named Mays made his circus catch and throw against Cleveland’s Vic Wertz in the Polo Grounds. Four years later they took that piece of baseball lore and followed their nemesis — known in these parts as Dem Bums — west to throw out the first pitch on the modern era of baseball.  Although not nearly lamented or loathed as the erstwhile Brooklyn Dodgers, the Giants retain a place in the hearts and minds of some (including at least one MCNer on the publishing side) in the Big Apple.

Unless the parties reach a resolution (nine days in, there was no end in sight) Cablevision customers will have to make other arrangements to see the Fall Classic, when it starts on Wednesday Oct. 27. Rangers fans in Big D face those prospects as well with Fox-owned KDFW-TV likely to be staring at an 0-2 count with Dish when Halloween ends.

Hometown Giants fans will only have to fret whether the fourth time will be the Fall Classic charm since the club set up shop in the City By The Bay — KTVU in Oakland is a Fox affiliate, not part of its O-&-O roster. It will remain on the air throughout what could become known as the Retrans Series.

So, the U.S. and England, the motherland of the game, wound up on the wrong end of FIFA’s vote to host the 2022 and 2018 World Cups.

But there’s another election, likely in October 2013, when a number of media companies can even the score to some degree against the side from Zurich.

If history is prologue — the autumn before the upcoming World Cup, next time from Brazil in 2014 — is the span when FIFA will select the carrier (s) for the 2018 and 2022 men’s tournaments, as well as Women’s Cups and other youth championships in between.

That’s when the U.S. can speak softly by carrying a not-so-big rights fee stick, one that responds to the myriad questions surrounding how politics, petrodollars, vote-swapping and the putin, er, putative legacy that FIFA believes its famed futbol tourney leaves behind, all seemed to have coalesced in favor of Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. That nation, home to 1.7 million people, 900,000 fewer than who live in Brooklyn and where temperatures could reach 120-degrees during the competition, will be the first from the Middle East to hold the FIFA fest.

In 2005, FIFA accepted a relative pittance of $425 million from Univision ($325 million) and ESPN/ABC ($100 million) for the rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, as well as the women’s tournaments in 2007 and 2011, plus 11 other competitions and events. Yet, it was the biggest media rights fees futbol’s international governing body had received from a single nation.

In the U.S., we play hard (without too much diving on the pitch or flopping on the basketball court) and bigger with most sports rights. Think about it: Comcast was willing to pay some $400 million annually for Versus-predecessor OLN to jump into the NFL game for eight primetime contests per season over a multiyear deal, before the pro football league decided to keep the slate for its in-house network.

No doubt, the upcoming FIFA rights negotiation will draw more than that, given soccer’s continued growth in this nation and the interest yielded by last summer’s tournament — 100 million tuned in at least some of the action from South Africa. The question is by how much.

With David Hill on the board of directors for the US Bid Committee, whose members also included Univision CEO Joe Uva and ESPN EVP of content John Skipper, Fox, flanked by FX and a presumably a much larger Fox Soccer Channel near decade’s end, signaled it was ready to join the World Cup rights revue in the States.

And who knows if the combined Comcast-NBCU might also consider heading in an offer featuring the broadcast network, Versus and Spanish-language network Telemundo for the globe’s top sports event — yes, Mr. Ebersol it is bigger than the Olympics.

Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation and the man who directed the US Bid gambit, said during the nation’s final presentation before FIFA on Dec. 1, that rights fees in the U.S. would essentially double for each World Cup. With $212 million apportioned for the 2014 tourney in what figures to be a somewhat time zone-friendly Brazil, Gulati suggested the dollars could approach an Olympic-like $1 billion for the 2022 competition. But that was with the U.S. hosting advantage, not from the land of central air-conditioned and transportable stadiums.

Even if there is interest from multiple parties, it’s hard to envision the rights escalating to anywhere near that level for FIFA with its new striker tandem of Russia — Sochi, remember, is home to the Winter Games in — and Qatar.

Eight hours ahead of the East Coast, the World Cups from Russia and Qatar certainly don’t offer the home-nation interest and the primetime Nielsen possibilities that would have been afforded by a Stateside 2022 tourney.

Nor should the aforementioned media entities fill FIFA’s net with anywhere near the amount of cash projected by Gulati in the bid blather put before king, um, president Sepp Blatter and the 22 members of his executive committee court.

Overcoming a string of clunkers on the field, ESPN managed to rally with its last two Monday Night Football matchups and ease past the Nielsen goal line during the 2010 season.

In its fifth MNF campaign, ESPN averaged a 10.5 rating (9.1 nationally), 10.49 million households and 14.66 million watchers, advances of 1%, 2% and 2%, respectively, over the 10.4 cable rating, 10.3 million households and 14.38 million watchers in 2009. That had been ESPN’s previous best with the franchise it took over from Disney broadcast brethren ABC.

The late-season push also means that ESPN will join the NFL’s other carriers in scoring regular-season ratings gains during its current campaign.

The worldwide leader was bolstered by the 19.1 million who watched New Orleans edge Atlanta 17-14 on Dec. 27, its top telecast of the season and the third-largest in cable history.

ESPN also rung every last bit of drama out of Brett Favre during the Dec. 20 game. Declared out with the same bad shoulder that snapped his league record 297th consecutive start the week before against the New York Giants, Favre strapped it on one last time before the frigid Vikings faithful at the University of Minnesota, before absorbing a concussion during Minnesota’s 40-14 trouncing at the hands of the Chicago Bears. That game, despite the old gunslinger’s second-quarter exit, was viewed by almost 17.1 million, which ranks as the 10th-largest cable audience ever.

Those contests helped make up for the small-market teams — Tennessee-Jacksonville on Oct. 18 and Houston-Indianapolis on Nov. 1 — the NFL bestowed on its biggest rights’ benefactor at some $1.1 billion annually. The Week 15 and 16 contests also overcame a run of four consecutive routs — Philly 59-Washington 28, San Diego 35-Denver 14, San Francisco 27-Arizona 6 and New England 45- New York Jets 3 — that no doubt reduced average viewership on the Monday nights between Nov. 15 and Dec. 6.

Looking ahead to next season (a precept that would be helped by the lack of an NFL labor stoppage) and beyond, ESPN may have difficulty matching its MNF success of the last couple of seasons, on the Favre factor alone. No. 4’s presumed retirement will reduce the number of casual Nielsen NFL fans. After all, his presence has helped account for the first, eighth and 10th most-watched shows in cable history (see list below).

Top 10 Most-Viewed Programs in Cable Television History (Viewers):

Rank Date Program Network Viewers(000s)

1. 10/05/2009 Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings ESPN 21,839

2. 11/30/2009 New England Patriots-New Orleans Saints ESPN 21,402

3. 12/27/2010 New Orleans Saints-Atlanta Falcons ESPN 19,137

4. 09/15/2008 Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys ESPN 18,608

5. 10/25/2010 New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys ESPN 17,953

6. 12/03/2007 New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens ESPN 17,522

7. 09/27/2010 Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears ESPN 17,454

8. 10/11/2010 Minnesota Vikings-New York Jets ESPN 17,313

9. 08/17/2007 High School Musical 2 Disney 17,241

10. 12/20/2010 Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings ESPN 17,094