Collision course: Wimbledon vs. the World Cup final

Wimbledon officials admit that they were caught off guard by FIFA’s scheduling of the World Cup final, a decision that pits soccer’s biggest game against the men’s singles final on July 15.

This has huge implications because England, who plays Sweden in the quarterfinals, still has a chance of playing in the championship in Moscow. The World Cup match is set to begin two hours after the men’s tennis final begins, a decision that Mick Desmond, the All England Club’s commercial and media director, said Wednesday came after a “dialogue” between FIFA and tennis officials.

“We’ve always known it was going to be there, we knew 18 months ago,” Desmond said. “But I think it’s slightly surprising that FIFA have the kick off at 4 o’clock (11 a.m. Eastern). It’s not something they’ve done in the past but that’s their decision,” he said. “Our tournament (final) always starts at 2 o’clock (9 a.m. Eastern), and we’ll start at 2 o’clock.”

FIFA, of course, isn’t budging either, saying that the match time decision was made more than two years ago based on the global broadcast market.

The average length of the men’s final since 2002 is two hours, 45 minutes (via the Telegraph), which means there would be some significant overlap.

The BBC has already adjusted its plans, saying that the men’s final would appear on BBC1 for one hour, then move to BBC2 for the first time in BBC history. The All England Club does not plan to show the soccer match on its grounds, even if England is playing in the final.

Viewership of England’s victory against Colombia on Tuesday peaked at 24.2 million during the penalty shootout, or about 81 per cent of the people watching TV in the UK, according to the Telegraph.