History of Major League Soccer on television
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Major League Soccer has been broadcast live in the U.S. nationally since the league's inception in 1996 and in Canada since 2007.[1] In the United States the game is broadcast in English on Fox Sports 1 and Fox, in Spanish on Fox Deportes. In Canada, MLS is broadcast on TSN in English and RDS in French.
All matches are streamed live on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.
Historical breakdown
From the 2015 season until 2022, MLS matches were broadcast nationally by
Matches not televised nationally were broadcast regionally, often by
From 2012 to 2014, MLS matches were broadcast by NBC Sports, with 40 matches per year—primarily on NBCSN, and select matches broadcast on the NBC network.[8] The move from Fox Soccer to the more widely distributed NBCSN proved successful, with viewership numbers doubling for the 2012 season over those of Fox Soccer.[9]
1990s
On March 15, 1994, Major League Soccer with ESPN and ABC Sports announced the league's first television rights deal without any players, coaches, or teams in place.[10] The three-year agreement committed 10 games on ESPN, 25 on ESPN2, and the MLS Cup on ABC. The deal gave MLS no rights fees but split advertising revenue between the league and networks.
The inaugural
The 1997 MLS Cup was also broadcast on ABC in the United States, where it was watched by an estimated television audience of 2.2 million viewers, setting a record that would stand until the 2016 final.[15] Bob Ley[16] replaced Phil Schoen, who served as the sideline reporter for 1997 only, as play-by-play while Ty Keough returned as a color commentator.[17] The match was also televised in more than 100 foreign markets by ESPN International;[18] it was the first MLS Cup to be broadcast in the United Kingdom, where it aired on Eurosport.[19]
The
The match was also broadcast by local radio affiliates in multiple languages. In Chicago, WZCH carried the English broadcast, WRZA carried Spanish commentary, and WKTA had the match in Polish.[23] The Spanish broadcast was aired on WACA in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area.[24]
The entire 1999 All-Star Game[25][26] was aired to ESPN2[27][28][29] as ABC aired a special news report on the search for John F. Kennedy Jr.'s missing plane.
The ABC broadcast of the
2000s
The
ABC moved the start time of the
Bad weather at
English play-by-play commentary for the 2002 MLS Cup on ABC was provided by JP Dellacamera with color analysis by Ty Keough and pregame and halftime shows hosted by Terry Gannon and Eric Wynalda, reprising their roles from ABC's coverage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.[45][46] The Spanish broadcast was handled by play-by-play commentator Ernesto Motta and color analyst Andres Rodriguez.[47] The ABC broadcast was watched by an estimated audience of 1.2 million views, the lowest for an MLS Cup at the time.[48]
English play-by-play commentary for the
In
2005-06
From
The 2005 MLS Cup was televised in the United States on ABC in English and Spanish using secondary audio programming. English play-by-play commentary was provided by JP Dellacamera with color analysis by Eric Wynalda, reprising their roles at MLS Cup 2004.[52] Brandi Chastain provided sideline reporting, while Rob Stone anchored the pre-game and halftime shows. The Spanish language broadcast was provided by ESPN Deportes and included commentary from Randall Alvarez and Eduardo Biscayart. The match was also streamed via internet radio on MLSnet.com.[53]
After averaging 223,000 viewers during the 2006 season,
On August 4, 2006, ESPN reached a comprehensive multimedia agreement with Soccer United Marketing (SUM) for the rights to Major League Soccer through 2014. As part of the eight-year agreement, ESPN2 will televise 26 regular-season and three playoff MLS matches each year, all in primetime on Thursdays.
Highlights of the agreement include:
- ESPN2 will televise 26 regular-season MLS matches, primarily on Thursday nights.
- ESPN2 will televise three MLS playoff matches.
- ABC will televise one regular-season MLS match, the MLS All-Star Game, and MLS Cup. (replaced by ESPN in 2009, until 2017, returned starting in 2019)
- Televised coverage of the first round of the MLS Draft.
- MLS telecasts can be re-aired in full or abbreviated versions on any ESPN media platforms
- Extensive footage rights for all ESPN media platforms such as ESPN360, etc.
- ESPN will also produce and be solely responsible for the content, whereas, they had not been able to do that in the past.
The
2007-09
Before the start of the 2007 season, the league and ESPN announced that MLS Primetime Thursday would be the flagship broadcast as part of a new television contract, ending an 11-year broadcast run of matches on Saturday afternoons. Also in 2007, ESPN2's coverage of the MLS included new on-screen scoreboards, similar to those used on other sports telecasts. In 2008, another new score graphic was debuted, this time in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
ESPN added several features in an attempt to improve presentation—high-definition broadcasts, a sky-cam for some matches, a virtual offside line, a ball tracer, a sideline reporter, and three commentators. For the inaugural season,
ESPN would join forces with Fox Sports and Univision to broadcast over 100 MLS games (combined), live and exclusive, from 2015 and 2022 in its new media rights deal. ESPN has been involved with the league since its inception in 1996.
Coverage of MLS expanded into Canada in 2007 with the addition of Toronto FC. Currently, English-language national MLS broadcast rights in Canada are held by the TSN networks through a five-year deal first renewed in 2017. The networks primarily broadcast matches involving the league's Canadian franchises, in combination with separate "regional" rights deals giving TSN exclusive rights to all Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC matches.[63][64] A limited number of matches are also carried by CTV.
The
For the 2008 season, JP Dellacamera and John Harkes replaced O'Brien and Wynalda as the lead team on ESPN2[71] with Davis, Smyth, and Julie Foudy occasionally filling in.
Former CBC affiliate, then E! and now CityTV affiliate CHAT-TV in Medicine Hat, Alberta did not air the 2008 All-Star Game,[72] because of Calgary CBC station CBRT-TV, as well as online through live streaming on the CBC Sports[73] website.
The
Following the 2008 season, ESPN discontinued MLS Primetime Thursday, citing lagging ratings[78] and hoping to find better lead-in programming. It was replaced by the MLS Game of the Week, which rotates among a variety of nights and time slots.[79]
Ratings have largely remained steady or stagnant despite the move from the regular time slot. Viewership averaged 299,000 per broadcast in 2009, up from 253,000 in 2008;[80] however, it dipped to 253,000 in 2010 before rebounding to 291,000 in 2011[81] with some matches (having been moved to ESPN as opposed to ESPN2) drawing over 600,000 viewers.
On January 23, 2009,
For the 2009 season and beyond, the Thursday telecast was replaced by a variety of primetime games on Wednesdays through Saturdays. Beginning in 2009, until 2019, as part of ESPN's far-reaching strategy of moving sports programming to ESPN, all matches - including MLS Cup - are now aired on either ESPN or ESPN2. Since 2019, select regular season and playoff games, and in odd-numbered years, only the MLS Cup will air on ABC.
The
2010s
In February 2011, the
Toronto FC regional games were split between the TSN and Sportsnet families of networks (their parent companies, Rogers Communications and Bell Canada, jointly owned a stake in TFC's parent company). Sportsnet also aired Vancouver Whitecaps FC games (primarily on its Pacific feed and national network Sportsnet One),[92] and TVA Sports aired Montreal Impact games.[93]
Also in 2011, MLS on Fox Soccer was rebranded as Soccer Night in America, with its production revamped to provide a viewing experience similar to
On January 5, 2012, NBC Sports signed a three-year contract with Major League Soccer
NBC Sports took over the Major League Soccer rights from
NBC Sports' ratings for MLS improved greatly due to the increased presence of NBCSN (fueled by their NHL television package), with average ratings for the games jumping 122% for the inaugural season of the contract in 2012. Yet still, several games ranked at or near the bottom of the ratings among sporting event and entertainment telecasts, whereas ESPN's MLS coverage – which was railed by fans as being inferior to NBC's – had higher viewership, attributed to the greater availability of ESPN and ESPN2 nationally.
NBC and NBCSN's MLS telecasts during the 2013 season averaged 115,000 viewers per game, a steep drop from 2012. Looking to capitalize on further soccer opportunities, NBC Sports acquired the rights to the Premier League from Fox Soccer in 2012, in time for the 2013–14 Premier League season. Speculation abounded on if MLS was to be treated by the sports division secondarily to the Premier League, which has a greater U.S. audience than the domestic league, placing MLS' future with NBC in doubt.
In 2014, negotiations broke down between NBC and MLS on a new television contract. The league instead signed an agreement with
NBC also operates a blog, ProSoccerTalk, which ran news headlines from Major League Soccer and other international soccer leagues. With NBC acquiring the broadcast television rights to the Premier League in 2013, significantly more coverage of the English top-flight was added to the site.
2015-19
In 2015, MLS and TSN announced a new broadcast agreement that included a five-year media rights extension.[101] Under this new partnership, TSN became the exclusive English-language broadcaster of MLS in Canada beginning in the 2017 season.[101] TSN currently delivers exclusive coverage of every MLS game featuring Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, a select number of CF Montréal matches, a selection of matches featuring U.S. teams, as well as exclusive English-language coverage of the MLS All-Star Game, MLS Cup Playoffs, and MLS Cup.[101]
The 2015 agreement also included a new five-year agreement with TVA Sports as the official French-language broadcaster in Canada.[101]
Meanwhile, MLS Soccer Sunday is telecast primarily on
English-language and Spanish-language feeds are carried on ESPN3.[103]
As part of the current broadcast agreement between Major League Soccer and its network partners,
Additionally,
MLS Soccer Sunday is telecast primarily on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes in the 7 pm Eastern Time Zone broadcast window.[103] The first broadcast on March 8, 2015 was the first match of a doubleheader featuring Sporting Kansas City and the New York Red Bulls.[105] The second match featured Seattle Sounders FC and New England Revolution.[106]
In 2015, Soccer Night in America was again rebranded as MLS Soccer Sunday due to a new deal between Fox and ESPN/ABC, with games on ESPN airing from 5-7 pm ET, and games on Fox Sports 1 airing from 7-9 pm ET. In addition, during select weekends, ABC will air select games at 3 pm ET.
Also starting in 2015,
On January 10, 2017, TVA Sports acquired national French-language rights to Major League Soccer.[110]
In 2018, online streaming service DAZN obtained Major League Soccer's digital out-of-market service MLS Live—with live and on-demand streaming of matches featuring U.S. teams (matches with Canadian teams are only available after a 48-hour delay to protect the league's main rightsholders TSN and TVA Sports).[111]
For the
2020-present
The
The
The
The ABC broadcast was watched by an average of 1.14 million viewers, peaking at 1.63 million during the penalty shootout. It was slightly higher than the Fox broadcast for MLS Cup 2020 and 38 percent higher than the MLS Cup 2019 broadcast on ABC, but lower than the Thanksgiving playoff match featuring Colorado and Portland.[125] The top viewing markets included Portland, where the match garnered a 11.7 rating, Greenville, North Carolina, Seattle, and New York City.[126] The UniMás and TUDN broadcast in Spanish drew 354,000 viewers.[127]
In 2022, Apple Inc. and MLS reached a deal to stream every MLS match on Apple TV beginning in 2023. The deal will still allow for traditional network coverage, but Apple will be the primary rightsholder.[128]
See also
- List of MLS Cup broadcasters
- List of current Major League Soccer broadcasters
- List of ESPN Major League Soccer personalities
- Sports broadcasting contracts in the United States#Soccer
- Sports broadcasting contracts in Canada#Soccer / Association Football
- Major League Soccer#Media coverage
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External links
- 5 Ways to Fix MLS TV Ratings
- MLS, U.S. Soccer sign landmark TV and media rights partnerships with ESPN, FOX & Univision Deportes
- ABC Sports Presents MLS Cup 2002
- MLS Cup TV Ratings
- Timeline: Two decades of MLS - Sports Business Daily
- Record Low Rating For 2010 MLS Cup
- ABC, ESPN2 unveil broadcast team, enhancements for 2005
- Why Major League Soccer Expects Ratings Boost for Saturday’s MLS Cup Championship Game
- MLS Finally Recalls Roots