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The explosive growth of MLS in the United States continues.
The MLS just inked a new media rights deal with ESPN, FOX Sports and Univision that will televise MLS and U.S. matches in the United States until the end of 2022.
The deal is only estimated at around $720 million, which is distant in comparison to the United States' four other major sports (NFL $27 billion, MLB $12 billion, NBA $7.5 billion, and NHL $2 billion in the U.S. and $5 billion in Canada), but this deal couldn’t come at a better time to position the MLS for long-term success.
"We are honored to partner with ESPN, FOX and Univision to form the most comprehensive U.S. media rights partnership in the history of soccer in our country," MLS commissioner Don Garber said during a news conference on Monday. "The commitment from our television partners in terms of structure, length and magnitude is unprecedented, and these new partnerships are another strong indicator of the League's continued growth and the overall fan interest in our sport."
Fans will be able to catch Clint Dempsey on the MLS stage and with the USMNT on a regular basis with the new 8 year deal. (Photo: @SoundersFC | Twitter)
NBC Sports has already dialed up the media coverage of soccer in the U.S. with its acquisition of rights to the English Premier League, and with the World Cup coming up in a month, soccer exposure is going to explode in the United States. This latest deal with the MLS includes changes that seem tailored toward growing the league's television audience.
The major change is that there will be consistent scheduling. Similar to Sunday night baseball, or NBA on Thursday nights, the MLS will now play a nationally televised double header every Sunday night on ESPN and FOX Sports 1 at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET, respectively.
According to Forbes, the MLS has a higher average home game attendance than the NBA and NHL. Yes, the stadiums are bigger, but thus far the MLS has not seen the same level of media support and advertising dollars flowing into the league as the other major sports in the United States. Also, with MLS' recent expansion to new markets such as Atlanta, New York, Orlando and Miami, TV ratings will only go up. Not to mention, ESPN3 (the online sports network in more than 92 million homes) will carry out-of-market games which used to be MLS digital properties.
“ESPN remains firmly committed to world-class soccer and this agreement underscores our belief that this is an ascendant sports property," said ESPN president John Skipper.
ESPN has clearly gone out of its way to embrace the World's game. Their World Cup Coverage has been stellar in previous years and is improving ahead of this year's tournament in Brazil. As one example, the USWNT and USMNT have had most of, if not all of their qualifiers televised. Now with ESPN 30 for 30 Soccer Stories, Inside the USMNT series, and this new MLS deal, they’ve shown that futbol is here to stay.
FOX also has given futbol a fair share of love. It was they who first started televising the EPL, and now are the main UCL carriers for the country. They’ll be televising the all-Madrid Champions League final in 12 days and got a good piece of the pie in the new MLS deal.
“This groundbreaking deal represents a giant leap forward in the exposure for, and the commitment to, soccer in the U.S.,” said Eric Shanks, president of FOX Sports. “Not only are we making a significant financial commitment, but we also plan to mobilize FOX’s substantial promotional resources to raise awareness and grow the fan base for our nation’s premier soccer league and its national teams.”
No matter what happens in Rio with the USMNT, soccer is growing in America. Whether or not the USMNT can make a run in this year's World Cup (or even get out of its "group of death" given the challenges the team will face), the growth in futbol in the United States has only just begun.
