"Sources: New MLS TV Deal With Fox/ESPN Could Be Worth $70M Annually" (Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Daily - Friday, 1/10/14) NBC begins its final season of MLS broadcasts on March 8 GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"M.L.S. gets its life-changing television moment" (Capital - Monday, 1/13/14) New York Red Bulls' Dax McCarty (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
There'll apparently be no more MLS on NBC and NBC Sports Network after 2014. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
WOW. $70 million for 8 years. almost $3 mil per team. i'll bet you they still dont raise the salary cap fast enough/high enough to satisfy most teams
That is a real shame. Fox and ESPN are both awful at producing quality sports broadcasts. NBC isn't ideal, but they are far better than their competitors. I'm trying very hard to look at the bright side in terms of revenue, but the nightmare of an MLS game being called by Joe Buck is too difficult to overcome at this moment.
Losing a broadcast partner is never a good thing, particularly a huge one like NBC. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Fox has Gus Johnson though! I liked NBC's coverage of MLS, but I did not like that it got second billing behind the Premier League. I like that Fox Sports is putting out a lot of effort for UFC and I feel they will do the same for MLS.
After you take into account the big corporate MLS employee payouts. Then you divide what ever is left by the 20 (?) teams. And over 8 years is it really that much? Even at 3mill per team in an ideal world. That's only 375k per year.
The article posted said 70 million per year for eight years. Although some of that is for US qualifiers. Unless I'm totally misreading it.
"M.L.S. Set to Change Channels" (New York Times - Wednesday, 1/15/14) NBC put up billboards in Manhattan's Times Square last summer to promote its coverage of England's Premier League before a game was played (Tom Pennington / Getty Images) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"MLS’s big play" (Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal - Monday, 5/12/14) MLS Cup, which ESPN broadcast in 2013, will alternate between ESPN and Fox Sports. (Photo by: KYLE EVANS / ESPN IMAGES) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"M.L.S. and TV Networks Reach Deal to Set Weekly Slots for Games" (New York Times - Monday, 5/12/14) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
There's an MLS press conference on the subject scheduled for today (Monday, 5/12/14) at 10:00am PDT, to be streamed live here: GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"ESPN takes over out-of-market package" (Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal - Monday, 5/12/14) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"Univision shows MLS the love with new deal" (Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal - Monday, 5/12/14) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"MLS, U.S. Soccer sign landmark TV and media rights partnerships with ESPN, FOX & Univision Deportes" (MLSsoccer.com - Monday, 5/12/14) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"MLS, U.S. Soccer sign landmark television & media rights partnerships" (SJEarthquakes.com - Monday, 5/12/14) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"ESPN, Fox and Univision promise new emphasis to domestic game, MLS in landmark eight-year TV deal" (MLSsoccer.com - Monday, 5/12/14) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
"What MLS's new media rights deals mean for match streaming & MLS LIVE" (MLSsoccer.com - Monday, 5/12/14) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
ESPN, the station that won't cut away from a women's professional basketball game or synchronized swimming or high school volleyball match to a scheduled soccer game.
With the new MLS TV deal kicking in next year, the new opening intro to the nationally televised games should resemble the opening intro of HBO's Game of Thrones (except for each stadium and its city's landmarks raising rather than castles and moats), right down to the same music and such. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G