Does ESPN Deportes air MLS? If not, would ESPND consider MLS a desirable property? Would it be enough of one to reduce the cost for MLS to air on ABC/ESPN2?
MLS is NOT on ESPN Deportes. ESPN Deportes currently is nothing more than a dumping ground for ESPN International soccer properties that don't sell in the US: UEFA Champions League, Dutch League, and Dutch National Team. ESPN Deportes does NOT have any properties that appeal to the majority (i.e. 70%) of US Hispanic sports viewers, namely futbol matches that matter involving big Mexican teams.
ESPN Deportes is going nowhere fast for years to come as all the Mexican packages have been sold for the next several seasons.
The TV rights to La Interliga starting with 2007 are in play. FOX Sports Int'l currently has those rights through 2006, but you can bet that ESPN will require SUM/MLS to hand the rights to La Interliga starting with 2007 over to ESPN as a new condition of getting MLS onto ESPN2. No Interliga for ESPN (Deportes), no MLS on ESPN2. SUM/MLS of course will also need to secure the US English-language TV rights to World Cup 2010 and Women's World Cup 2007 within the next 24 months if SUM/MLS wants MLS on ESPN2 in 2007. ESPN only cares about the World Cup (which gets good ratings for key games involving the US) and would like to have La Interliga (to boost ESPN Deportes), but ESPN does NOT care about MLS (which is stuck at 200000 homes +/- 20%, Freddy Adu or no Freddy Adu). Basically, SUM/MLS is stuck between a rock and a hard place: either it has to spend a ton of money in order to get MLS back on ESPN2, or it'll have to go elsewhere (i.e. FOX Sports Int'l). Starting "MLS TV" is NOT a viable option for the next 5 to 7 years.
I'm not sure that's really a difficult decision. Giving FSI exclusive rights isn't really an option right now, especially if you're trying to get people to watch. The good news is that unless there's been a dramatic change in the television landscape I'm not aware of, there's no competition for the rights to WWC '07, and no network is going to shell out the money necessary to land WC '10. Oliver, why is it that ESPN is willing to pay millions for NHL rights, but requires MLS to buy time?
I'm not Oliver... but there have been a few threads on NHL TV matters. NHL games can substantially outrate MLS, especially during the playoffs, when the games may outrate MLS by 5-1. Plus there are more commercial breaks so ESPN can sell much more advertising. The NHL sells a lot of beer and cars. Even if MLS didn't give its sponsors a decent amount of protection, it would not sell nearly as much product on English-language TV simply because, again, the ratings are lower. Spanish-language TV would of course be a different story.
I'm not Oliver either, but note ESPN isn't giving the NHL millions anymore, in fact no one did. NBC signed a revenue sharing agreement with them. So the consensus is that even if ESPN Deportes got national coverage (i.e. on most if not all cable systems), it would consider MLS less desireable than the Mexican league? Would it actually pay anything for MLS, or would SUM/MLS have to pay extra for coverage?
Actually, that's not true. ESPN will pay the NHL $60 million for the 2004-5 season, and $70 million a year for the '05-'06 and '06-'07 seasons. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5009347/
If ESPN Deportes survives for the next year or so — at least they have Sportscenter and it's done cheaply —, then does anyone know if we'll see it on Dish? I really would like to watch Barcelona rip through the next Champions League.
