epl rights aren't sold whole. there are different parcels, each clearly spelled out as to how many and which games it includes. bidding on each parcel takes place independently of the other parcels.
Overall I think this is good news for MLS, mainly because it demonstrates that there is a lot of real competition for domestic soccer broadcast rights. Broadcast rights fees for soccer are growing at an exponential rate - that's good for MLS and its vision of becoming one of the world's top leagues over time. If MLS can generate a similar amount of competition for its rights when the existing deals wind up in a few years, it can only mean more TV rights revenue for the league (higher salaries and more resources invested in development) and increasing and better showcasing platforms for MLS as a television product. The only question mark I had about the EPL rights bidding process was about the potential for beIn Sports to so dramatically over-bid for rights as to upset the economics of these deals creating a situation where the network owning the rights wouldn't be stable and there would be greater pressure on the product to pay back those investments. However, MLS' track record has shown an interest in creating financial stability for the league with an eye towards long-term growth over short-term gain (and increased risks). I agree that it's more likely that MLS goes for another long-term deal than a short one when the next bidding process happens, and the size of some of these recent sports media deals indicates to me that MLS stands to greatly increase revenues on its next league TV contract over what it got as far back as 2006. The current deals go through the next World Cup year, so sticking with that pattern the next deals could be 4 or 8 years. I could see an 8-year deal at a greatly increased payment level being very seductive to a league that is still focused on keeping its head down and doing the nuts and bolts of growing sustainably over time by increasing the level of play, adding new markets and new sponsors, growing attendance and building new stadia.
I don't know about you but I can barely handle two quality football matches per day (and with the nap in between too). If NBC can show 3-5 of them daily - and let's not forget that the EPL will be getting so much new money in the next cycle, even their worst teams will be filled with the top internationals - I will not be demanding to see the 6th match, with the possible exception of it being Real-Barcelona. And MLS will not be on that level. Ever.
The fact there is this amount of competition over displaying the sport in America is, to me, a good sign. It means people see a value in trying to broadcast it. This might just be a natural progression for the sport. We have gone from FSC, which is limited, to what looks like national broadcast TV and cable for games through NBC. Not to mention the beIN trying to push it's way into the market.
They always have, the NBC deal with MLS already gives NBC the rights for 4 USA Friendly games. Regarding Telemundo, I wonder if that would piss off Univision since they have the rights for Spanish language (8-10 million per year). Some one correct me of wrong, but didn't the ESPN deal signed in 2006 called for some games to be on ABC then ESPN dropped that part of the deal later on?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...nbc-confirms-epl-deal/index.html?sct=sc_t2_a3 Can't really complain about any of that. 18-20 games per season on NBC. No joke.
NBC Universal Acquires Exclusive English Premier League Rights in the United States More on NBC-English Premier League News
Just minutes ago, during the Sunday Night Football game, they had Costas spend 15-30 seconds announcing that NBC got the EPL rights, too.
18-20 games on NBC is huge and will inevitably mean EPL games leading into some MLS games (and NHL games when MLS is over). Wow.
One thing that isn't mentioned much, but is that this EPL deal (and MLS) is probably part of Comcast's plan for their World Cup coverage -- Telemundo is going to be the new rights holder in the next TV cycle and the Spanish language broadcast get massive ratings. Part of the plans for the EPL is to put some on Spanish language channels and it wouldn't totally surprise me if Comcast uses Telemundo as part of a future MLS bid (if they want to keep the league come 2014).
Um, the live MLS game? I mean, if the choice was between a live EPL game and a live MLS game, well that's a different story. But it's not like repeat EPL games garner worthwhile ratings, they were just cheap time filler for FSC because they already owned the rights. And let's be clear: MLS games don't draw great ratings, but neither do EPL games either. Some of the bigger matchups get some healthy numbers, but overall it's not like EPL games are in the area of mainstream sports in the US. The biggest thing that EPL games have is that they draw in much better ratings than you would get with other available programming in those early morning slots. FSC has basically made themselves EPL-centric in recent years, so it pandered to a customer base that wanted to be able to turn on the channel and see something related to that league; Comcast won't have the same motivation with NBCSN, I don't think we'll see much of any replays of EPL games on NBCSN. Maybe the Monday afternoon games will be shown in the early evening, maybe some replays on Sunday afternoons since there's no point in putting up something that costs money to produce against the NFL. But if the choice comes down to live sports versus repeat EPL games, I don't think we'll see EPL games.
Keep in mind that Fox is going to convert Speed (which is in a lot of homes) from a motorsports channel into a general sports channel (a la ESPN or NBC Sports Network) called Fox Sports 1. This is happening early next year, I believe. So, there choices with FSC is the following: 1. Keep it as a soccer centric channel and/or world sports centric and try to get some additional properties to make it work. Maybe get the Bundesliga from Gol TV or look into getting games from the Portuguese or Russian leagues. 2. Convert the channel to Fox Sports 2, a general interest sports network which can use the existing properties as the backbone (it can be more soccer/international focused than FS1). Either way, without the EPL, I think Fox Soccer Plus is toast.
We've talked about this over in Commissioner, but it bears repeating that the new EPL TV deals are enormous. When the foreign deals are sorted out in the next few weeks, it's entirely possible the EPL TV contracts will be as lucrative as the NFL deals -- about $3 billion annually. But even if they don't catch the NFL, the EPL clubs will still be rolling in cash. There are scenarios where even the 20th EPL club would get $115m annually from the TV deals, or nearly 90m euros. By comparison, the 20th richest club in the world in Deloitte's 2012 money league made just under 115m euros from all sources. http://www.sportingintelligence.com...ng-where-the-money-goes-and-what-next-190601/ Link to NFL deals: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...ion-per-year/2011/12/14/gIQARJdmuO_story.html
Not for the US rights. They sell all the rights to one bidder. Recently, it had been FSC which has subleased some of the content to ESPN. Now, with the new deal, it is Comcast. That's every single EPL game.
I find it interesting that NBC is paying almost exactly the same for MLS and EPL on a per game basis. They both are about $220K per game. If the reports are accurate: MLS $30 Million over 3 years / 45 games per year = $222,222 EPL $250 Million over 3 years / 380 game per year = $218,298
And yet EPL clubs have run up an estimated $3.8 billion in debt before the season started. So something is still broken in their system. Good point and often forgotten on soccer messageboards. The EPL will never be part of U.S. mainstream sports and its ratings will reflect that. It has niche appeal. Will our own domestic soccer league ever be part of U.S. mainstream sports? I don't know. We'll know in about ten years. The next step is television.
I think this is very good for MLS. NBC has done a great job this season with the league and actually promoted it and marketed like a major sport which is something Fox Soccer never did. The two leagues will have a mutually beneficial relationship where the MLS games are advertised during EPL games and vice-versa. Another major point is that they can air afternoon MLS games after the late EPL matches and I'm sure since they're paying almost 3 times as much per year, they will do a great job with the league as they have done with the MLS. One thing to remember is that Fox isn't technically screwed for soccer coverage before the World Cup. EPL rights are only 3 years which means Fox can pick up the rights again air the league for 2 seasons leading into the 2018 WC.
A lot of that money will pay off debt. Some of these clubs have to reduce their debt payments as the FFP regulations become more strict.
Agree with the top, not the bottom paragraph. Have you noticed the frequent olympic replays on NBCSN? Every time I turn it on they are playing the closing ceremonies. Plus they have all the Comcast outlets to program. Anyone with a sports tier package is going to be able to OD on EPL. This can only be good for MLS. NBC is smart enough to use the 12.30 EPL match to lead into a 2.30 or 3 MLS match. Huge win for MLS. I hope they stick with NBC. If only NBC had won the WC instead of Fox. But Im glad to see this programming moving from Espn and fox. Neither has handled soccer well for anyone beyond a casual fan. More NBC, more BeIn please.
A lazy mistake on my part. Actually I don't like the term and have said so months ago so I'm not sure why I used it, perhaps it just seemed a good descriptive to use for easy recognition of a the group I was referring to in the context of the post. I don't believe any negative labels are useful since they are divisive and and only help alienate people further. PS "Even Man Utd fans", could be seen as flame baiting.
I suppose this is my concern. If NBC looks at the landscape and says hey, soccer has some upside but we don't want to compete with NHL games, lets get the EPL for morning programming and NHL for evening and forget MLS. The question would then become, does Fox and ESPN/ABC even care.
Yes, how can they possibly show both NHL & MLS? It's not like they've already done it this year. NHL is October-April and MLS is March-October, so the seasons are practically identical. I don't know how they can possibly cram 2 MLS games and 2 NHL games in on the same weekend, especially since they can't play in the morning anymore since that's when the EPL will be on. That only leaves Friday night, Saturday afternoon and night, Sunday afternoon and night. There just aren't enough hours. So your paranoid conspiracy theory seems pretty accurate.
Only about a half of the EPL matches will be on NBC SN. Others will be on other platforms and not always live. At least, MLS is on live if not always kicking. PS. I pondered the EPL schedule on other threads. They have to have the US East Coast morning matches as much for the Asian market - 9 hours time difference to Tokyo, making a 1 PM-2 PM Greenwich matches prime time in Japan - but now there will be additional pressure for them to add the 8 PM - 9 PM Greenwich Time match as they do often on Mondays, for the Americas (daytime) and again Asia (the next mornings). PPS. The Bundesliga rights are available after this 2012-13 season and, since GolTV is a dead network walking, I assume Fox Soccer can pick them up if it wants to have some inventory for the weekends. The German league doesn't draw as well as the English but, with the rights acquired, FSC should be able to promote them better via the current CL and Europa league broadcasts as the league itself has a ton of intrinsic soccer value.