Love to see the graph, but one thing is wrong. FCD is being shown 4 times on Gala/Tele. See this for confirmation: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/galavisión-and-telefutura-set-broadcast-30-mls-matches-2011 Just pointing it out so the conversation doesn't get too far off track with misleading numbers. Also, FCD is being shown twice on FSC. They've updated the schedule now at mlssoccer.com.
Good catch, updating it. Code: [U]Team Games on: ESPN FSC TSN Gala/TFTA Total[/U] Chicago 4 1 0 7 [B]12[/B] Chivas USA 2 1 1 8 [B]12[/B] Colorado 2 7 1 2 [B]12[/B] Columbus 0 2 1 0 [B]3[/B] FC Dallas 0 2 1 4 [B]7[/B] DC United 3 4 1 3 [B]11[/B] Houston 1 3 1 8 [B]13[/B] Sporting KC 1 3 2 5 [B]11[/B] Los Angeles 6 7 1 5 [B]19[/B] New England 1 2 3 3 [B]9[/B] New York 8 2 3 5 [B]18[/B] Philadelphia 3 4 1 2 [B]10[/B] Portland 3 5 3 3 [B]14[/B] Real Salt Lake 2 2 0 1 [B]5[/B] San Jose 1 3 1 2 [B]7[/B] Seattle 5 5 2 0 [B]12[/B] Toronto 0 2 13 0 [B]15[/B] Vancouver 0 3 13 2 [B]18[/B] If anyone else catches other errors, let me know. I was pulling numbers from several sources, and haven't had much chance to proof it.
Shouldn't nationally broadcast games be more worried about how fans outside of their respective markets feel about watching those teams? I mean otherwise the local channels could just cover them if only the fans of the teams were going to watch.
keep in mind, these are just from the league schedule. there are still yet to be finalized additional national tv broadcasts for non-MLS competitions and summer friendlies (at least 8 on ESPNs they say) in 2011. we can already add 2 FSC games to RSL's and the Crew's totals, given their CCL quarterfinal match up in the next two weeks. and as one of those teams progresses, their games will likely be nationally televised in that competition throughout the knockout stage. and then the 2011-12 CCL will start up later in the year.
There's slightly more that it doesn't, actually. In the end, the only thing that moves the needle, in terms of TV ratings are dog-and-pony shows like David Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Ratings were up in games in which they played, down when they didn't, and even those had diminishing returns, which is the reason why ratings were down last year... despite good crowds at Seattle, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. And if "game presentation" matters, why is RSL not on TV more? They do pretty well in terms of crowds.
I'm not going to add those to this table because it then is no longer an apples-to-apples comparison. With this table, every team has 34 regular season games, and this shows how many of them are broadcast nationally in the US and/or Canada. If you start adding additional tourneys/friendlies, the comparison loses its meaning. Also, just to add this here: I deliberately sorted the table alphabetically, instead of by total, because one could argue that the Canada/USA divide unfairly skews total appearance numbers.
I understand that. and the table is useful as is. I was just pointing out that the table is incomplete in some way, if we're trying to analyze if there are varying levels of national exposure throughout the year, and if that leads to any potential issues as the season and playoffs play out (on tv). the MLS league schedule is a significant part (but it isn't the only part) of the business SUM is managing/promoting.
Naturally. If I had more time, I'd try for something more comprehensive. For me, it's just fascinating to see teams like Columbus, RSL, Dallas and San Jose get so few games in spite of their being playoff teams last year. Some of that is due to market size, and I'm sure there's ratings data that backs up why the broadcasters chose different teams to highlight. But for teams like RSL and Columbus, I bet this year's number of nationally-broadcast, regular-season games is at least half that of last year's, and that just genuinely surprises me.
The CCL point is an interesting one. Columbus, Salt Lake and Dallas are collectively guaranteed at least 6 CCL games this MLS season. The max number those 3 would play would be 13 if RSL/Crew make the CCL final and if Dallas qualifies for the group stage. It doesn't make up for not being featured on ESPN, but mitigates not being shown on FSC. Meanwhile the Canadian teams aren't being shown much in the U.S. but the winner of the Canadian championship will get 2-8 CCL games, so that's something as well.
if FCD sign a "David Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Cuauhtemoc Blanco" type name in the months ahead, I'm guessing their 2012 national tv schedule will be busier. although, I thought there was some evidence that Seattle (as a tv market) also helps the overall rating (in unexpectedly positive ways). while dog-and-pony shows reported move the needle the most, that doesn't mean that other variables (such as teams playing or host team/venue) also don't move the needle, at least somewhat. again, we don't see all that data, and we certainly don't see a lot of market-by-market analysis or demographic analysis of MLS tv audiences. I don't know. this is not a linear or zero-sum discussion and everything's not going to easily add up or make sense to our under-informed outsider minds. maybe the MTZ doesn't work so well for national tv. maybe RSL begged off of Thursday/Friday home games.
it is a bit surprising. (but not all that surprising when you look at the market size ranks for Columbus and SLC.) business decisions rely on eyeballs and customers, moreso than "quality/successful" soccer it would seem (such was my contention in response to the Western Conf Champs and MVP-having FCD comments -- maybe Dallas, despite it's large population really just isn't that helpful of an MLS tv market, relative to what other, even smaller, markets offer).
Interesting. If you take out the TSN games, since we don't get those here in the U.S. (Canadians should feel free to do the same the other way): Total U.S. national league broadcasts (so far): Los Angeles 18 New York 15 Chicago 12 Houston 12 Chivas USA 11 Colorado 11 Portland 11 DC United 10 Seattle 10 Sporting KC 9 Philadelphia 9 FC Dallas 6 New England 6 San Jose 6 Real Salt Lake 5 Vancouver 5 Columbus 2 Toronto 2
Indeed. It's the problem of TV in the last decade really - broadcasters love the context-less high stats in anything. There's other fascinating things too: Seattle getting no Spanish-language games? Chicago getting so few FSC games? 12 teams in the league getting a roughly a third-or-more of their games nationally broadcast? I wish there was an archive of MLS tv broadcast info put together somewhere, because it'd be interesting to compare how much the "product" has grown in exposure lately, even if the ratings haven't done the same thing.
As a Houston fan, I appreciate the spanish language games just as much as the ESPN games. It's broadcast, noncable tv, hitting a receptive market (and somewhat untapped, nationally). i always stop when i see games on galavision, telefutura, etc, no matter the league, i'm not that out of the ordinary, am i? The sexy factor of ESPN would be nice, but this works for me, and i'm sure, CDCUSA fans also.