MLS asking FSC for $20M a year

Re: FSC offering MLS $7M a year

Just thought this thread could use a different title.

 

http://www.epltalk.com/premier-league-surpasses-mls-as-americas-league-to-watch-on-tv-27776

If someone over pays for the mls rights wouldn't this only drive the price for EPL up? would FSC want to do that to there own product?

 

Re: Positive rep if anyone tther than tab5g is the first to respond

I don't know about the National team. Honestly, I've only watched a couple league games on Mun2, but from that small sample it's easily the worst broadcast of any sport I've ever seen. (If you've seen the "fans" call the EPL games on FSC, this is similar IMO only the production isn't as good). I didn't come back for more.

I typically watch one MFL game each week (the Sunday game on Univision usually), but I probably would watch more of the Mexican League if even an average English PBP was available. I'm surprised a couple of the clubs haven't done it already.

 

Re: Positive rep if anyone tther than tab5g is the first to respond

I thought at one point FMF was available on English language channels.

 

Re: Positive rep if anyone tther than tab5g is the first to respond

FSC had a deal with a handful of teams a few years back.

 

Re: stopping all Positive rep for anyone

Not yet, look for the NBC/Comcast merger to go through in Q-1/2 of 2011. There are a lot of reports saying Versus could be rebranded as NBC sports network or some such thing. Who knows if that's true or not, what is true though is that they are looking to make the channel a true competitor to ESPN after the merger.

They are looking to use the NBC muscle and Dick Ebersol's name to get NFL games on the channel. They will have a year to get their kinks worked out and the IOC is comfortable with Ebersol, he'll get them to give the rights to the new company. Look for a lot of Olympic coverage to be on Versus or whatever the channel is called by 2012 as a way to get those that haven't given it a chance yet to tune to the station.

The new company will work hard to keep the NHL strictly a NBC/Versus product, they really don't want to lose any part of it to ABC/ESPN. They won't go hard after the NBA/MLB, ESPN, TNT, and TBS can keep them for now. What they care about is keeping the NHL and getting Versus into the NFL game.

This is really why I wish MLS would talk to Versus now and take something to get their foot in the door. FSC is fine but it isn't what ESPN is and it's not what Versus will be. Putting Versus and NBC sports together is a big part of this merger, it would behoove MLS to be a preexisting part of the package. I'm not saying that I want MLS to be with a company that doesn't want it, however if they make a deal with Versus now NBC sports is forced to figure out what they can do and want to do with the property post merger.

 

Re: stopping all Positive rep for anyone

It makes sense.

Thanks for the info.

Oh, that's right. La Primera Division clubs negotiate individual TV deals (although, several are owned by Televisa and presumably offered as a package).

So, then Telemundo has most of the big clubs, aside of the Televisa group?

I suppose Versus could move for the English language rights too.

 

Thanks

 

Does FSC have 20 million to spend?

 

maybe not on MLS.

but they've reportedly offered $7 million/year.

so I'm guessing/hoping some kind of compromise can be negotiated.

 

That sounds like a good number.

Especially for a channel that isn't available in every market.

I wonder what trump card MLS has to be asking so much money? I know versus is mostly pointed to, but Don and Co have some cahonas.

 

that's a step up from their current production quality!

 

i actually would disagree with the notion that MLS putting "too many" games on national TV would split their audience. I actually think it could help by creating more of a constant presence in the minds of potential (but more casual) watchers of MLS -- which would probably include many folks who watch the big Euro leagues on FSC. Having FSC treat MLS as a more respected league, with ancillary programming and more live games would probably elevate the status of the league in the mind of some US soccer fans. It at least would affect the perception of the league, at least in some small incremental way IMHO.

I do agree with the point about not adding yet another TV partner (say, keeping FSC and adding a weekly game on Versus as well). But if they sold a package of 2 games a week to FSC or Versus and worked out a deal for ancillary programs specifically related to the league (or at least US Soccer in general, as this package apparently includes some USMNT games as well), I think that could benefit the league.

Also, if the league is asking for more money and FSC is willing to up their payments regardless, it at least brings up the question if more games are in the package. There are I think 66 additional MLS games this year compared to 2010 (17 home games each for the two new teams and 2 more home games each for the other 16 teams) so the extra inventory is there to sell if desired by MLS.

 

aren't they increasing the number of games as well?

 

Re: stopping all Positive rep for anyone

I was researching NHL and NBA TV ratings to compare them to MLS and stumbled upon much of the Versus information outlined nicely in this post. The only thing I would add is it seems the NHL is waiting for the sale to Comcast to be finalized before entering into serious negotiations for their next broadcast rights deal. It's hard to talk to a company in the midst of an ownership change. This might explain why MLS/Versus talks haven't been moved to the next level. Versus could still be a viable option for the league.

 

I am still trying to get Fios to add FSC in HD in their lineup , but to no avail. They claimed that the channel has very limited footprint.

 

Here in New York during the big Cablevision/Fox contract fight that resulted in 2 Fox stations being pulled from the Cablevision lineup for weeks Cablevision pointedly stated that Fox was trying to force them to pay premium prices for stations their customers didn't care about, I assumed they meant FSC (possibly amongst others). It wasn't a good sign that final resolution of the dispute didn't include upgrading FSC to HD.

 

You need more Ronaldihno to attract huge commercial money, also no one really care to see Champs like Rapids on TV and some other team. Realistic MLS could get like $5million a year, but not $20million a year.

 

Well, since it's reported that FSC has already offered $7M a year, it seems like a realistic number would at least be $7M, not $5M.

 

Personally, I could careless what the realistic yearly worth is. I, and I'm sure MLS, am more concerned with what the actual contract will be.

And I don't think MLS is going to ask for a lower amount.




$20M a year could include a few things:

• extra content (Superliga or SUM owned rights)

• MLS produces all games to ensure higher quality

• happy fun time halftime bonanzas (oh just you wait and see)

 

It will be somewhat like the deal NHL received from Versus few years ago. Very few people at the time thought the league deserved the amount they squeezed out of Versus based on the low ratings hockey had back then (the numbers did increase significantly in the last few years though). Versus made that big of an investment because they wanted to grow their business and be in more households.

FSC has the same goal (although smaller in proportion) and in trying to reach it the last thing they want now is to lose an existing and important customer base, however small. MLS knows this too and the fact that Fox may need to keep showing the games to have a chance of being awarded the world cup rights, if they decide to go for it. Without knowing any of the details, the $20 mil figure looks way too high but that's how most negotiations start; with an absurd offer. They'll likely settle for a more reasonable amount later (I don't see them going their separate ways).

 

You know, so many people have disagreed with my "overexposure" argument, that I'm probably wrong. I can't think of how I'm wrong; I still think I'm right. But I'm probably wrong.

The corollary of your point would be that $7M is absurd on the other end of the spectrum. Which, if true, is interesting in its own way.

 

True that. If these are both simply starting points for negotiation and they end up settling "in the middle" around $13M a year or something, that's still a massive upgrade for MLS. Heck, even in FSC "wins" and goes for $11M, it would be impressive....

 

The FOX/Cablevision dispute was only over the networks (FOX 5 and MyNetworkTV 9). The cable networks, 4 of which are carried in HD (FX, Speed, FOX News, and FOX Business, and maybe others I'm unaware of but not FSC), stayed on the whole time.