Official FSW/MLS Announcement

[AndyMead]

David Sternberg, General Manager of FSW and Fox Sports en Espanol just announced that

4 year agreement with MLS

on FSW
minimum of 25 regular season games per year (most at 7pm ET, Saturdays)
minimum of 8 postseason games per year
weekly 1 hour show "MLS Wrap" - (12am ET)

on Fox Sports en Espanol
game of the week

--
the first game will be DC at KC on 4/12

[GoDC]

Local announcing teams or FSW announcers??

[AndyMead]

Did I mention the 4,000 word interview with David Sternberg in ECG#18? ;)

[AndyMead]

Some guy from Fox Sports International just updated

most games will run live 7:30pm-9:30pm on Saturdays.

MLS Wrap will run on Saturday nights at midnight, ET. Normal highlights, plus "Fox Populi" a call-in/voice mail segment.

Christian Miles will be at each match, and will be able to pose viewer supplied email questions to players after the games!

[caddisfly]

The full schedule of televised games can be found here- http://mlsnet.com/content/03/mls0401fsi.html

New York, NY (April 1, 2003) - Fox Sports International (FSI) has reached a four-year agreement with Major League Soccer to nationally televise at least 25 regular-season games and at least eight playoff games per season on Fox Sports World and Fox Sports en Español, commencing April 12. The agreement will also extend the broadcasts to Fox affiliated networks in Latin America and the Middle East. The announcement was made during a joint press conference today by David Sternberg, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fox Sports World and Fox Sports en Español, and MLS Chief Operating Officer Mark Abbott.

The new Saturday Night Soccer on Fox Sports World will open with the D.C. United - Kansas City Wizards match on Saturday, April 12, live at 8:00 p.m. (ET), and Fox Sports World reporter Christian Miles will be on-site to contribute a halftime and post-game report each week. In addition to the live telecasts, at midnight eastern time following each game, Fox will produce MLS Wrap on Fox Sports World, an hour-long, weekly studio-hosted highlights show covering league-wide highlights, stats, interviews and standings that will include an interactive viewer email element. On Fox Sports en Español, the weekly Saturday night game will be broadcast in Spanish as La MLS en Fox Sports en Espanol.

"We are very pleased that America's top soccer league has joined our roster of exceptional global soccer programming and we are confident that our alliance will spur a new level of excitement for soccer fans across the country," said Sternberg. "Through our combined efforts, we will generate increased visibility of American soccer talent both at home and abroad."

Major League Soccer is ecstatic about the opportunity to showcase our regular-season and playoff contests, the competitive nature of our teams and the personality of our players on a cable network that has become a destination for soccer fans in the Western Hemisphere," said Abbott. "Our fans have been clamoring for a weekly highlight show and Spanish-language broadcasts, and Fox Sports World has helped us deliver.

Fox Sports World and Fox Sports en Español will nationally broadcast most weekly games at 7:30 p.m. (ET). Soccer fans can get detailed MLS game information by logging onto the networks' Web sites, www.foxsportsworld.com or www.fse.terra.com.

[AndyMead]

Announcers will be finalized in 5-7 days

including one "high profile" MLS player who is transitioning to broadcasting. I'm guessing Harkes.

[Minnman]

In a word ... perfect.

And, Andy, you must be happy at all the KC games, eh? The interview with Sternberg in the most recent ECG provides some great background to this announcement.

[monster]

Originally posted by AndyMead
Announcers will be finalized in 5-7 days

including one "high profile" MLS player who is transitioning to broadcasting. I'm guessing Harkes.

Anything to do with an announcement between Balboa and the Rapids on Thursday?

Most important phrase in there is Fox will produce MLS Wrap .... The fact they they are producing it astounds me. Never thought they'd do anything more than show something SUM produced. Good deal.

[GoDC]

Originally posted by AndyMead
Announcers will be finalized in 5-7 days

including one "high profile" MLS player who is transitioning to broadcasting. I'm guessing Harkes.

Excellent. This is going to be a good year!!!

[caddisfly]

Here's the break down on the number of appearances by team-

San Jose- 1
DC- 10
Kansas City- 7
Chicago- 6
Columbus - 10
Colorado- 5
LA- 3
NY- 3
New England- 7
Dallas- 4

[AndyMead]

Match commentary will be handled from the studio with the one on-site field reporter.

They may send reporters to some post-season games.

[mpruitt]

Originally posted by AndyMead
Match commentary will be handled from the studio with the one on-site field reporter.

They may send reporters to some post-season games.

That makes sense that they'd do it that way. It is a little bit disapointing, would always rather have them there at the game, it's not like these games are being played in Argentina. But I'm really splitting hairs here. This is excellent news.

[Tea Men Tom]

A big postive for MLS. This is terrific news for both MLS and FSW.

[cpwilson80]

Looks like I finally need to update the cable package :)

Sucks that I only get to see San Jose 1 extra time, but I'll still be watching all these games.

It's a shame the highlight show is on at 12 on Saturday though...I will have to find the soccer friendly bars around town.

Great news for MLS fans. What was all that talk about Fox not being interested? ;)

[Sachin]

Originally posted by cpwilson80
Looks like I finally need to update the cable package :)

Sucks that I only get to see San Jose 1 extra time, but I'll still be watching all these games.

It's a shame the highlight show is on at 12 on Saturday though...I will have to find the soccer friendly bars around town.

Great news for MLS fans. What was all that talk about Fox not being interested? ;)

FSW is a totally different beast than the over-the-air Fox TV network. After writing off nearly $1 billion worth of losses associated with NFL coverage, I doubt Fox is looking to add any more sport properties.

Dammit, now I have to buy a TV and figure out a way to blow up the building next to mine so I can get a clear southeastern view.

Sachin

[mjtate]

Originally posted by cpwilson80
Looks like I finally need to update the cable package :)

Sucks that I only get to see San Jose 1 extra time, but I'll still be watching all these games.

It's a shame the highlight show is on at 12 on Saturday though...I will have to find the soccer friendly bars around town.

Great news for MLS fans. What was all that talk about Fox not being interested? ;)

I would assume that the MLS highlight show will be rebroadcast throughout the week at other times. For us with TIVO, it really doesn't matter.

I think I saw a post by FSW Producer who said that the announcing teams would be local crews, as opposed to in studio talent.

[AndyMead]

Originally posted by mjtate
I would assume that the MLS highlight show will be rebroadcast throughout the week at other times. For us with TIVO, it really doesn't matter.

I think I saw a post by FSW Producer who said that the announcing teams would be local crews, as opposed to in studio talent.

I saw that post, but it contradicts what they said during the press conference. During the press conference they said that they'd use an in-studio crew during the regular season. They might use stadium crews at select post season games.

Looking at the Wizards games alone, there are seven games on FSW. Of those, only one is only scheduled for broadcast on FSW. They could definitely leverage the stadium crew for the other six games. The two FSW/DC games will be broadcast by Comcast Sports Net (Dave Johnson and Curt Onalfo), the two FSW/Chicago games will be on Fox Sports Net Chicago (hello Jack Edwards!), then one away game will be on MetroSports (Sean Wheelock and Ron Newman), one game will also be on HDnet, and the final game will be on three networks: FSW, HDnet, and MetroSports.

I don't know if HDnet is using remote crews or not. MetroSports is not a member of the FSNet family, which may or may not play into whether local crews are leveraged.

[QPR Kevin H]

This had better not disturb their classic cricket series this summer.

[Minnman]

I'm assuming that FSE will end up broadcasting in-studio for the Spanish-language simulcasts.

So are ALL of the FSW/FSE matches piggybacking on regional broadcasts, or will there be some games that are produced solely by Fox? Initially, I remember it being reported that one of the reasons why MLS was negiotiating with FSW was to pick up those handful of games not covered by regional deals and the Shootout.

I suppose we won't know for sure until MLS announces it's entire TV schedule, including all regional, FSW/FSE and Disney broadcasts.

[Ismitje]

This sealed it for us - announcement of the deal bet. MLS and FSW on 3/31, we bought our DISH on 4/1, and we'll be up and ready for game one. Anyone who upgrades their cable or goes to a dish system to get FSW because of this should email both the company they recieve the channel through and FSW as well.