[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