More MLS TV Ratings tidbits

On NAS, a guy who works for ESPN said the tape-delay game (the one scheduled with Col-LA), drew a "0.11 rating which translated to 95,000 homes."

 

Not to get too anal about it, but kenn's source showed that last year's ESPN2 overall rating was either .17 or .18, I can't remember which. Rounded up that would of course become .2.

 

Why does MLS continue to put delayed telecasts on ESPN2 after midnight on the east coast on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, knowing full well that those telecasts would draw less than 100000 homes each?

Note that the ratings numbers supplied by ESPN are inflated by about 20%. ESPN uses 84 million as the denominator. The industry standard reporting method (used by Larry Stewart of LA Times among others) is to use the total number of households overall, or 108 million. 95000 homes would translate to a pathetic 0.088% rating.

You can't try to sell 95000 homes on a national basis and be taken seriously on Madison Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard. Just ask WUSA.

In its 9th year of operation, MLS should have figured out the following by now:

1. Don't put any more tape-delayed broadcasts on ESPN2 during Memorial Day or Labor Day weekend. There is nothing wrong with skipping a week. The viewers won't disappear from the Saturday 4pm ET slot just because MLS has to skip a week.

2. Don't schedule any more home games in the Northeast, particularly New Jersey, during Memorial Day weekend unless the game is part of a doubleheader with a friendly match that appeals to ethnic audiences (i.e. Colombia and Ecuador in the case of New Jersey). Families in the Northeast want to go to the beach to start the summer and to end the summer. (One can make the same argument for New England as well as DC, though New Jersey had the most problems drawing on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends without an ethnic friendly to bring bodies into the stadium.)

MLS has finally gotten two things right:

1. MLS no longer schedules any more home games in San Jose on Memorial Day weekend, July 4, or Labor Day weekend. Most casual sports fans in the San Francisco Bay Area don't pay attention to the Quakes (or most other pro sports teams for that matter) until the playoffs. The San Francisco Bay Area pro sports market is perhaps the most blatant example of a bandwagon market. It is the exact opposite of the Boston market.

2. MLS no longer wastes money paying TV surcharges for regular season overtime. All regular season games now fit neatly in a 2-hour window barring any unscheduled delays (such as arguments on the field or disturbances off the field.) The decision to discontinue overtime was almost 100% driven by economics (not by tradition-loving "purists" as some would want you to believe).

 

They usually involve at least one West Coast team, though, meaning it's not as tape-delayed for people who are likely LA/SJ/CO watchers as for others, who probably wouldn't care anyway.

But to answer your question: Because other stuff gets priority in the regular time slot on Memorial Day and Labor Day Weekends, yet they like to minimize the number of weeks where they just disappear.

Note that you bring that sh!t up every single freaking time. Cable universe, meet network universe. You guys are related, but you're not the same.

Is that because Lee Berke overpromised and under-delivered?

In his 9th year of whining about MLS, Oliver should have figured out the following by now:

1. He's not going to get hired by MLS, or have any of his ideas listened to by people who actually do this for a living.
2. The fact girls don't like him doesn't mean he has to dislike girls.

I guess they're getting better, huh? Now do you think that's because they know what they're doing, or because even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes?

 

A "monkey" should have been able to figure out some of these things.

Who needs to pay $300 an hour for a management consultant to tell you about common sense?

One other thing: despite the efforts of MLS management, MLS will have it right when it is forced by Jorge Vergara to put Chivas USA at Estadio "Home Depot" (Vergara brought MLS the gold, so he makes the rules.). That is the ONLY place where Chivas USA makes any sense economically. Not San Diego, not Houston, not Chicago, but Estadio "Home Depot".

AEG needs to fill "The Tool Box" with events to provide cash flow to service the construction loans. 16-20 more event dates are MUCH better than zero.

 

But how will they compete with Los Angeles' MFL team? Isn't that too much to ask?

 

San Diego WOULD make sense if there was any plan for a soccer stadium. Seeing as there is none, than yes, Home Depot Center makes the most sense.

But games between Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy had better sell-out or MLS will look like idiots.

I do think Houston will get an MLS team eventually. But Seattle and Salt Lake City will probably come first, then maybe Toronto (if FIFA approves) and Rochester.

 

Hey Oliver,

I see you're based in the San Francisco bay area. I'm curious to know if you've attended any Earthquakes matches this year, or if you're a season ticket holder already?

I agree about the bandwagon part, but the quality of football on the field is pretty good. Don't mean to put you on the spot or anything. But, I'm curious to know if people who spend their livelihood in this sport are supporting the American product close to home. (Especially considering one of the best players in the country is possibly playing his last season there, before transferring abroad.) The oblivious "Joe Blow" public, or even bandwagon riding public is a harder problem to solve.

 

For me, MLS season doesn't really start until the playoffs start in October, when the games really matter.

I'll tape the MLS season opener and the All-Star Game and zip through the tape quickly.

 

Well, that won't be a problem, after the MFL's boycott drives MLS out of business.

 

You don't watch the the regular season because the games don't matter, but you watch the All-Star Game???

Why bother giving MLS advice when you don't even know the product?

 

Can someone tell me why Oliver hasn't been named to a management position at MLS or FSW by now? Clearly he has all the answers. His use of trained monkeys to program FSW and to run the MLS office would dramtically cut overhead, but the PETA lawsuits might eat away at the saivings a bit.

 

It's clear he's already amassed a small fortune in his own ventures--I just assume that he is here sharing his special genius with us because his well-known magnanimous spirit is impossible to keep bottled up.

 

MLS finally got its all-star game right from a business perspective: one team of MLS players vs a brand name international club. This format produces a game with some intensity and passion from the MLS players.

The East-West format in years past was a bit of a joke: virtually no defense.

The all-star game is probably a better product from a business perspective than the entire regular season (7 months to eliminate 2 teams, yawn).

 

Which makes it any different from any other All-Star game where the offense controls the ball?

 

That's true, but his point is still valid. With the MLS All-Stars vs. Big Name Club, the MLS All-Star Game is more interesting and truly competitive, in that both sides actually care about winning (not as much as a big league game, granted, but at least they know that losing the game feels worse than winning it). I like the idea of the MLS All-Star Game being better than the others, and making it into a real positive for the league, as opposed to the usual company-picnic-type yawner.

 

Wow! Great news.

 

Anyhoo...

Back to ratings... Picked up this tidbit in a DC United press release.

http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/MLS/news...tent_id=5321&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&team=dcu

 

Just for some comparisons, here's what the NBA playoffs and a NASCAR race recently did on cable:

Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of May 17-23. Each ratings point represents 1,084,000 households. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses.


1. NBA Playoffs: L.A. Lakers vs. Minnesota (Sunday, 8:30 p.m.), TNT, 5.2, 5.66 million homes.
2. NBA Playoffs: L.A. Lakers vs. Minnesota (Friday, 9:11 p.m.), TNT, 4.5, 4.9 million homes.
3. NBA Playoffs: Sacramento vs. Minnesota (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m.), TNT, 4.4, 4.75 million homes.
4. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 3.6, 3.85 million homes.
5. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.2, 3.49 million homes.
6. "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Inferno" (Monday, 10 p.m.) MTV, 3.2, 3.46 million homes.
7. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.22 million homes.
8. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), Spike, 2.9, 3.14 million homes.
9. "Real World XIV" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 2.8, 3.06 million homes.
10. Nextel Cup Race: Charlotte (Saturday, 7:29 p.m.), FX, 2.8, 2.98 million homes.
11. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.94 million homes.
12. NBA Playoffs: New Jersey vs. Detroit (Thursday, 8:02 p.m.), ESPN, 2.6, 2.86 million homes.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.85 million homes.
14. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.83 million homes.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.8 million homes.

Standard disclaimers apply.

 

The answer is clear - MLS needs to sign SpongeBob.

 

Nah, he's got too many holes in his game.

His defense is porous.

I'll be here all week.

 

And by now, haven't we all had enough of MLS' pandering to sponges?