The 2022 MLS TV thread

Repost from dead thread:
Barcelona vs Real Madrid Super Coppa only got 328k on ESPN.
Atletico vs Athletic only got 95k on ESPN2.

 

Has anyone heard anything new on the contract negotiations? I believe they stated that they wanted to get it done in the first quarter of this year.

 

Brentford - Liverpool on USA 549k
Supercoppa final Bilbao vs Real Madrid only 89k on ESPN2 and 119k on ESPN Deportes
Pachuca vs Chivas on TUDN 212k
Toluca vs Santos on TUDN 115k
So La Liga is nowhere near contention for top league in the USA. Its still a 2 horse between Liga MX and EPL. MLS is probably already bigger on TV than La Liga or Serie A.

Context: Donald Trump speech 1.4 million on Newsmax which most people don't have. Yikes.

 

Probably? Its been bigger only amongst Euro Snobs on Twitter that don't follow this stuff like we do, do they make crazy statements exclaim how all these league especially the Euro Leagues are more popular than MLS here. If I had a dollar every time I've heard soccer some ignorant dude trying to pretend he knowledgeable say "Soccer is Popular in the US just not MLS, see the Euro leagues" I'd I'd have a nice little stash.

 

Well I was prettttyyy sure el classico would be more popular than that, though I guess even Eurosnobs don't know what the hell a supercup is Plus these are the worst Real and Barca teams in a generation.

 

I'm starting to believe the whole Real Madrid vs Barca hype was largely generated by Messi and Ronaldo. Those were two historical giant clubs but Messi vs Ronaldo was the show people tuned into see we just happened to get to witness it two once in a lifetime talents. Now that that's over global interest has quickly reverted back to pre Messi/ CR7 levels.

 

Barca vs Real has been huge for decades... Even before Messi and Ronaldo were there, at least in the latitudes I am in..

 

I will give him this: he at least got all of his facts correct and understands what MLS is selling, though the US rights will no longer be a part of the package. I disagree with his conclusion (especially about relative to La Liga), but it's one of the best articles I've seen from a non-insider.

 

I agree, besides the US rights error, this is a pretty good summary of the current situation. I think the author is failing to include three factors though.

1. Rights buyers are always paying for future growth, not just current numbers. With WC 2026 on the horizen, viewership in 2027 may be very different than today.

2. The rights include the Leagues Cup, which I expect will do well considering the viewership of Liga MX. I don't see any mention of Liga MX in the analysis.

3. Demographics. The demographic of MLS viewers is younger and more diverse than the other four major leagues. 25-55 is a more desirable demo than 55+.

It only takes one of the bidders to see a need for the rights and the value in the rights to get a $300m year deal. We will see.

 

I mostly agree with you on this, which is why I disagree with his conclusion, but we see so many junk articles that I felt as if a well researched one gets some love. I also think he underestimated the value of the local rights being rolled into the deal. $300 million seems to me to be on the high side of doable, but we'll see.

 

The nhl get miniscle ratings and they 600 million a year

 

Missing the point that MLS tv rights offer a much younger demographic for advertisers is a critical flaw in the author's valuation.

Who cares if [name your league] gets 750k viewers if only 50k of them are 35 years old - compared to MLS's 350k viewers who 250k are 35 years old. . . not to mention the diversity across race/ethnicity/education/income.

 

I'm going to take the contrarian view honestly felt like he did a lot of research but he didn't if it that makes sense? He missed some pretty easy things that even surface level knowledge would of been known. The USSF rights aren't paired anymore, also little emphasis on the local rights and finally most glaringly didn't mention Leagues Cup.

So I'm left to wonder did he really do the research or did he just do a thorough job of using other peoples work and just piece mealing it together to form a what appears to be in depth article. Sort of like the work I'd turn i for a HS report back in the late 90s early 2000s lol.

Also he really contradicts his whole article basis with the La Liga bit(MLS will fall somewhere below La Liga . So I'm saying to the author so you mean to tell me you did all this deep dive into MLS numbers but you still come out of it thinking a league that's even more less watched with lesser inventory will still wind up with more TV money. I mean MLS could sell ESPN a package of the same amount of games that's in the ESPN La Liga deal (380) and those games will be higher rated and more valuable than the La Liga deal at $175m yr. MLS can then turn around and still have another 200+ inventory of games to sell to 2 to 3 more networks.

So its really laughable some of these conclusions folks come up with in media. I mean these folks were so off the mark last rights deal. So many folks were saying the eventual current package would be lucky to be only worth $30-45m yr. It ended up $90myr. Then the excuse was it was just because of the USMNT friendly games adding value etc. However those games were always part of the package and those savvy media folks were saying the same things up until the $90m deal was announced and they found a excuse. Wonder what it's gonna be this time around.

 

727k on ESPN2 for USA vs El Salvador.

 

Competing against the AFC Championship game, not that anyone would want to watch Cincinnati.

 

But it was on streaming, for which we don't get numbers.

 

http://soccerway88.com/charlotte-fc-president-confident-of-record-breaking-mls-tv-deal/?amp=1

 

Mexican national team vs CRC 478k on TUDN.
USA vs Canada 210k on Universo.
Honduras vs El Salvador 170k on Universo.

 

Mexico vs Costa Rica was also in Univision
and Canada vs USA on Telemundo

 

Yup, I don't have those numbers, do you?

 

Well, I know that I was watching on Telemundo. So, that's one.