Unfortunately, the La Liga rights also get you Osasuna vs Elche, two teams that even Real Madrid and Barcelona fans can't find on a map. Realistically, outside the top 4 teams, basically nobody in the U.S. can identify any La Liga teams. If you asked a person at an American (or even a Mexican) soccer game wearing a Barcelona jersey where Real Betis was located, I'd be surprised if they even knew it was a top-division soccer team. Much less a UEFA Champions' League one.
US in totality, maybe. US soccer fans probably are familiar at least in passing with the top 10 Liga teams. There are many Penas for many LaLiga teams all over the US.
https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/15/appl...apple-maps-guides-apple-music-playlists-more/ Apple doing some promotion for the return of MLS.
Bundesliga will be on Telemundo in the US: "The @Bundesliga_EN has agreed to a three-year U.S. media rights agreement with @Telemundo, marking the first time Germany’s top soccer league has sold its Spanish-language rights separately in the market." Via @SBJ ⤵️ https://t.co/13PURFT1U9— NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises (@NBCUTelemundo) July 16, 2026
Some numbers for the Argentina/England match.... And even more interestingly for me, iShowSpeed's livestream of the match has 15 million views. He's partnered with FIFA for this World Cup...
NBA considering YouTube as a local broadcast hub: YouTube reportedly ‘leading candidate’ for NBA local broadcast hub in 2027-28 https://t.co/imyS7g9rig— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 15, 2026 Home Run Derby draws 5.3M viewers on Netflix: Hearing that the MLB Home Run Derby drew around 5.3 million viewers on Netflix on Wednesday night.That would be the lowest audience for the Derby since 2003 (5.2 million).Netflix's Derby debut would be -7% or so from last year on ESPN (5.7M), and down from 5.5M two years ago— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) July 16, 2026 I get people want to point out that this is lower than previous years. However, it's not that much lower and is in line with prior years viewership numbers. Meaning, MLB didn't lose much of the "casual sports fan" flipping through channels..... ⚽️🇩🇪📺🎟️NEWS: Germany's Bundesliga's US rights are moving from ESPN to USA Network & Fandango, The Athletic has learned.What are the financials and the changing landscape of live sports rights. (w/@SebSB)https://t.co/OuZf3BHX9b— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 14, 2026 The Bundesliga's new US rights deal is aimed at the younger viewers who don't subscribe to the legacy cable subscriptions, and cable alternatives. It seems a lot of negativity surrounding this deal, and also MLS' deal with Apple are from the 45 and older crowd. Always pointing to the loss of the "casual viewer finding soccer." "viewers aren't going to a streaming app!" etc. All of these deals are aimed at the younger demographics who will be the drivers of revenue in the decades to come.
They aren't, though. I asked five of my soccer fan friends, and one out of five of them knew that Real Betis was a La Liga team. He did not know it was in Sevilla. He was also the one who played college soccer and can carry on even a surface level conversation about MLS. Most of them would claim to be Premier League fans, and I know they watch the games because we talk about them frequently. They go to Atlanta United games occasionally, but I doubt any of them even watch MLS outside going to the games. The reality is that for a lot of US fans, the Premier League is the only thing that matters. On the other hand, my friend who is the Spanish language translator for the local school system (speaks Spanish with the most country Southern US accent I've ever heard) knew where Betis was. She is not a soccer fan, but she's been to Sevilla... this week, I think actually. Not exactly a scientific survey, but I think it's fairly representative. No Hispanics surveyed, but black, white, and Asian included. Only one woman.
I feel like the other networks are trying to repeat the Premier League success story but with too little, too late. The Premier succeeds because: The USA is a more anglophile country than it likes to admit Fantastic timing, in that the Premier League became available just as interest in global soccer boomed NBC's professional presentation creates a real stake in what's going on The number of "big" matches, a product of having 6 or 7 competitive teams The games are higher paced with more action (generally) The occasional fairy story, like Leicester or Bournemouth If you remember, even before Fox started showing games regularly, there would be lines to get into pubs early in the morning in places like New York, San Francisco, Washington and Atlanta, which created a real mystique. And for some reason Americans feel more vested in teams from Stoke and Burnley than Bilbao, Hamburg or Genoa.
Premier League presentation on NBC seems like it’s targeting sports fans in general. Their goal has always been for you to add the Premier League to your regular lineup of sports viewing. Serie A presentation on CBS makes me feel like it’s still 2007 and they’re targeting Americans who pretend they’re Italian.
So in reality, early morning load with bloody Mary's and singing soccer chants all before the wife knew you left the house?
Americans are used to knowing 1 league that represents the sport, like the NBA,NHL,NFL etc. for some of the reasons you mentioned that became the pl to many Americans.
So after binging the world cup for weeks how did it feel watching MLS again? For me, it was good seeing the team I root for again, not I couldn't feel like it all felt kind of... small. Very interested to see if Fox got the big world cup bump.
Fox utilized sideline reporters for their MLS doubleheader tonight. It is the first regular season MLS game on Fox to have a sideline reporter since August 2021. (H/T @UnNecSportsRsch)— Manny Soloway (@sportsontvguy) July 18, 2026 Fox utilized sideline reporters for their MLS doubleheader tonight. It is the first regular season MLS game on Fox to have a sideline reporter since August 2021.
Felt like MLS. After the recent World Cup knockout games most club matches in the world would fall small.
Because MLS has low ratings for the price probably... Having said that, it's the 3rd most watched league in the USA.
Who says they didn't? MLS wanted to have everything on one platform. IMO, it comes down to the league and its teams wanting consistent broadcast windows. Which they never had prior to moving to Apple TV. It's very difficult to get widespread interest when your audience never knows what time and channel the games are going to be on week to week. This is what the NFL, MLB and NBA have gotten right over the past few decades. Everyone knows that Sundays in the Fall are for NFL, Sunday and Monday Nights too. Saturday nights have NBA, and so do Friday nights. Sunday Nights in the Spring and Summer are for MLB game of the week. Now Friday Night Baseball is seemingly growing on Apple TV. What were MLS' time slots and days in the past? Therein lies the challenge moving forward though. With the schedule change, MLS will now be in more direct competition for time slots when it comes to broadcasting. Especially if they, IMO, move backwards and try to get more games on "traditional linear and cable TV networks." Where are and how do MLS games fit on those networks? MLS is not going to get a consistent time slot and channel on the traditional networks and cable channels.
This is what I was going to say because I knew someone was going to bring it up. MLS has low ratings but still better than any other soccer league except Liga MX and EPL. So it's a good bet to bid for MLS, IMO. Bundesliga isn't changing times and dates to make sure Telemundo in the US can slide in games where ever they have space. I'm not saying Telemundo should televise all MLS games, it's impossible for them to do that, but my concern was more as to why aren't more US networks interested in MLS. They can show some MLS games on the weekend without MLS having to move times and dates around. I know TUDN has some MLS games. Not sure why Telemundo doesn't.
What is Telemundo showing at, checks notes, 9:30AM EST on Saturday and Sunday mornings????? C'mon man, at least bring an honest point to the discussion. What time are LigaMX games again??? Oh that's right, Primetime on weekends. Do you SEE the difference???