Major League Soccer has been broadcast live in the U.S. nationally since the league's inception in 1996 and in Canada since 2007. In the United States the game is broadcast in English on ESPN, Fox Sports 1 and Fox, in Spanish on Univision Networks. In Canada, MLS is broadcast on TSN in English and TVA Sports in French.
Games not televised nationally are aired by regional sports networks or local broadcast television stations. Teams may also have a contract with a local radio broadcaster to air their games. Some teams air games exclusively in Spanish on radio, others have English only or an English and Spanish radio broadcaster.
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History (U.S.)
1990s-2006
Major League Soccer with ESPN and ABC Sports announced the league's first television rights deal on March 15, 1994, without any players, coaches, or teams in place. The three-year agreement covered English-language broadcasting for the 1996-1998 seasons, and committed 10 games on ESPN, 25 on ESPN2, and the MLS Cup on ABC. The deal gave MLS no rights fees, but the advertising revenue was divided between the league and networks.
During the 1990s, Univision and Galavisión broadcast matches in Spanish. The original Univision deal ended in 1999. Telemundo picked up MLS in 2000, but disputes over time slots led to the network dropping MLS after the 2001 season. ABC and ESPN were left as the only MLS broadcasters in 2002.
In 2003, Fox Sports World (later Fox Soccer Channel) also became an English-language TV partner to MLS, while Fox Sports en Español became the Spanish-language partner in the same year.
2007-2014
In August 2006, MLS and ESPN announced an eight-year contract spanning 2007-2014 giving the league its first rights-fee agreement worth US$8 million annually. The deal gave the MLS a regular primetime slot on Thursdays, televised coverage of the first round of the MLS SuperDraft and an expanded presence on other ESPN properties, such as ESPN360 (now ESPN3) and Mobile ESPN. The agreement also placed each season's opening match, the MLS All-Star Game and the MLS Cup on ABC.
In September 2006, the media announced a deal between the Univision network and Soccer United Marketing (SUM) worth US$80 million. The network agreed to broadcast 25 MLS games per season, ten U.S. men's national team games and five international matches operated by SUM; although, ratings were volatile.
Disappointing ratings led to a 2008 push by ESPN to bolster its popularity through measures such as using JP Dellacamera, a veteran play-by-play soccer commentator, instead of baseball announcer Dave O'Brien, as well as an arrangement to simulcast MLS games in Spanish on ESPN Deportes, with the intention of gaining additional Hispanic viewers with a Spanish style. ESPN programming executive Scott Guglielmino explained: "From my perspective, the only question in my mind when it comes to growth is how quickly over time MLS and its management group want to spend on players ... You're in a worldwide market. The question is how quickly the ownership group wants to push that envelope."
After two years of low ratings, network executives decided to transfer all ABC games to ESPN. The MLS Cup had been broadcast on ABC each year from 1996 to 2008, but with ratings declining from 1.4, in 1996 and 1997, to 0.6 in 2008, the MLS Cup was moved to ESPN at the start of 2009. The network also replaced the regular Thursday night telecast with a "game of the week" on either Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday nights, to give MLS games better lead-in programming and more flexibility to air better matchups.
In 2011, Fox Soccer Channel and MLS agreed to a one-year extension to televise up to 31 regular-season games and three playoff game, in a deal worth around US$7 million. MLS Wrap was a MLS highlight show that aired on Fox Soccer Channel that was often hosted by Sean Wheelock, with analyst John Harkes.
The 2012 season saw a broadcasting change, with MLS moving its English-language broadcast partners from ESPN and Fox Soccer to ESPN and NBC Sports. MLS benefitted from the change, as the NBC Sports Network was shown in approximately twice as many homes as Fox Soccer (an increase from 9 million to 77 million viewers). NBCSN broadcast 44 matches and NBC broadcast 5 matches--the average combined audience for NBC and NBCSN's games in 2012 was 122 percent higher than the average audience for FSC's games in 2011. ESPN ratings also increased in 2012 from the prior year, as a number of MLS games were shown on ESPN in 2012, instead of a primary focus on ESPN2, as had been the case previously.
2015-2022
On May 12, 2014, MLS announced an eight-year broadcasting deal between ESPN and Fox Sports in English, and Univision in Spanish, covering television, digital, and the possibility of radio rights. The biggest change under the new deal was the establishment of a consistent national window for each broadcaster; UniMas airs matches on Friday nights, while ESPN2 and Fox Sports 1 air matches on Sunday evenings and nights respectively (jointly promoted as Soccer Sunday). All three broadcasters will air at least 34 regular-season matches per-season during these windows. ESPN and Fox Sports will also share in English-language coverage of the playoffs, and alternate airing the All-Star Game and MLS Cup yearly. Univision will air Spanish-language coverage of the MLS Cup and All-Star Game, and exclusively air two playoff knockout-round matches per season. Matches exclusively televised by Univision include English-language commentary via second audio program. The deal also includes options for national radio rights for ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio, rights to United States men's national team matches for all three broadcasters, rights for ESPN International, and an option for ESPN to take over the distribution of the league's out-of-market package.
ESPN and Fox Sports pay a combined $75 million per season, and Univision pays $15 million per-season. Totaling at around $90 million per-season, nearly five times the value of the league's previous deal, it is the highest-valued television rights deal in MLS history. Commissioner Garber stated at the announcement that the new contracts were "another strong indicator of the League's continued growth and the overall fan interest in our sport".
In March 2017, it was announced that Facebook had reached a deal to stream English-language coverage of the nationally-televised games allotted to Univision. The streams will include interactive features, while MLS also announced that it would stream a news program known as Matchday Live on its Facebook page to compliment the new deal.
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History (Canada)
Coverage of MLS expanded into Canada in 2007 with the addition of Toronto FC. From 2007 to 2010, CBC, Sportsnet, and later GolTV Canada (owned by team parent company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment), broadcast Toronto FC games nationwide, and GolTV carried broadcasts of selected regular-season games not involving Toronto FC.
Bell Media has held national English-language rights to Major League Soccer in Canada since 2011, and reached a 5-year extension beginning in the 2017 season. Games primarily air on the TSN networks, and beginning in 2017, selected games are simulcast on the CTV Television Network. As of the 2017 season, TVA Sports holds exclusive national French-language rights to Major League Soccer in Canada.
As in the United States, the individual Canadian teams have also negotiated separate broadcast deals for games not aired under the TSN/RDS national contract. TSN and Sportsnet formerly split coverage of Toronto FC regional games (Sportsnet and TSN's parent companies hold a stake in the team's ownership), TVA Sports airs Montreal Impact games in a separate deal, and TSN broadcasts the Vancouver Whitecaps in a separate deal. As of the 2017 season, TSN holds exclusive rights to all Toronto FC games.
Current broadcasting contracts
United States
+ ESPN Deportes and Fox Deportes will simulcast all 34+ ESPN and ESPN2 games and Fox Sports 1 and Fox games respectively, except the MLS Cup final and MLS All-Star Game
++ English language rights for the MLS Cup Final and MLS-All Star Game alternate between ESPN & Fox
Canada
Regional
Ratings and viewers
Regular season
Notes:
- Bolded figures represent MLS record high viewership for ESPN, non-ESPN, and Spanish-language channels.
- Although the viewing numbers on ESPN2 declined by 36,000 from 2007 to 2008, ESPN began simulcasting MLS games on ESPN Deportes in 2008, attracting an average of 40,000 viewers.
- Fox Soccer began getting ratings in October 2008. The Fox Soccer numbers for 2008 represent only the last four matches of the season. Viewership numbers prior to October 2008 are unavailable.
MLS Cup final
Single-game records
Previous national broadcasting networks
- Univision, 1996-1999
- Telemundo, 2000-2001
- Fox Soccer, 2003-2011
- ABC, 1996-2008
- HDNet
- TeleFutura (now UniMás)
- Fox Sports en Español (now Fox Deportes)
- CBC, 2007-2009
- NBC Sports, 2012-2014
MLS broadcasts
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