MLS officially signs broadcast deal with NBC, FSC OUT!

Amazing news coming out of MLS HQ this morning as the league appears to have signed a deal with NBC for the next few years.

The deal, as I know it right now is, that 43 games will be broadcast on Versus (to be named NBC Sports soon) with 6 games carried on NBC prime... the big cheese, so to say.

ESPN will still carry their own MLS games as usual, but Fox Soccer is officially out.

I can't tell you how amazing this is. FSC always did a terrible job with MLS and as much I loved them for carrying the games early on as the league grew their coverage sadly did not. It's time to leave them in the dust.

Welcome NBC, our new broadcasting overlords!

10 months ago Geoff Gibson 35 comments 0 recs |

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Is there any official source for this information?

All I’ve seen to date is people quoting the same twitter account. Perhaps it’s a totally legit twitter account but I don’t know who the guy is. I’m not saying I don’t believe it but I’d just like to see it from a trusted source. Thanks

by UOregon on Aug 10, 2011 9:12 AM PDT reply actions

I'll update with an official links but

Richard, the guy who’s Twitter that is, is a writer for Sports Illustrated and has a good track record.

RCTID - Stumptown Footy
Moderator of /r/MLS

by Geoff Gibson on Aug 10, 2011 9:18 AM PDT up reply actions

This is good news

FSC was horrrrrrrrrrrrible, and always has been, at broadcasting soccer. Among other sins, they foisted Max Bretos on the world. Versus does a good job with the NHL, and I hope they’ll follow that model with MLS.

I will be very interested to see the dollars involved in this deal.

by pdb on Aug 10, 2011 9:27 AM PDT reply actions

I'm hearng...

Anywhere from $10 – $12 million/year. Although MLS and NBC aren’t saying exactly.

RCTID - Stumptown Footy
Moderator of /r/MLS

by Geoff Gibson on Aug 10, 2011 9:47 AM PDT up reply actions

Agreed

Their coverage of the NHL has been great and their quality of HD is top notch. Hope that spills over into their MLS coverage.

by stax o' wax on Aug 12, 2011 10:04 AM PDT up reply actions

This may be the biggest deal in the history of MLS.

by pecorasc on Aug 10, 2011 10:21 AM PDT reply actions

Very cool

FSC is no big loss, though I do hope this doesn’t hurt their Premiership coverage. Versus, however, is a bigger joke. Hopefully as “NBC Sports” it can gain a semblance of national recognition and maybe be available in more than 1/3 of the nation’s households.

by RipCityVillan on Aug 10, 2011 10:23 AM PDT reply actions

Versus is available in far more households than FSC is

FSC’s “reach” is about 40 million households, and their average viewership is about 33,000 households/night. Versus reaches 75.1 million. I can’t really find how many people watch Versus per night, but I’d be willing to bet it’s far more than 33,000. Versus also does a great job covering the NHL, and they have a much deeper talent pool of broadcasters to draw from (thanks to NBC) than FSC ever will.

FSC was the joke. Versus is the next step up.

by pdb on Aug 10, 2011 10:35 AM PDT up reply actions

As a hockey fan, I have to disagree

The versus coverage is atrocious. The studio show is horrible, with that know-nothing teleprompter monkey Janitor-from-Scrubs look-alike host, and a stable of loudmouth Pittsburgh stroking morons. Then, insult to injury, their broadcast teams include screaming-hockey-as-war-cliche-machine Joe Benanati, slackjawed Peter Griffin impersonator Andy Brickley, John Forslund (threw up a bit in my mouth), and the better half of Doc and Chico. Oh, and Darrel Reaugh. Whoopty doo. I always dread when my team’s games are on the Versus schedule.

My guess is, the “NBC Sports” team will include Alexi Lalas. Sorry to say, but despite the Spin Doctors not being relevant for almost 20 years now, he’s still on TV.

by RipCityVillan on Aug 10, 2011 10:55 AM PDT up reply actions

I have nothing major against Alexi Lalas

and I rarely if ever watch studio shows, so my whole criteria is “how good are the broadcast teams”? I don’t watch enough hockey to speak with any degree of intelligence about the broadcast teams, but the FSN soccer broadcasters are atrocious, and I can only think that anybody on Versus will be a step up.

by pdb on Aug 10, 2011 11:02 AM PDT up reply actions

As a ginger, I have everything against Lalas

for giving my people a bad name.

But I agree, nobody’s forcing us to watch the studio show — the broadcast is the important part. We shall see…

by portlandy on Aug 10, 2011 11:26 AM PDT up reply actions

Carrot Top has done more to ruin gingers than Lalas ever could

by pdb on Aug 10, 2011 12:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Comcast

does not carry FSC HD

it does carry Versus HD

massive difference.

Win or lose, we'll always be there for you.

by johnjahafanclub on Aug 10, 2011 10:56 AM PDT up reply actions

A dealbreaker

I don’t even get FSC any more because I refuse to pay Comcast “sports tier” pricing for a channel that doesn’t even broadcast in HD.

by pdb on Aug 10, 2011 11:03 AM PDT up reply actions

Isn't that mainly because Comcast owns NBC?

by portlandy on Aug 10, 2011 2:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Really looking forward to chanting on NBC proper

This is great for us.

by wilsonpdx on Aug 10, 2011 10:36 AM PDT reply actions

And the game, obviously

Which is the real winner here.

by wilsonpdx on Aug 10, 2011 10:39 AM PDT up reply actions

Per Goff of the Washington Post

Edit: here you go, from Goff:

Quote:
Each season, NBC will broadcast two regular season MLS games, two playoff games and two appearances by the U.S. men’s national team, marking the first time four MLS matches will be broadcast on English-language network television since 2002. The NBC Sports Network will televise 38 regular season games, three playoff games and two U.S. matches.

ESPN networks will continue to carry MLS and U.S. matches, including MLS Cup.

Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.

by Kejsare on Aug 10, 2011 11:42 AM PDT reply actions

Sources point to $10-$12 million a year.

$10 Million
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/08/10/Media/MLS-NBC.aspx
$12 Million
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/08/nbc-sports-snags-major-league-soccer.html

Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.

by Kejsare on Aug 10, 2011 11:48 AM PDT up reply actions

Only two playoff games?

I’d imagine they’d broadcast the MLS Cup championship but only one of the conference championships? What’s the deal with that? weird.

by vitaminx on Aug 10, 2011 11:50 AM PDT up reply actions

ESPN has MLS cup and other playoff games

There is also Univision too.

Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.

by Kejsare on Aug 10, 2011 11:57 AM PDT up reply actions

If you're keeping track the league will have

ESPN $8 million/year through 2014
Univision $8 million/year through 2014
NBC $10-12 million/year through 2014 [Fox was $6-7 million for this year]

Old = $24 million
New = $28 million

And in 2014 the rights to MLS and the 2018 and 2022 World Cup are going to be up for bidders. If MLS is bundled with WC again then MLS is set to have NBC, ESPN, and Fox fight for the rights.

Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.

by Kejsare on Aug 10, 2011 12:00 PM PDT up reply actions

Lastly, NBC Sports Network will air three playoff games

I think nearly all playoff matches will be on some national network.

Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.

by Kejsare on Aug 10, 2011 12:03 PM PDT up reply actions

Fantastic News

Great day for MLS.

Since NBC also has the broadcast rights to the Olympics in 2012 there will be quite a bit of the beautiful game flowing through their network in 2012. And since Americas fascinaton with soccer soars during the Olympics (and World Cup) this is undoubtably a great time for the MLS to be aired on the same network. A great opportunity to get new viewers.

by RoseColoredGlasses on Aug 10, 2011 11:57 AM PDT reply actions

Fantastic deal for NBC

So NBC pays $10-12 million per year. And it’s for content that is aimed at the perfect age demographic. That’s in comparison to the 3.6 billion that NBC pays for approx. 17 NFL games.
It’s hard to see how NBC can lose money on this. The right to broadcast the games are only costing $300k per game. You can’t produce shows for that amount of money.
I think I hear laughing as they walk to the bank.

by zippyflynn on Aug 10, 2011 3:17 PM PDT reply actions

It's a good deal for both sides

The best part is, the rights come up for renegotiation at the best possible time for MLS. A good showing in the 2014 WC, and their value could skyrocket. Good job by Garber.

Now let’s see about getting NBC to PDX next year(and every year).

Say what you want about America, thirteen bucks still gets you a hell of a lot of mice!

by No Pity on Aug 10, 2011 4:03 PM PDT up reply actions

NBC is also paying for a prime time slot for SNF, a game of a premier league, on a network channel, where options are fewer

Since this deal is mostly on cable, of a relatively (to the NFL) minor league, where there’s more access to positioning, it makes sense that the dollar amount would be lower. In my line of thinking anyways

Blazers win!

by The X-man on Aug 10, 2011 4:06 PM PDT up reply actions

First, I think anything that gets MLS (and ostensibly Timbers) on major TV is a good thing

~~But I’m kind of confused by the details.~~

Scratch that, read the article closer, the remainder of games will be broadcast on Versus.

Say it ain't Cho

by Sean in Vancouver on Aug 10, 2011 5:16 PM PDT reply actions

You mean NBC Sports

You know, kinda like how the Timbers are on FSN errr I mean ROOT

Blazers win!

by The X-man on Aug 11, 2011 1:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah that

and I actually get Versus/NBC Sports, which makes it even better.

Say it ain't Cho

by Sean in Vancouver on Aug 11, 2011 11:16 PM PDT up reply actions

This is a big step in the right direction for MLS

More access to cable viewers, a few games on national broadcast TV (hopefully Timbers), and more money. Versus won’t go out of their way to dis soccer and MLS like another network I won’t mention by name.

And those of you saying “meh” to the dollar amount remember that NHL started out small with NBC and just signed a 10 year 1 billion dollar deal, plus will have more games on broadcast TV. Imagine that kind of deal for MLS in a few years. Yes, it’s not NFL money. But imagine what MLS can do with player development and signings if this grows and they get bigger deals in the future.

MLS is growing up and the Soccer Don is doing his job.

by yepyou'reright on Aug 10, 2011 6:04 PM PDT reply actions

Don is going to be around a long time.

Ya know wha’ I mean?

Jag kom, jag såg, erövrade jag.

by Kejsare on Aug 10, 2011 8:50 PM PDT up reply actions

my thoughts exactly

take a look at the Pac 12 (10). They had football games on laughable networks (as far as college football goes) and now, thanks to great leadership, they’re going to have their own entire family of networks worth Billions. Obvously the MLS isnt going to be at that point soon, but you’ve got to start somewhere, and this is a major improvement.

Say it ain't Cho

by Sean in Vancouver on Aug 10, 2011 10:37 PM PDT up reply actions