Even when MLS signed its last television deal, industry analysts and soccer experts said the league’s next TV contract would be the game-changer.
MLS thinks it had that watershed moment Monday, joining the US Soccer Federation in unveiling a breakthrough broadcast deal with ESPN, Fox Sports and Univision.
It’s an eight-year deal for an estimated $90 million per year, a vast increase from the current deal that averaged $18 million and topped out at $23 million this year. According to Sports Business Journal, ESPN and Fox will pay a combined $75 million annually, with Univision adding $15 million.
“It’s a partnership that’s going to elevate the domestic game to unprecedented heights,’’ MLS commissioner Don Garber said.
Garber has long pressed for a consistent time slot to market to fans. He got it with a slate of Sunday doubleheaders: at 5 p.m. on ESPN2 and 7 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.
The two networks will alternate airing the MLS Cup and the All-Star Game, and ESPN3 getting online distribution of the rest of the games – the overwhelming majority on Saturdays – that are not broadcast nationally. The US Soccer Federation estimated the men’s team will average 10 games annually – not including road World Cup qualifiers, which won’t be included – so the two will split those.
“You’ll see ESPN turn towards a real emphasis on the domestic game in the next eight years. We think this is the right time,’’ ESPN president John Skipper said. “It’s a future buy. We’re buying pork bellies. We think they’re gonna become more valuable over time. We think the TV ratings will come.’’
That’s the elephant in the room. Ratings actually have dipped from an average of 311,000 on ESPN/ESPN2 in 2012 to 220,000 last year, and from 521,000 on NBC to 396,000.
“We’ve actually been a little puzzled,” Skipper said. “Clearly when we did the last deal we would’ve expected to see a higher growth curve. So we’re kind of doubling down. We still think it’s going to happen.
“Clearly the Designated Player, it’s going to take stars. All the other stuff will help, consistent timeframe, our promotion, we clearly think it’ll happen and we’re going to have to help them make it happen. It does help that Michael Bradley is in the league, that Landon Donovan is still there, that Clint Dempsey is back, Jermain Defoe will help. You need stars.’’
Star power clearly helps. The Red Bulls – captained by French icon Thierry Henry and led by Tim Cahill – draw the best national rating of any MLS team on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes last year.
They had three of the top four ratings on ESPN2 last season, led by drawing 393,000 viewers on June 30 at Houston. They notched two of the top three ESPN ratings, topped by 335,000 on June 23 vs. Philadelphia. And they even had five of the top eight ratings in Spanish, starting with that Dynamo tilt.
But MLS needs to draw better ratings, and will likely need more star power to do it. That will only come with a significantly increased salary cap, though talks on a new collective bargaining agreement haven’t started.
“My guess is the players would expect to see that,’’ Garber said.