Wow, what a day for American soccer!
There is no question that the contract announcement between NBC and the MLS this morning was a great moment for the beautiful game in America. In case you missed it, I suggest you take a look at the win-win situation that occurred earlier in the day here. As NBC hopes to emerge once again as a powerhouse sports station, the MLS gets even more coverage on a high-profile cable network. With today being called a heroic one in MLS history, I decided to look at the numbers and actually see how important this deal is. You won’t believe what I found.
To some people’s displeasure, the MLS’ move to NBC Sports also meant the death of their FSCtelecasts and the newly born Soccer Night in America. However, upon looking at the impact between the national reach of the two stations, nobody really should be complaining about the move.
Last year FSC reached approximately 37 million US homes while Versus (NBC Sports Network) reached roughly 74 million. That is twice as much exposure for the MLS and is bound to increase MLSTV ratings dramatically.
More viewers? Check.
The MLS/NBC contract also means that there will be more nationally televised MLS games than ever before in 2012. NBC and Versus next year plan to air 40 total MLS regular season games and ESPN will likely continue their showing of 20-22 MLS matchups. That is a total of 60-62 games that will be featured on significant cable stations (Not including the amount of games shown on Galavision andTelfutura)! To put things in perspective, only 65 regular season MLB games were shown between Fox, TBS, and ESPN last year in each region. Not to shabby from a league merely 15 years old.
More games? Check.
The contract between the NBC and the MLS has also been reported to be worth up to 10 million dollars per year until 2014. That 10 million on top of the 8.5 million contract with ESPN will make next year the most effective economic season in MLS history. Just last year, FSC was paying a mere 3 million for the MLS’ television rights and ESPN was contemplating dropping the league.
More money? Check
Lastly, the MLS’ television deals with ESPN, NBC, and Galavision are all set to end in 2014, meaning a bidding bonanza will likely begin after the season. Commissioner Don Garber told the Daily this afternoon, “This is clearly another great moment for the sport of American soccer.” And from the looks of it, there are many great moments still to come.
Heroic Day? I’ll let you decide.
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