Major League Soccer has reached four-year linear broadcast deals with Fox Sports and TelevisaUnivision in the United States and TSN and RDS in Canada, the league announced Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The news comes a month after the league unveiled details of its flagship media rights deal, a landmark 10-year streaming deal with Apple.
- Fox, FS1 and Fox Deportes will have exclusive linear broadcast rights — in English and Spanish — to an average of 34 regular season games and eight postseason games over the next four years.
- Univision, Unimás and TUDN, in turn, won the rights to broadcast selected matches of the League Cup, MLS and the LigaMX joint venture, which will see all its clubs compete in one mid-season. World Cuptour of style.
- In Canada, TSN and RDS will broadcast an “extensive schedule” of regular season games, according to the release, including one game per week with a Canadian club. The networks will also broadcast 23 League Cup games, a mix of group stage games and matches from the tournament’s first knockout round.
How the new deal complements the league’s contract with Apple
None of the matches streamed through these linear deals are exclusive; The league’s deal with Apple gives the tech giant the right to broadcast rights to all MLS regular-season and postseason games, as well as the Leagues Cup, MLS Next, MLS Next Pro and even special events like the Game of Thrones all stars of the league.
Major League Soccer’s deal with Apple, worth a reported $2.5 billion over the next 10 years, has been widely seen as a watershed moment for the league. Some consumers, however, have expressed concern over the loss of local broadcast deals, or a reduced presence on linear networks. For the next four years, at least, the league will continue to have at least a small footprint in that world.
The deals all run through 2026 — the same year the U.S., Canada and Mexico will host the World Cup, a potentially pivotal moment in MLS history.
What are they saying?
MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in the league’s press release: “We are proud to continue our partnership with FOX Sports, Univision and TSN and are delighted to have MLS games at RDS in Canada. These broadcast industry leaders continue to demonstrate their deep commitment to MLS and soccer. Our linear deals, along with our partnership with Apple, are the culmination of a series of collaborative discussions to provide our fans with the broadest and most accessible programming lineup MLS and our sport has ever seen in the US and Canada – and by a margin.”
TelevisaUnivision’s president of global sports business Olek Loewenstein said in a statement: “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Major League Soccer and bring viewers the excitement of the 2023 League Cup. As the Home of Soccer, fans can count on the networks and our platforms to provide comprehensive coverage of the biggest leagues and rivalries in North America.”
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(Photo: Jeff Halstead / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
