For the third year of Fox’s four-year deal with MLS, “just 15 games will air on the network’s free-to-air broadcast channel” and it has fans wondering if the limits on what is on television is a “good idea,” according to Jonathan Tannenwald of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRIER. Thirteen of the 15 broadcasts are from February through the first weekend of May. Then there is one game Memorial Day weekend and one in mid-June. Just two of those games are to air during prime time. None of the games involve Inter Miami F Lionel Messi as the team has “just two regular-season games on any linear channels, cable outlet FS1.” Sources said that Apple “caps the number of Miami games Fox can air,” to “push viewers toward the streaming platform.” Tannenwald writes while it is “not known” what direction MLS will go for its next linear TV deals, it “wouldn’t be surprising if the league starts putting out feelers sometime this year.” MLS EVP/Media Seth Bacon said, “As we think about how we’re going to appeal to and attract the biggest possible audience to grow our fan base and attract the most subscribers, we knew that we were probably early. We’re completely comfortable being early, because we always want to be first movers.” Bacon: “But if we were a little early, we wanted to have some of those linear windows that still offered that broad linear distribution to noncore fans, to general sports fans. To attract them, to expose them to what’s happening with the league, and to get them curious and more engaged” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 2/17).
MLS’ limited package with Fox raises question on league’s future TV deals
