From the pre-game Friday night to the waning minutes of the late Saturday game, MLS provided a number of compelling story lines for the American soccer fan.  Soccer Night in America received at least tepid praise from most commentators (see our review here) and the Los Angeles/New York match up was excellent all around, even setting up a compelling sequel in August.  Those on the Fox Soccer email list even got treated to a free preview of Match Day Live.

But the weekend was not all good news: Javier Morales became the latest MLS player felled by a major injury and will miss months with a broken ankle.  In addition, only 9 goals were scored between eight matches, with three scoreless draws and Toronto (!) scoring the most goals with two.

Before the weekend roundup, take a second to vote in the following poll, and leave comments in the comments section:

Portland Timbers 1, Philadelphia Union 0: Lost amidst the discussion of Soccer Night in America was a very good game.  The Timbers and Union seemed destined for a scoreless draw until a 72nd minute Danso goal broke the Philadelphia defense for the winning strike.  While it was the Timbers that had the most chances the Union held their own, especially on the 39th minute Le Toux follow-up that Troy Perkins corralled.  This match was a good contrast in styles as fans saw maybe the best defense in MLS (on the road even) try to contain a very good offense.  My only complaint was I wish more fans could have seen this match – it was a 10:30 start on the East Coast but would have been a good introduction to American soccer to international soccer fans.

Real Salt Lake 1, Chivas USA 0: Obviously the Morales injury impacted this game as did the two red cards early in this match.  From the injury on, Chivas packed it in to try and get a draw (a tactic quite understandable playing two men down) while RSL tried to navigate around the defense.  Will Johnson finally broke the draw in the 87th minute and got the home team three tough points.

Toronto FC 2, Houston Dynamo 1: All of that talk about Houston’s momentum towards a top two finish in the East can be put on hold after this week.  Their visit to BMO Field saw Toronto create most of the early scoring chances and allowed Joao Plata to remind MLS fans why he was a hot prospect going into this year’s draft.  The 5’3″ forward converted a penalty in the fiftieth minute then assisted on the Maicon goal in the 81st minute; his speed was almost too much for the Houston defense to handle.

New England Revolution 0, Colorado Rapids 0: Two teams with shuffled lineups faced off in a scoreless draw, the first of the weekend.  New England welcomed back Matt Reis and started Ousmane Dabo for the first time this season.  Colorado was without Omar Cummings and Jamie Smith in addition to their other long-term injuries.  There were only three total shots on goal in the defensive battle, although New England saw two shots hit the post.

Columbus Crew 1, Seattle Sounders 1: Rain made for a sluggish tie at Crew Stadium as a Renteria penalty allowed Columbus to claim their first point against Sigi Schmid since he left the Crew.  Fredy Montero scored his fifth goal of the season for the Sounders on a seventh minute header, continuing his return to last year’s form.  The Emilio Renteria penalty in the 67th minute allowed the Crew to run their unbeaten streak to seven games.

DC United 0, FC Dallas 0: A Kevin Hartman save of a Fred header in the 89th minute allowed Dallas to grab a point on the road and preserve a scoreless draw at RFK.  Much of the talk in DC has been about the improved play of the DC back line, but I remain skeptical of declaring the fullbacks as set for a few more games, particularly on the road.  Both teams pushed at times and had their chances, with Dallas’ best possibly being a Dejan Jakovic deflection that almost trickled in DC’s net.  However, this was an appropriate and good result for both sides.

Chicago Fire 0, Vancouver Whitecaps 0: Possibly the two worst teams in MLS playing to a scoreless draw may be an appropriate result here.  Statistically Chicago dominated: they had eleven shots to Vancouver’s eight and had literally 2/3rds of possession during the game.  Dominic Oduro had a great chance in the 32nd minute when he got some space in the box but his shot went over the bar.  Congratulations to the Whitecaps for getting their first MLS road point.

Los Angeles Galaxy 1, New York Red Bulls 1: Daniel has this match covered for the site and the analysis (and praise) is all over the Internet, so I have little new to add.  Both goals were incredible and it was great to see the superstars play like, well, superstars at the same time.  I am having a hard time remembering when such a hyped MLS match lived up to the hype and I argue it was a level of excellence of play equal to some of the larger European leagues this weekend.

Are you ready for some SOCCER?  Tonight is the debut of Soccer Night in America, which this week means Friday.  Portland and Philadelphia will kick off around 10:30 PM ET.  That plus an 11 PM kickoff in the #LAvNY match means East Coast soccer fans will have a few late nights (as West Coast fans roll their eyes).  If anyone has any good Twitter hash tags for tonight’s Fox Soccer unveiling, share them in the comments section below.

And now a roundup of the week’s news:

• DC United legend Jaime Moreno has taken a position as head coach of the team’s U-23 squad.  This team is the bridge between the youth team and the reserve team.  Best of luck to Jamie!
• MLS Soccer’s Jonah Freedman writes a compelling article on the need for a return of Ray Hudson.  A must read.
• Hans Backe has said he will release Dwayne De Rosario to play in this summer’s Gold Cup.  Initially he had said he wouldn’t release the midfielder because DeRo had not indicated he wanted to play, but that had contradicted a report from Team Canada.
• David Ferreira successfully had surgery on his broken ankle, and the team is still not releasing a timetable for his return.  Best wishes to him as he heals.
• Thomas Rongen has been let go as head coach of the U.S. U-20 team.  Last we saw them, the team was beaten by Guatemala and had lost their chance to advance to the U-20 World Cup.  Tab Ramos will guide the team during their next tournament in France, but has not been given the title of interim coach.
• Bren Latham over at ESPN writes about the struggles of Gale Agbossoumonde to cement a spot on Bob Bradley’s team, as well as breaks down some of his soccer weaknesses.  ESPN Insider status required.
• And finally, for those who enjoy scandal and intrigue, Grant Wahl details his failed attempt to run for the top job at FIFA.  An excellent read.

Looking to beef up their MLS coverage and stand out from ESPN, Fox Soccer Channel today unveiled their new theme for their weekly MLS game.  Calling it “Soccer Night in America”, the new program includes enhanced graphics, a new set, and a jazzed up marketing campaign to draw attention to the game of the week.

The intent of the redesign, according to the release from corporate, was to bring the soccer productions more in line with other Fox sports offerings.  Some of the new features include better, more streamlined branding of the MLS games shown under the Soccer Night brand, the use of super-slow motion filming to allow more precise looks at the action, and the introduction of Vizrt technology.  Vizrt is a graphic design company that incorporates 3-D imaging into their products to create a crisper, clearer picture; many broadcasts worldwide use the technology and it is most famous as the graphic company for the CNN holographs during the 2008 presidential election.  What will not change are the personalities: Christopher Sullivan and Eric Wynalda will still provide the pre-game and post-game coverage, while the play-by-play team will be JP Dellacamera and Kyle Martino.  The first match under the new brand is this Saturday’s Portland/Philadelphia matchup.

Obviously this is just coming out now due to the very late negotiations MLS had with television networks to cover MLS, so I guess it’s better late than never.  My first thought when I heard the new brand was, “that’s the NBC slogan”.  NBC uses the phrase “Football Night in America” for their Sunday night NFL games, so the idea is not an original one.  I am, however, a proponent of improving the picture and production of MLS matches and see these changes as definitely a good thing.  One thing I believe that has driven the popularity of soccer is how beautiful the beautiful game looks on HD televisions.  Modern technology highlights many of the positives of the sport: the crowd noise, the vibrant colors, the fast pace.

The change also shows Fox is taking MLS seriously, and that’s a nice change.  While it is hard to deny that the English Premier League is the network’s bread and butter, MLS always felt like the proverbial redheaded stepchild: tolerated but not as beloved as the larger league.  At least trying to keep up with the EPL productions (the major EPL matches have seen a step up in production value recently – see the lineup introductions) shows Fox does care about the American product.  While as a Comcast subscriber I do not have Fox Soccer HD, I am curious to see the difference in production values this Friday.

What do you think of the new “Soccer Night in America”?

Fresh off the news that JP Dellacamera is making the move from ESPN to Fox Soccer, the network announced its pairings for the upcoming MLS season.  Not surprisingly, Dellacamera is the Friday night play-by-play man, and in my opinion Fox has surrounded him with some quality talent.

Your game day host for MLS will be American soccer legend Eric Wynalda.  According to the Fox press release, Wynalda will host the pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows for the 31 matches FSC will carry this year.  His in-studio partner is fellow American international Christopher Sullivan, a past color commentator for MLS Saturday on FSC.  The two gentlemen have been excellent with Warren Barton in Fox Soccer’s Champions League coverage, offering good insight without being annoying studio presences.

Kyle Martino has been a lightening rod during his time at FSC, hosting the widely panned Soccer Talk Live during its brief existence but seemingly settling into a more comfortable role in “the pub” during FSC’s Super Sunday +.  His experience on the pitch is undeniable, and he does add a good perspective to the shows he is currently on.  I think pairing him with JP Dellacamera will give him a chance to expand his broadcast experience, and he will be a better partner for JP than his ESPN partner John Harkes.  To many that is heresy, but Harkes’ laid back color commentary seemed to not mesh well with Dellacamera’s low wattage style of play-by-play (case in point – Edson Buddle’s playoff goal).  Martino will lend some passion into the booth, and combined with JP’s professionalism, will make this a good pairing.

Rounding out the team is Brian Dunseth on the sidelines, who besides being another U.S. national has experience in this role for RSL and FSC.  During the Saturday games, Fox Soccer will bring in Mark Rogandino, Allen Hopkins, Dave Johnson, and Keith Bleyer.

So what do you think of the new format for MLS matches?  Looking forward to Sullivan/Wynalda in studio with Dellacamera/Martino in the booth?

It’s official – Major League Soccer and Fox Soccer Channel are back together again, at least for one more year.

The two sent out a press release today trumpeting the agreement which will see 31 regular season games and three playoff games (including one conference final) broadcast by the cable channel.  Fifteen of the matches are Saturday night, and 14 are on Fridays.  The new schedule does result in 15 matches being moved, so break out your erasers if you have penciled your club’s schedule into your calendar.  And all are in high definition, if you are lucky enough to have it.

“FOX Soccer has been a tremendous partner for MLS for many years and we are very happy that we have been able to extend the relationship,” said MLS President Mark Abbott in the release. “Through both its news coverage and its extensive schedule of MLS games, Fox Soccer allows MLS fans across the country to follow their club as well as their rivals.”

What does the press release tell us?  We’ll still have conference championships to determine the MLS Cup participants, but that doesn’t surprise anyone.  The four clubs that will not be seen on ESPN (Columbus, Dallas, Toronto, and Vancouver) will be seen on FSC.   Other than that, you can begin to plan your TV viewing schedule and rest assured that you can watch some MLS on TV this year.

I think Fox Soccer is also missing an opportunity with this announcement.  My hope, and that of many other MLS fans, is that the eventual channel for MLS would also have pre-game segments, weekly segments, and special MLS programming.  That could still happen on FSC in the future, but I think the announcement of some of these types of programs could have really generated some excitement around a new season of MLS on Fox Soccer Channel.

The Fox Soccer Channel schedule is listed after the break.  What do you think?

March

Saturday, March 19
Colorado Rapids vs. Portland Timbers
9 p.m.

Friday, March 25*
Seattle Sounders FC vs. Houston Dynamo
10 p.m. (excl.)

April

Friday, April 1*
Columbus Crew vs. FC Dallas
7:30 p.m. (excl.)

Friday, April 8*
FC Dallas vs. Colorado Rapids
9 p.m. (excl.)

Saturday, April 16
Toronto FC vs. D.C. United
7 p.m.

Friday, April 22*
Colorado Rapids vs. Seattle Sounders FC
9:30 p.m. (excl.)

Saturday, April 23
LA Galaxy vs. Portland Timbers
11 p.m. (excl.)

Friday, April 29*
Houston Dynamo vs. D.C. United
8:30 p.m. (excl.)

May

Friday, May 6*
Portland Timbers vs. Philadelphia Union
10:30 p.m. (excl.)

Saturday, May 14
Real Salt Lake vs. Houston Dynamo
9 p.m.

June

Friday, June 3*
LA Galaxy vs. D.C. United
11 p.m. (excl.)

Friday, June 10*
New York Red Bulls vs. New England Revolution
8:30 p.m. (excl.)

Saturday, June 11
Seattle Sounders FC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
10 p.m.

Friday, June 17*
Sporting Kansas City vs. San Jose Earthquakes
8:30 p.m. (excl.)

Saturday, June 25
San Jose Earthquakes vs. LA Galaxy
11 p.m. (excl.)

July

Saturday, July 2
D.C. United vs. Philadelphia Union
7 p.m. (excl.)

Saturday, July 9
LA Galaxy vs. Chicago Fire
10:30 p.m.

Saturday, July 16
Seattle Sounders FC vs. Colorado Rapids
4 p.m. (excl.)

Friday, July 29*
Philadelphia Union vs. Colorado Rapids
7:30 p.m. (excl.)

Saturday, July 30
Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. LA Galaxy
7:30 p.m.

August

Friday, August 5*
Colorado Rapids vs. Columbus Crew
9:30 p.m. (excl.)

Saturday, August 13
Sporting Kansas City vs. LA Galaxy
8:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 20
Portland Timbers vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
10 p.m.

Saturday, August 27
Chivas USA vs. Real Salt Lake
10:30 p.m. (excl.)

September

Friday, September 9*
LA Galaxy vs. Colorado Rapids
11 p.m. (excl.)

Friday, September 16*
Portland Timbers vs. New England Revolution
11 p.m. (excl.)

Friday, September 23*
Sporting Kansas City vs. Philadelphia Union
8:30 p.m. (excl.)

October

Saturday, October 1*
Toronto FC vs. New York Red Bulls
7:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 15
Seattle Sounders FC vs. San Jose Earthquakes
10:30 p.m. (excl.)

* indicates date or time change from schedule as originally announced

(excl.) – exclusively broadcast on FSC.

Tonight the Eastern Conference final will kick off in Colorado at 9:30 Eastern on Fox Soccer Channel.  In a playoff full of upsets, this matchup epitomizes the postseason so far: the visitors are the lowest playoff seed who were led by the Golden Boot winner who provided almost all of their scoring and overcame the team with the biggest payroll in New York.  On the opposite bench is a club with two prolific strikers, so we could see a high-scoring match tonight.  However, both previous matches between the two ended 1-0 with the two clubs splitting.  As a preview of tonight’s match, here are some ambitious, bold, and likely wrong predictions for the match:

Chris Wondolowski will not score, but San Jose will: New York’s defense in the second leg of their match was somewhat lacking, to be polite.  Not only did it allow Wondo to score, but Bobby Convey twice.  Colorado should not make the same mistake, with Pablo Matroeni and Jeff Larentowicz tasked with slowing Wondolowski down.  I expect that they will slow him down enough to prevent him from adding to his goal total, but Colorado’s back line is still a major weakness on this team.  The midfield focusing on Wondo will not overcome the defensive shortcoming, and look for Convey or Ryan Johnson to score.

Colorado’s Omar Cummings will get his first playoff goal of 2010: So far this playoffs, Omar Cummings has been the set-up man, using his speed to penetrate defenses and set up Conor Casey or, as in the first Columbus match,  Mastroeni.  Against a San Jose defense that is decent but not great, I can see him creating his own opportunities and finally scoring that first goal.  Even if he does not, San Jose will have to adjust to the Colorado speed up front and come up with a game plan to thwart the Colorado offense.  I’m not saying they can’t do it, because I won’t discount San Jose at any point in this playoffs, but it will be a tough task.

The actual crowd tonight will be under 15,000:  The first Colorado playoff match was on a Thursday night, so that helped hold down the crowd size.  But the matchup tonight is not the most exciting and lacks the big names that might bring a casual fan to the park.  Rapids fans are good fans and this will be a fun game to watch on TV and probably in person, but I suspect there will be empty seats.

The game will go into extra time, where Colorado will win 3-2:  As I said at the beginning, I expect this to be a high-scoring affair (which guarantees a 1-0 match) but fairly even.  So I predict a tight 2-2 match with Conor Casey scoring the game-winner in the extra period.

What are your predictions for the match tonight?

I want to begin by stating that I am a fan of the current MLS playoffs and in general I enjoy the way Major League Soccer organizes them.  Like all MLS fans, I have things I love and things I hate about the current format, style of play, and presentation.  Overall, the matches this year have been enjoyable and it has been a pleasure watching them on television.

That being said, it is obvious improvements need to be made: TV numbers are down and three of the four the venues had crowds under 15,000.  For MLS to continue growing, it needs to use the playoffs (any American sport’s most exciting time) as a springboard for interest.  The problem is of course that the playoffs occur during a congested sports time of year, and short of a drastic, FIFA-approved shift in the scheduling this will not change.

Instead, here are my ideas to help put the MLS playoffs on more Americans’ minds as well as attract viewers to the sport through the primary way we watch these matches, TV:

Hire an outsider to provide color commentary or studio analysis

I cannot speak for Telefutura, but ESPN and Fox Soccer do a good job of getting talented people in the booth who can speak intelligently about Major League Soccer (take note, NFL broadcasts).  However, I think if you want to draw some attention to the broadcasts, you need to add someone to the booth or studio who knows something about soccer, but is not a soccer commentator or columnist who could change-up a broadcast.

A perfect example of this would be ESPN2 hiring (assigning? Can ESPN tell him what to do anymore?) Bill Simmons to work on the pre-game and halftime of their playoff broadcast.  Simmons has a huge following and is a Tottenham fan, albeit a new and still learning soccer fan.  What if Simmons tweeted that he would be co-hosting a playoff pre-game show?  You would immediately have new fans who would at least tune in for a few minutes just to hear Simmons’ shtick.  Imagine the Sports Guy breaking down Edson Buddle’s goal last night – it may not be tactics but it would be entertaining.  If you are afraid of losing the tactics-driven soccer fan (which admittedly many of us who read this blog are) then have a three-man pre-game cast: Rob Stone, Alexi Lalas, and Simmons.  That would garner some attention.  And ESPN’s done it before when he and Rob Stone were the broadcast crew for an ESPN2 professional bowling event.

One small problem: He seems to not like MLS.  But there’s always a chance watching a few matches could change his mind.  Any other suggestions for other networks?

Shift the matches to weekday nights

There is never a good night for soccer; there is always some conflict that can be used to justify why fans will not show up.  Having the playoffs during the week admittedly could hurt your crowd (it is a school night after all) and puts the sport on at a time and date when fewer people are watching television in general.

But let’s take last night’s Galaxy/Sounders match for example.  It was programmed against the Sunday Night Football game pitting the last two Super Bowl champions and a pivotal game four of the World Series, as well as some hockey and basketball games.  There is no room for in-depth highlights and analysis the next day.  Same thing for Saturday’s two matches – they went up against #1 Oregon’s game against USC and a day full of college football.  However, move the MLS playoff games to Tuesday/Wednesday, and you eliminate the football factor.  Now the U.S.’s most watched sport is not a competitor for coverage.  Next year the World Series will hopefully be moved to earlier in the calendar, so baseball and soccer will not conflict.  In the sports world, you are then only competing with hockey and basketball.

Again, there are a lot of drawbacks and until soccer rises in the US consciousness there is no perfect timing for these matches.  But weekdays would be slightly less imperfect.

Conduct More In-Game Interviews

This is something Fox has done well in their baseball and football broadcasts.  In baseball, the announcers tape an interview between an inning with each manager or a coach asking questions that have come up during the game.  They usually last about a minute or two and give some insight into why a decision was made or what the coaching staff was thinking.  This would be hard to translate into soccer since there is no natural break except for halftime, but it would be interesting to ask a manager at the time about tactics or a particular substitution.

What would be easier and more reasonable would be having a former official on standby to ask questions throughout the match.  NFL broadcasts are increasingly doing this, having a former official on standby to ask their thoughts on controversial or confusing calls to help viewers understand the game they are watching.  I don’t believe either ESPN or Fox has done this for their broadcasts, including the World Cup, but having a former official or head of officials available to analyze a call would be a nice touch.

Give the announcers more caffeine

This may be the simplest change of all, and I am going to get specific on this one.  JP Dellacamera’s call last night on the Edson Buddle goal was terrible.  It was a stupendous goal physically but his tone suggested he had found a dollar on the floor.  Harkes came across sounding impressed, but still I wish those two conveyed more emotion in the contest.  Towards the end of the match, maybe a little desperation in their voices would have added to the crowd noise to match the drama that was occurring on the pitch.  Overall, I like the announcing crews for these playoff games, but please show appropriate and non-biased emotion at times to help add to the moment.

Agree? Disagree?  Sound off in the comments.

Before ESPN or Fox Soccer Channel begins the live broadcast of a Major League Soccer game on a Saturday evening, many soccer fans are burned out. They’re burned out from watching a smorgasbord of European soccer that has been on television all day.

Take a typical Saturday on US cable and satellite television, for example. Soccer fans in the United States can watch 7 live English Premier League games (more than anytime in US history), 1 live Serie A game, 3 La Liga matches and 2 Bundesliga games. That totals 13 live games (i.e. 26 hours of live coverage) before a Saturday evening MLS game begins on television. And those 26 hours don’t include the handful of European games shown on delay or the EPL-centric shown on Saturday mornings such as the Barclays Premier League Preview Show and Fox Soccer Match Day.

On top of all of that, Fox Sports International launched a new channel on March 1st, Fox Soccer Plus, that is 100 percent European programming featuring games from the Premier League, FA Cup, England national team, Coca-Cola Championship, Champions League, Carling Cup, Serie A and four, yes four, rugby cups and tournaments.

My question again is where does Major League Soccer feature in all of this? Or, for an even broader question, where does U.S. soccer feature in all of this and how can it compete on television? The answer is that it simply can’t. The battle has to be won in the streets.

That battle is a difficult one especially when you’re competing against soccer TV networks who are showing games in HD, launching new channels, improving their broadband offerings and putting most of its dollars into advertising its European soccer coverage. At the same time, it’s hard to convince a family to spend their hard-earned money by going to see a live game for their local team when it’s much cheaper to stay at home and watch it on television.

So how does Major League Soccer (or the USL, NASL or WPS for that matter) convince soccer fans that it should either (a) attend one of their matches on a Saturday night or (b) encourage them to watch one of their games on television especially given the fact that there were 26 hours of live European soccer coverage shown earlier in the day?

It’s a massive question because if Major League Soccer is unable to figure out how it can do that, it could lead to the death of the league. Seriously.

I’ve discussed before that there needs to be more local Major League Soccer teams across the country. I also believe it’s important for Major League Soccer, USL and NASL to work more closely together to promote its teams across the United States so there’s no excuse that soccer fans don’t realize there’s a local team near them. For example, why isn’t there a website or tool that soccer fans in the US can use to find their nearest teams? And, unless I’m blind, why is there no 2010 schedule of NASL and USL matches on either the official NASL website or USL website even though one does exist?

And yes, the product on the field needs to be improved to bring people to live soccer matches and to encourage them to watch it on television. But is there anything else that local clubs can do in addition to that?

I don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but I would like to hear from you – the passionate supporters of soccer in North America – what you think the MLS, USL, NASL and other leagues can do to ensure that large numbers of soccer fans go to local games each week and watch US soccer on television. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I look forward to reading your insight.

The last few weeks should have been some worrying times for Major League Soccer. First, the protracted labor disputes are still unresolved and there remains a lot of uncertainty regarding what may happen in the next few weeks. Second, ESPN announced its lead commentator team for the 2010 World Cup and not one US-born announcer was selected. And third, the number of live Premier League games shown on ESPN‘s family of networks next season will increase to 83 matches.

It’s clear that ESPN is making a major play at trying to win the hearts and minds of soccer fans who prefer to watch international soccer, specifically the Premier League. And my concern is where does Major League Soccer fit into all of this? Shouldn’t MLS executives be mad as hell that it the TV network is betting most of its chips on English soccer? An all British lead commentary crew? Almost double the amount of live Premier League games shown on TV in 2010-2011? To me, the writing is on the wall for Major League Soccer and it doesn’t look good.

Add to that the concern that the United States national team may exit the World Cup in the second round. Or, even worse, in the opening group. The biggest challenge Major League Soccer would then face is that there are no other MLS players who would be left in the tournament for viewers to bond with. If the same happened to England, and they got knocked out early in the tournament, there would be players from practically every country playing each night who also play in the Premier League. The net result would be that even with an early England exit, the Premier League would still be promoted each night because of it’s array of international stars.

It’s therefore imperative that the United States men’s national team do well in World Cup 2010 to help promote Major League Soccer and to produce a “World Cup effect” where millions of Americans become so excited by the games they see on television that they begin attending MLS games in larger numbers when the tournament ends in mid-July.

But Major League Soccer needs to make sure that they don’t take the “World Cup effect” for granted. After the tournament ends, there will be several top European clubs traveling across the United States and playing in front of large crowds to take advantage of the massive interest. These clubs could include Manchester City and Arsenal. And undoubtedly these teams will appeal to many soccer fans in the United States because of the quantity and quality of international stars who would have just finished playing in the biggest tournament in the world.

Honestly, I don’t see Major League Soccer doing well in the soccer TV wars in the United States. Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN have already made it clear that they’re more interested in showing the Premier League than MLS. During a MLS season, or even after a season ends, how many MLS games are shown on repeat on Fox? Fox’s programming is heavily tilted in favor of the Premier League. Heck, the TV ratings on Fox for MLS are the same as for WPS. And WPS pays Fox for that airtime.

The soccer landscape is not all doom and gloom for Major League Soccer. Hopefully the United States will advance deep into the tournament this summer and it’ll give MLS the opportunity to put some of its players in the spotlight and to generate more interest in the sport, the league and its players.

Honestly, though, I don’t see MLS winning the soccer TV war in the States, and that’s OK. Where MLS has an advantage is on a local level where it can give soccer fans a safe and entertaining experience in their own backyard. In cities such as Seattle, Philadelphia, San Jose, Houston, Chicago and elsewhere, why watch a ton of games on television when you go see your local MLS team play in person in front of an enthusiastic crowd and see good soccer played on the field?

That’s what Major League Soccer’s focus needs to be. It needs to create new teams across the country in areas where MLS has no team and where there’s a large soccer fanbase. Otherwise those fans who have no MLS team near them have few reasons why they should watch MLS on TV but plenty more choices to watch games from other leagues and tournaments from around the world.

Take last night, for example. For most 9-5 employees who live on the East Coast of the United States, they would have come home Tuesday with a few choices of games to watch on television. They could have watched Columbus Crew against Toluca in the first leg quarter-final of the CONCACAF Champions League. Or, if they had taped the games, they could have watched Arsenal against Porto or Fiorentina versus Bayern Munich.

Those same decisions of which games to watch Tuesday night would have entered the minds of soccer fans in the Columbus area. Should I go to the game to see the Crew play, or should I stay home instead and watch games on television? The answer was loud and clear last night. The attendance at Crew Stadium was only 4,402 for a very important cup game. Where were the fans? Were they all watching Arsenal against Porto in the comfort of their living rooms?

MLS needs to trust that the United States men’s national team will do this country proud in the 2010 World Cup. And, if so, to accelerate the expansion of MLS teams across this country and to replicate the Seattle Sounders success story wherever possible.

TV Rules

The number one item that should be on the agenda for MLS officials should be has to be the preservation of the TV rights contracts.

Why do I believe that TV holds the future of MLS in its grasp? Because it’s already saved the league once. And as of now, it could be argued that the contracts might not even be extended at the current price, or not extended at all(unlikely). In light of the recent debut of La Liga and EPL on ESPN, one has to wonder to what extent ESPN will promote MLS. After all, ESPN is in business and in business, MONEY TALKS. And ESPN’s MLS ratings do not inspire confidence.

If MLS lore is to be believed, the league was saved by televsion money, albeit was the sale of the US television rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups by Soccer United Marketing, a creation of Don Garber and other investors when the league was in danger of collapse. But that’s another story.

So where does MLS stand now? The current contracts were signed in 2007 when there were 13 teams. By 2014, the renewal year for ESPN and Univision, the two largest domestic rights contracts, there will be at least 18 teams. According to Forbes, teams received around $800,000 from SUM in 2007. Along the way the teams are going to have to share a pie that will be sliced into smaller pieces.

“Soccer United Marketing, a separate business owned by investors in the league, runs the league’s national television deals ($23 million last season from ESPN, Fox, HDNet and Univision), as well as the commercial rights to a bevy of soccer properties (such as the U.S. rights to the FIFA World Cup). Yet SUM distributed less than $1 million to each team in 2007. That means that to be successful in MLS, a team has to generate a lot of cash from its stadium and local television and sponsorship deals.”
Forbes – September 2008

The Teams

That’s fine for the larger cities, LA and Toronto do particularly well with their local television deals, but what about the rest of the league? A little bit of math from the Forbes figures reveals that less than $13M of the $23M+ was distributed to the teams.

A sampling of local revenue sources referenced in the Forbes piece.

In New Jersey …

ESPNsoccernet. The Red Bull extended its TV deal with MSG for another 3 years. Financial terms were not announced.

For LA and MLS, the Beckham effect cannot be denied …

• “Herbalife agreed to a $4 million-a-year jersey sponsorship deal, twice what any other team commands.”
  
• “Sponsors like American Express , Delta Air Lines and Valero Energy bring in another $6 million annually for the team.”
  
• Last I checked, Beckham had sold over 300,000 jerseys at around $75 a pop. $22.5M in jersey sales alone.
  

  
  For Toronto:

• “Toronto also rakes in $4 million in local television and sponsorship revenue.”
  

Smaller market teams like Kansas City and Real Salt Lake cannot hope to match those ancillary revenue streams. They will always depend on a share of the national and the
newly sold overseas rights to MLS (only $10M!). But while ancillary revenues are part of the full picture, they are not the focus of this post.

According to the Forbes article, “In 2007, the three teams that were in the black–Los Angeles Galaxy, Toronto FC and FC Dallas–had a combined operating profit of $6.7 million.” We’ll see(maybe) if FC Dallas is able to remain profitable with the drastic drop in attendance they are experiencing. If FCD reports a profit for 2009, it raises the question of what constitutes revenues for FCD. For as part owner of Pizza Hut Park, they earn revenues from non FCD events, i.e.; concerts, rodeos, etc. As such FCD could show a profit as a corporate entity while the football operations lose money. Therefore my next question is this;

If the corporate interests that own MLS franchises can show a profit without running a positive cash flow for football operations, what immediate incentive do they have to significantly raise the salary cap?

The Bigger Picture

To put things in perspective, Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta pay $57M for the US broadcast rights of the EPL, nearly triple the $21M that MLS receives for all of its domestic rights(the HDNet agreement ended with the ’08 season). And the ratings appear to both justify the price and demonstrate what MLS can aspire to earn in domestic rights.

The two largest contracts are with ABCESPN, currently paying $7-8 million per year, and Univision which is paying $9-10 million.

American fans will recognize that these numbers are dwarfed by NFL, NBA, MLB and even the NHL. Here in the USA, the NFL garners $3.1B, the NBA $930M, MLB gets $400,000,000 from TNT alone. MLB also has contracts with Fox and ESPN.
and the NHL $930,000,000(includes Canada).

This is the comparison of team shares of national domestic rights fees if all leagues distributed the same 45.2% as did MLS after 2007 based on the Forbes report. I believe, however, that the players’ unions in the ‘Big 4′ cut better deals vis-a-vis TV money for their players.

As an example of how important the TV revenues are, I present this simple scenario. Many fans have suggested raising the salary cap to $5M. With 18 teams, the differential from $2.3M to $5M means an additional $48.6M for player salaries($2.7M per team).

Hey, I love the idea, imagine what the extra money would mean for roster quality. But how to get the money? Tickets sales just won’t do it. TV is where the big bucks are.

Jason Davis’ take on the effects of the low salary cap.

Which brings me back to my belief that the focus of the leagues should be improving the quality on the field. That leads to better audiences and a better chance that the rights fees extended and enhanced. And with MLS via SUM as flush as its going to be, after all, expansion won’t go on forever, the importance of the upcoming CBA talks between the league and the Major League Soccer Players Union may be the big opportunity to take a step towards a better on field product.

Liz Mullen and Tripp Mickle, writing for SportsBusiness Journal posted this on the negotiations. Major League Soccer Players Union Fires Opening Salvo.

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I have to thank The Gaffer and Kartik, for it was on the heels of their recent thought provoking pieces, MLS TV Ratings Are Doomed Because Of Euro Football by The Gaffer of EPL Talk, and Kartik’s MLS’ TV Problem: Discussing Possible Solutions, that I finally put to words the thoughts that have been bouncing around my head on the issue of MLS, its quality and continued advancement. And I also thank many of the commenters who also helped stir the pot. A few standouts from Kartik’s post are

by YAR H – “The solution though if simple would have been implemented already. No easy answers my friends. None. MLS is under performing.”

by Soccer Guru comment #87 “MLS has been oversold by ESPN for years. Now that they have La Liga and EPL they will build their brand around those respectable products, not around something that has constantly failed for years.” Worth reading the full reply.

by JOHAS – Does TV really matter in the larger scheme of things?

JOHAS, if you’re reading this, I hope I’ve demonstrated why TV really does matter.