Agreement with American and Canadian broadcasters will run alongside huge Apple streaming deal
Major League Soccer, North America's premier football league, has signed a monumental new TV rights deal with four broadcast partners based in the United States and Canada
MLS games will air in the US on Fox Sports and TelevisaUnivision, and in Canada on TSN (The Sports Network) and its French-language sister network RDS, in a deal which will run for the next four seasons until 2026, when the US, Canada and Mexico will host the next FIFA World Cup.
This new linear broadcasting deal will see select MLS matches air on these broadcast networks, as well as playoff games, the MLS Cup and the Leagues Cup.
This new deal will complement the seismic 10-year agreement struck between the MLS and Apple earlier this year, which will begin in 2023, and see every MLS match of the regular and post season made available via live streaming on Apple TV+.
These matches will be present on the brand new MLS Season Pass which is due to launch on Apple TV+ in February 2023 and will be available exclusively to Apple TV+ subscribers.
This combination of traditional and online broadcasting will give the league much greater coverage across the board as it continues to grow in popularity in North America.
Don Garber, Commissioner of MLS, said of the new linear TV deal:
“We are proud to continue our partnerships with FOX Sports, Univision and TSN, and we are pleased to have MLS matches on RDS in Canada. These broadcast industry leaders continue to demonstrate their deep commitment to MLS and soccer.”
“Our linear agreements, along with our partnership with Apple, are the culmination of a series of collaborative discussions to provide our fans with the most expansive and accessible line-up of programming MLS and our sport in the US and Canada have ever seen – and by a significant margin.”
Executives at the MLS will hope that the noteworthy and sustained growth of the MLS and football as a whole in the United States will lead to an increase in viewership, especially as the country prepares to host the World Cup, alongside neighbours Canada and Mexico, for the first time since FIFA World Cup USA '94.
MLS has been working with Fox Sports, Univision and TSN for decades and therefore it is no surprise that they chose to partner up once again with these broadcast partners.
CEO & Executive Producer at FOX Sports, Eric Shanks, said:
“We’re proud to extend our longstanding partnership with Major League Soccer at a truly exciting time for the sport here in the United States. There is no soccer league in the world better positioned for growth and with FOX’s unrivalled reach we are fired up to be a part of it.”
President of Global Sports Business at TelevisaUnivision, Olek Loewenstein, added:
“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Major League Soccer and bring our viewers the excitement of the 2023 Leagues Cup. As The Home of Soccer, fans can count on our networks and platforms to deliver comprehensive coverage of the biggest leagues and rivalries in North America.”
Fans of the beautiful game stateside will find it easier than ever to follow their favourite MLS teams with multiple linear and online options.
Apple TV+ will be the streaming home of Major League Soccer for the next decade, and Fox Sports, Univision and TSN will provide traditional TV coverage for the next four years.
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