FOX Sports acquired the rights to MLS TV beginning with the 2023 season, according to the New York Post.
Reporter Andrew Marchand says ESPN will no longer broadcast MLS games. Instead, FOX Sports has renewed its agreement with Major League Soccer and is scheduled to broadcast a select number of games on television each year. Earlier this year, FOX Sports reportedly offered MLS $7 million per season for the television rights.
With all MLS games streaming exclusively through Apple’s MLS Season Pass from 2023 to 2032, FOX’s deal with MLS is an interesting one. In large part, it will help keep MLS on television.
Despite the MLS-FOX deal, the national league will find itself with fewer games on television since ESPN came out. Meanwhile, the Spanish-language rights are up in the air, and TelevisaUnivision is in no rush to sign a deal, if at all.
MLS deal with Apple didn’t incentivize FOX or ESPN
In June 2022, when Major League Soccer’s deal with Apple was announced, ESPN and FOX Sports had very little incentive to bid for the rights to MLS TV. After all, why broadcast non-exclusive MLS games on TV that indirectly help sell Apple’s MLS season pass subscriptions?
The New York Post summed it up best:
“Sources said that MLS had a confrontation with FOX and ESPN. Both networks refused to pay almost nothing for the games. In the original offer, neither network was close to the price compared to Apple’s guarantee of $250 million per season. ESPN ultimately walked away from the negotiations, leaving FOX as the sole bidder and willing to take the programming.”
Now, with ESPN supposedly out and FOX in MLS, there’s another problem facing Major League Soccer. That is, the low audience numbers of FOX Sports on MLS TV. During 2022, MLS games on FOX, FS1 and FOX Deportes decreased 6% compared to the prior year. Viewership averaged 198,000 per game.
Given FOX’s disappointing coverage of the 2022 World Cup, both MLS and FOX have a lot of work to do ahead of the 2023 season.
However, it’s very possible that FOX Sports is an unwanted benefactor of the new deal, especially if MLS signs someone like Lionel Messi. That single signature would result in a huge television audience bonanza.
