ESPN Cancels MLS Primetime Thursday
ESPN, Soccer, Television January 20th. 2009, 1:30pm
ESPN is cancelling MLS Primetime Thursday on ESPN2, due to low ratings. MLS matches averaged a 0.2 rating with 251,000 viewers last season, lower ratings than the league averaged in 1998.
The ratings roughly equal that for a marquee Premier League match on Fox Soccer Channel. Fox Soccer Channel has less than one third the distribution of ESPN2, does not have the benefit of ESPN cross-promotion and is on weekend mornings rather than primetime.
ESPN2 still will show an MLS match of the week, though that may be on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. With more flexible scheduling, the Leader theoretically can garner better ratings by having more marquee MLS teams and by scheduling matches strategically to get carry-over viewing from other sporting events.
Next season is the third of an eight-year $64 million deal between MLS and ESPN. Considering ESPN’s interest in acquiring the Premier League rights in England, there probably will be a long-term future for soccer on the network, but not necessarily the American brand.
30 Responses to “ESPN Cancels MLS Primetime Thursday”
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January 20th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I AM SHOCKED
January 20th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Good, the MLS is garbage. Frankly I think this is a sign that they won’t get the rights to the EPL (don’t honestly know if they will be able to afford it). They want ratings, not soccer ratings.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Now they can save the NHL, right?
Ty don’t kill yourself. Plus soccer on Telemundo is better anyway.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
NHL gets better ratings now than it did when it was last on ESPN
January 20th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
imagine?
January 20th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
thank god
January 20th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I think enough Americans like soccer, however I also believe Americans dont like crappy soccer. If ESPN had Premiership rights people would watch.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
There is a lot of crappy soccer in the premier league. They aren’t getting people to tune in for wigan-stoke games. If they get FSC’s share, Setanta will still have first crack and gets almost all the good games. Don’t really see much better ratings than what FSC gets, and it will be worse coverage.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
There was an MLS Primetime Thursday that I wasn’t informed about?
January 20th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Mole are you serious. Thats the whole reason I don’t watch hockey now.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
no comment about WNBA per author’s request…
January 20th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Yep. Can’t remember where I read the stats, but they were marginally better. Still not very good, but people overestimate how popular hockey was when it was on ESPN. It was a niche sport then, and will continue to be.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
January 20th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
There actually was a WNBA post recently, here. I couldn’t believe it either.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I’ll take your word for it…
January 20th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Agreed. the chance for the NHL to capitalize on their popularity was after 1994. NY had won, there was buzz and then there was a lockout. The NHL has never recovered from that and then the Devils introduced the trap to the sport.
Bettman has run this league into the ground for 14 years.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Where’s the NHL post?
January 20th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Yep. Had they listened to Mario and done something about the clutch and grab it would be more entertaining.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Mole I just Wikipedia’d Lemonparty thats pretty sick. I usually click on anything at work but I glad I didnt this time.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
People keep making the same lame ass ’soc-cer?’ jokes and I’ll keep misdirecting links.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Seriously.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
The NHL guy was worse than intern bill, I’d rather not read his sorry excuse for recaps than have a hockey post.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Mole are you some kind of link terrorist.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
woah woah woah. Nothing is worse than intern bill.
mole- you see Backes’s goal last night? That was sick.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Soccer sucks. I would much prefer an NHL post, a NASCAR post, or a tiddlywinks post.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
The masses have spoken. Soccer is only significant every four years in the US.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
i read the same thing; people (like tony kornheiser who are so technically inept they can’t use a remote) who screamed the nhl would die on versus were wrong. the ratings versus was pulling last spring were equal to and in some cases marginally better than what the nhl pulled on bspn2.
the nhl on nbc is doing OK.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
That’s a lie Mo. Soccer is never significant in th US. Like linking sites that no one will ever click, soccer is a big waste of time.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Thus far, they are bidding for broadcast rights in England. There are laws preventing one network from holding a broadcast monopoly, so the Premier League is selling six packages. They may not outbid Sky, but they can surely outbid Setanta.
My assumption, given the increased emphasis of coverage in the States, is that that would eventually lead to ESPN purchasing the EPL broadcast rights in the U.S. and simply repackaging their programming.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Espn thinks the problem is just that MLS is a second rate league (which it is). But they clearly never got how to sell it.
They gave their Euro 08 coverage to Andy Gray. MLS got Dave O’Brien. That’s like me getting Kim Kardassian and Ty getting her circus freek of a sister.
And I enjoy hearing that soccer “will never be big in the USA.” Uh, it’s already big. It’s just not the NFL or MLB – and that it’ll never be. But there’s as much soccer played and watched here as there is basketball watched in china.