Sports TV News

YouTube TV Strikes Deal To Air MLS Games

Published

6 years ago

February 5, 2018

YouTube TV reached a multi-year agreement with the expansion MLS organization, Los Angeles Football Club, as their exclusive broadcast rights holder. LAFC is the first professional sports franchise in North America to have its games exclusively presented on a streaming platform.

Terms of the agreement between YouTube TV and LAFC were not released, but according to the LA Times, the deal is thought to be worth $18 million for three years.

“We have a partner in YouTube TV that is willing to do innovative things in the way of doing augmented content,” said Tom Penn, president and co-owner of LAFC. “They are pushing the envelope all the time in the ways content is delivered to fans.” The LAFC’s ownership group also includes Peter Guber, Magic Johnson and Will Ferrell.

30 of the LAFC’s 34 games during the upcoming season will be available on YouTube TV, with about half of them being exclusive. Some of the games are nationally televised on ESPN or Fox Sports 1, both of which are channels already carried by YouTube TV. Subscribers pay $35 per month for YouTube TV and will incur no additional cost to watch the LAFC games.

“When we talk about innovation, it goes beyond a traditional distribution deal and really looking at programming for LAFC fans both on and off the field,” said Angela Courtin, global head of marketing at YouTube TV and YouTube Originals. “We think it’s going to be groundbreaking.”

Many professional leagues have experimented with digital streaming on different platforms, creating new competition and opportunity for teams. While Major League Soccer is not in the realm of the four major professional North American sports, LAFC is still the first professional franchise to have an exclusive broadcast partnership with a digital company. The MLS’ Los Angeles Galaxy are seven seasons into their record 10-year $55 million contract with Spectrum SportsNet and averaged just 9,000 viewers per game last season.

Since launching last year, YouTube TV has already acquired 50 TV networks. Recognizing the value of sports coverage and advertising, the Google owned property partnered with Major League Baseball as the presenting sponsor of the 2017 World Series. Digital rights for “Thursday Night Football” are still up for bid and it will be interesting to see if YouTube TV makes a push for the “TNF” package which cost Amazon $50 million last year.

Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.

Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at [email protected].

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CBS Sports Shares Details of Spongebob-Themed NFL Broadcasts

Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson return to the booth for both games alongside Dylan Schefter and Young Dylan.

Published

4 hours ago

December 5, 2023

Jeff Kotuby

Get ready for some Turtles on Christmas and some SpongeBob on Super Bowl Sunday. CBS Sports and Nickelodeon are teaming up to deliver two alternate NFL broadcasts this year — one for the Monday night “Nickmas” game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, and then a second, SpongeBob Squarepants-themed broadcast for Super Bowl LVIII.

Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson return to the booth for both games alongside Dylan Schefter and Young Dylan. The live-action hosts will be joined by two groups of Nicktoons depending on the game.

SpongeBob and Patrick (voiced by Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, respectively) will join Eagle and Burleson in the booth for Super Bowl LVIII, while Sandy and Larry the Lobster will provide some additional flair from the sidelines. The Bikini Bottom crew will be joined by Dora the Explorer and Boots the Monkey, who will explain penalties to the younger viewers. During the “Nickmas” Game on Dec. 25, the crew will be joined by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s Raphael in the booth, while Donatello will join Schefter on the sidelines.

The Christmas Day game will be Nickelodeon’s first regular-season game, as previous Nick alternate broadcasts were all during Wild Card Weekend. Last year, Nick aired an alternate broadcast of Cowboys/49ers, which drew an audience of 41 million viewers. The games have also become a social media phenomenon from adult viewers watching tongue-in-cheek.

The Nickelodeon Super Bowl telecast and Nickelodeon NFL Nickmas Game are produced by CBS Sports in association with Nickelodeon Productions.

Jeff Kotuby

Jeff Kotuby is a nationally-published journalist with bylines on many popular broadcasting and pop culture sites, including The Streamable, eBaum’s World, Twin Galaxies, and more. Jeff grew up in the shadows of New York City and cultivated his love for sports media with the classic broadcasting voices of the area, like Mike & The Mad Dog, Mike “Doc” Emerick, and Michael Kay. You can reach Jeff on Twitter @JeffKotu3y.

Sports TV News

Pat McAfee Calls Out Roger Goodell For Not Appearing on His Show

“Hey Rog? Don’t be scared, Rog. Put your big boy pants on. It’ll be good, Rog.”

Published

7 hours ago

December 5, 2023

Jeff Kotuby

Pat McAfee still wants a “white whale” guest on his show — and it’s becoming harder and harder for that guest to resist an interview feasibly.

On today’s The Pat McAfee Show, McAfee mentioned that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will appear on the program on the Dec. 6 episode, crediting ESPN for making it possible. McAfee then rifles off other commissioners that have appeared on his show, including NHL commish Gary Bettman and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, and mentions that MLS commissioner Don Garber was interested in coming on the show.

Notably, three of these four leagues mentioned currently maintain a broadcasting relationship with ESPN, with the fourth (MLS) previously having one before leaving for the bosom of Apple TV+.

One league partner’s commissioner who hasn’t appeared is Roger Goodell, the NFL’s controversial commish who rarely makes media appearances outside of the NFL sphere. McAfee has long desired an interview with Goodell and called out to the commissioner personally to come on — as only he can.

“Hey Rog? Don’t be scared, Rog,” McAfee said. “Put your big boy pants on. It’ll be good, Rog.”

Among the crew egging Goodell on was New York Jets QB Aaron Rodgers, who was in the studio with McAfee and gang. The QB hasn’t been one to mince words lately and seemed more than willing to join in on the Goodell teasing to bring him on his friend’s show.

Should the crew plus Rodgers be together to speak with Goodell, it could create an interesting dichotomy for Goodell. One outspoken current player and potentially multiple former players (McAfee, along with former Colts teammate Darius Butler and Rodgers’ former Packers teammate A.J. Hawk) would provide a unique interview experience for Goodell, who is used to very controlled, one-on-one interviews with more muted individuals on the other side.

For the record, McAfee and company also pointed out that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred hasn’t appeared either, but the guys don’t seem too torn up about it.

Jeff Kotuby

Sports TV News

NBC Won’t Broadcast XFL/USFL After Merger

“We wish them success with the new league and their new partners.”

Published

9 hours ago

December 5, 2023

BSM Staff

NBC Sports broadcasted USFL games in its first two seasons since its resurrection, but that won’t continue in 2024.

As the two leagues prepare to merge, the new season won’t begin until March 30th. Due to pre-existing contracts for PGA Tour and other golf events, the network wasn’t able to commit to broadcasting the spring football league.

“We enjoyed our relationship with the USFL and Fox, but the new earlier schedule made it impossible for us to continue,” NBC Sports Executive Vice President of Communications Greg Hughes told Sports Business Journal. “We wish them success with the new league and their new partners.”

With the departure of NBC Sports, ESPN and FOX Sports will be the two television partners for the league.