MLS’s single-entity concept may have theoretically given each team a fair start on the field, but league organizers had little control over each team’s package of radio and TV broadcasts. The disparity is vast.
Three teams — New England, New York/New Jersey, and Washington — have all, or nearly all, of their games on television when their local packages are combined with the national deals signed with ESPN (up to 36 games) and Univision (at least 26 games).
A lack of time severely hampered some teams in arranging their broadcast deals.
Los Angeles — unbeaten at 7-0 and drawing 34,000 fans per game — didn’t sign a five-game package until May 28. Colorado and Tampa Bay have very limited deals that entail five or six games. Kansas City’s games are shown on American Cablevision, a cable channel readily available to most residents in its markets but nothing like a local network affiliate or independent station.
In January, New England Revolution executive Jonathan Kraft stood up at a meeting and told his colleagues, few of whom had done much regarding broadcast deals, to get with it.
“As a new league, and as a professional league, television is vital,” said Kraft. “With so many other details to take care of, they hadn’t paid much attention to television. I told them this would be a big mistake.”
Kraft pushed the idea of using a single company to produce all local telecasts, fearing some teams would never get a deal done if they had to arrange production as well as negotiate deals with local outlets. Bids on the package were taken and the contract was awarded to Grand Slam, the company that produces U.S. Soccer telecasts. ESPN and Univision handle their own productions.
MLS director of broadcasting David Abroms says the league and individual teams evenly share production costs, which run about $20,000 for a game broadcast to one market. A second market for the same telecast adds about $10,000, in which case MLS pays half the costs and the two teams split the other half.
Most teams are paying their broadcasters, in particular their color commentators, far less than what their counterparts make in pro basketball, hockey and baseball: in some cases, as little as $300 per game. To further cut costs, some are also using team executives as broadcasters, which saves them paying talent fees.
Tampa Bay senior vice president Ed Austin is the color commentator for Mutiny games, and Colorado VP Dean Linke does the play-by-play for Rapids telecasts. San Jose uses director of operations and broadcasting David Bolton as a sideline reporter.
Of the three, only Bolton has previous broadcasting experience.
Kansas City employs Randy Hahn, a veteran soccer broadcaster who is the play-by-play man for the NHL San Jose Sharks, but he works without a color commentator.
Tampa Bay general manager Farrukh Quraishi admits that saving money is one reason the team uses Austin for TV. The Mutiny also has director of media relations Jim Henderson do the play-by-play of its radio broadcasts.
“Partly,” says Quraishi. “but we also wanted someone with knowledge of the game and of the players. You could find someone with a great broadcast voice who wouldn’t be soccer-knowledgeable.
“Ideally, you’d have someone with professional broadcasting experience and great knowledge of the game. Ed was an all-American at Hartwick and also played for the [APSL] Rowdies.”
Abroms emphasizes that for a new league, publicizing the teams and their players in some cases superseded the need to find experienced broadcasters with extensive knowledge of the sport and the league.
“I don’t think it’s the optimal way to go,” he says. “Some people look at it and say it’s not proper, it’s not professional, the whole nine yards.
“By the same token, people with the teams have far more knowledge of the teams and players than any broadcaster could ever have.”
Despite the supervision of Grand Slam, the quality of game productions has varied wildly. Some telecasts have been marred by poor camerawork and sloppy editing, which is a danger, says Abroms, when teams finalize deals at the last minute and have only a few days to arrange crews.
“There aren’t an infinite number of cameramen to go around with [live sports] experience,” he says. “At this time of year, you have baseball, hockey and basketball and a lot of Olympic productions.
“But on the whole, for the first year, I think we’ve done a good job.”
by Soccer America Senior Editor Ridge Mahoney