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    MLS TV Ratings Worrying

    via Major League Soccer Talk by Kartik Krishnaiyer on 11/9/08

    Maybe I was simply delusional. Perhaps I was drinking the Kool Aid. This past April on EPL Talk.com I had engaged in a back and forth dialogue with the publisher of that site, Christopher Harris (aka the Gaffer) arguing the English Premier League would always have a niche following in the US and that Major League Soccer was already more popular on TV and would grow remarkably in popularity as a televised sport in the near future, as opposed to the EPL whose fan support in this country was at a ceiling, as opposed to the EPL whose fan support in this country was at a ceiling and based primarily on ex-pats.

    At the time Fox Soccer Channel was not nielson rated and my theory was based on instinct and the opinions of those who I speak with (most of whom are very pro MLS and US Soccer and not particularly enamored with the Premier League) not any sort of empirical evidence. Well now the evidence is in and could not have been more wrong about the viewership for both leagues.

    According to the latest issue of the Sports Business Journal published by Street and Smith’s (now the parent company of the Sporting News incidentally) MLS TV ratings are about as bad as can be imagined. ESPN2’s Thursday night rating fell this season and the telecasts averaged a 0.2 rating and was watched in an average of 251,000 homes weekly. ESPN 2 has achieved higher average ratings in prime time for such sports as Poker and Bowling in the last year. However, those sports have limited upside potential when compared with Football. But Football in the US fans clearly aren’t enamored with MLS: US National Team telecasts on ESPN and ESPN have averaged a 0.6 rating this year and the Euros averaged a 0.8 on the networks. The lack of viewership on ESPN 2 is a major concern as the network has invested a rights fee in the league for the first time. Despite the signing of David Beckham, MLS averaged less viewers in 2008 on ESPN2 than the league did in 2006 before Beckham was signed and before the new TV deal took affect. But even more worrying is that MLS games averaged according to BNet a 0.5 rating on ESPN and a 0.3 rating on ESPN 2 for the 1998 season. MLS also averaged a 0.9 rating on ABC that season, when the network broadcast 13 regular season games. The lone ABC telecast this season between the league’s two most successful clubs historically, garnered a 1.1 rating as a lead in to the Euro 2008 final which achieved a 3.2 rating. So in essence a smaller percentage of TV viewers nationally are watching MLS in 2008 than did in 1998, despite the league having more of a mainstream media presence and having two more franchises. I would note that personally I probably watched more MLS games in 1998 and 1999 than I have in 2007 and 2008 because the league despite the funny clock rules seemed to have better quality to it in those days and some teams like DC United circa 1996-1999 were in my mind as entertaining to watch as any club in the world. MLS currently does not provide that sort of entertainment and looking at these figures I am not alone in beleiving that.

    On the lighter side what should be encouraging is that few viewers if any have tuned in for late season and playoff games from Foxborough where reported attendances in the 5,000-7,500 range have looked generous and dishonest.

    Fox Soccer Channel has been nielson rated now for about a month. This has been a good thing for the network to prove to potential advertisers that people do tune in for their early morning EPL matches. Matches involving Manchester United or Liverpool have averaged 211,000 viewers on the network. In fact when you consider that FSC is in less than 1/3 the homes that have ESPN2, the Premier League ratings when matched up with the MLS Thursday Primetime ratings are most impressive. Also consider the time of the Premier League matches: often times very early in the morning on the west coast of the U.S. and still at an odd time on the east coast of the US.

    MLS ratings on FSC have not been as encouraging for the sport. The matchup between Chivas USA and Houston, the top two teams in the west got a rare 0.0 rating and was viewed in only 24,000 homes. Including the first weekend of the playoffs, FSC is averaging 30,000 viewers for MLS Saturday night matches.

    Thirteen years into the life of Major League Soccer and the league seems to be having little success winning core football fans over and worse yet as the sport grows in popularity stateside, MLS seems to be left behind. the hardcore niche audience watching and supporting the league is more passionate than ever, but if this league is to truly succeed we cannot continue to see the regression of TV numbers. It is somewhat unfortunate and unfair but TV ratings are the surest determination many in the media and on Madison Avenue use to ascertain the popularity of a sporting product. With this in mind, MLS has much work to do.

    #2
    Re: MLS TV Ratings Worrying

    The problem is very simple. If I am at home and can switch the channel to watch the Boston Redsox or the Paw Sox I am going to watch the BoSox every time. The same thing for the Boston Bruins vs the Providence bruins.

    The EPL is a vastly superior league with lots of personality. When they play it is like a full court press in Basketball, everyone is running, everyone is anticapating. there is the fear to being relagated so evern the lower level teams play with passion. While watching the MLS 3/4 of the players are standing around watching the game and not playing. I like going to Foxborough to watch a few games a season it is a good take but that is about it.

    There is nothing better than watching a Chelsea/MU game while reading the sunday paper.

    51

    Comment


      #3
      Re: MLS TV Ratings Worrying

      As a league, MLS is crud.

      Why should anyone be expected to take an interest in an inferior product?

      Comment


        #4
        Re: MLS TV Ratings Worrying

        Originally posted by Guest
        As a league, MLS is crud.

        Why should anyone be expected to take an interest in an inferior product?
        Actually the level of play in the MLS has improved steadily over the last 10 years, thanks to improvement in college soccer. Probably about championship level now. The problem is the marketing, lack of recognizable stars, silly all-in playoff format, crap fields with football lines on them, empty stadiums, etc. Just doesn't have the feal of a professional operation, even if the level of play has improved so dramatically. Small loyal fan-base but even that average soccer fan not won over yet much less non-soccer fans. That is bad for US soccer, very bad.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: MLS TV Ratings Worrying

          Originally posted by Guest

          Actually the level of play in the MLS has improved steadily over the last 10 years, thanks to improvement in college soccer. Probably about championship level now. The problem is the marketing, lack of recognizable stars, silly all-in playoff format, crap fields with football lines on them, empty stadiums, etc. Just doesn't have the feal of a professional operation, even if the level of play has improved so dramatically. Small loyal fan-base but even that average soccer fan not won over yet much less non-soccer fans. That is bad for US soccer, very bad.

          "Improved steadily" perhaps -- but it's still shyte compared to REAL soccer leagues.

          The best players from MLS ride the pine whenever they venture abroad. That speaks
          volumes as to the poor quality of play.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: MLS TV Ratings Worrying

            Crowds are up everywhere except around here for MLS games which is strange

            We should support MLS and the Womes League and use our contacts to get more attention on local news etc

            Comment


              #7
              Re: MLS TV Ratings Worrying

              So, who watched the final?

              Comment


                #8
                Re: MLS TV Ratings Worrying

                I watched it good game - great to see the crowd really into it

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: MLS TV Ratings Worrying

                  % of season completed
                  100%
                  Year Average Median %<10K %>20k
                  1996 17406 15093 21.9% 26.3%
                  1997 14619 12733 25.0% 16.3%
                  1998 14312 11871 26.6% 16.1%
                  1999 14282 12973 32.3% 15.1%
                  2000 13756 12690 34.4% 12.5%
                  2001 14962 13431 26.6% 17.7%
                  2002 15821 14108 17.1% 18.6%
                  2003 14898 13641 23.3% 18.0%
                  2004 15559 13285 24.7% 25.3%
                  2005 15108 12619 27.1% 17.7%
                  2006 15504 14175 18.8% 18.8%
                  2007 16770 15353 8.2% 29.7%
                  2008 16459 15188 11.0% 24.8%

                  3rd out of 13 for average
                  2nd out of 13 for median
                  2nd out of 13 for <10k
                  4th out of 13 for >20k


                  Reported attendance above 15,000: 109/210 games
                  Above 15,000/below 15,000
                  1.Los Angeles Galaxy, 15/0
                  2.Toronto FC, 15-0
                  3.D.C United, 13-2
                  4.Chicago Fire, 12-3
                  5.Houston Dynamo, 9-6
                  6.Columbus Crew, 8-7
                  6.Real Salt Lake, 8-7
                  8.New England Revolution, 7-8
                  9.New York Red Bull, 6-9
                  10.Chivas U.S.A, 5-10
                  11.Dallas FC, 4-11
                  12.San Jose Earthquakes, 3-12
                  13.Colorado Rapids, 3-12
                  14.Kansas City Wizards, 1-14

                  Reported Attendance
                  above 20,000: 52 games
                  15,000-19,999: 57 games
                  10,000-14,999: 77 games
                  under 10,000: 24 games

                  Teams with Soccer Specific Stadiums for whole season
                  1.Los Angeles 26,009/27,000 capacity, 96.3% of capacity
                  2.Toronto F.C, 20,108/20,000 100.0%
                  3.Chicago Fire, 17,034/20,000 (approx) 85.2%
                  4.Chivas U.S.A, 15,114/27000 56.0%
                  5.Columbus Crew, 14,622/20,145 72.6%
                  6.Colorado Rapids, 13,659/18,086 75.5%
                  7.Dallas F.C, 13,024/20,500 63.5%

                  Average 17,081/21,819 78.3%

                  Games with Los Angeles/David Beckham
                  L.A Home games: 15-390,132-26,009 average
                  L.A Away games: 15-421,907-28,127 average

                  League reported attendance excluding L.A Home/Away game (and New England double header game)
                  179 games 2,590,306 attendance, 14,471 average

                  including L.A Home games: 194-2,980,438-15,363 average

                  Team reported attendance averages excluding Beckham/L.A games

                  1.Toronto F.C 20,108
                  2.D.C United 18,682
                  3.Chicago Fire, 16,811
                  4.Houston Dynamo, 15,811
                  5.Real Salt Lake, 15,509
                  6.Chivas U.S.A, 14,265
                  7.Columbus Crew, 14,046
                  8.New York Red Bull, 13,727
                  9.Colorado Rapids, 13,298
                  10.New England Revolution, 13,108 (also excluding double header)
                  11.Dallas FC, 11,693
                  12.San Jose Earthquakes, 10,750
                  13.Kansas City Wizards, 9,584

                  Comment


                    #10
                    w t f above?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Soccer is making inroads in popularity in the US but still has a long way to go. The big sports still occupy most people's entertainment time (TV viewership) and dollars (live game attendance - below from Wikipedia) and swag (no data but how many people do you see walking around with MLS team gear?). Average MLS attendance per game is decent, and some cities definitely have a good fan base (Seattle, LA, Atlanta, NY). But fewer people in the US watch MLS games than hockey and even minor league baseball. If you are a soccer fan but only have so much time to watch a game on TV, are you going to watch KS Sporting vs Chicago, or an international match? Follow the $. There isn't much TV $ in MLS soccer. Women's numbers are just sad; even the WNBA is anemic and basketball is far more popular and the WNBA gets a ton of support.

                      Average game attendance and total annual attendance

                      Major League Baseball 28,830 69,625,244
                      National Hockey League 17,446 22,174,362
                      National Basketball Association 17,987 22,124,559
                      National Football League 67,100 17,177,581
                      Premier League 38,274 14,505,999
                      Bundesliga 44,646 13,661,796
                      Minor League Baseball (AAA) 6,615 13,381,926
                      Major League Soccer 21,873 8,552,503

                      WNBA 7,716 1,574,078
                      NWSL 6,024 650,562

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Best college football games get 70,000 in attendance. Paying customers.

                        Best college soccer games maybe get 1,000. And it's free.

                        The interest ain't there.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                          Best college football games get 70,000 in attendance. Paying customers.

                          Best college soccer games maybe get 1,000. And it's free.

                          The interest ain't there.
                          and the football teams sell a ton of team gear and concessions. I went to a Big 10 school with a top football team. OMG the games are a frigging blast. Basketball doesn't get the same numbers obviously, but most games have sold out stadiums. Soccer? Not so much. No one camps out to get soccer tickets.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Don't want to see a bunch of low level foreign players who couldn't make it in there country.
                            Want to see Americans from Academy teams and former Top level college players. I couldn't name many players on Rev's now. MLS should be an American developmental league for US National Team.

                            Peace Through Strength

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                              Don't want to see a bunch of low level foreign players who couldn't make it in there country.
                              Want to see Americans from Academy teams and former Top level college players. I couldn't name many players on Rev's now. MLS should be an American developmental league for US National Team.

                              Peace Through Strength
                              Over ten years of DA and international rejects are landing MLS and college spots here in the US over US trained players. That tells you all you need to know. The US is making progress but still has years to go before the balance starts to tip the other way

                              Comment

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