Sunday's Revolution-Galaxy MLS Cup is scheduled for 3:00pm ET on ESPN, and the network "hopes the fact there are only four NFL games in the late afternoon window will lead some to turn on" the MLS title game, according to Mike DeCourcy of SPORTING NEWS. DeCourcy writes under the header, "Why Is The MLS Cup Final On At The Same Time As NFL Games?" Because the MLS season ends in the fall, it is "difficult to find a position on the sports calendar that is not impacted, indeed overwhelmed, by football." MLS played its championship game "even later on Sunday afternoons for a while," and also "tried a Sunday evening slot." Last season's title game "ran concurrent with the SEC Championship football game," and it seems like "it's always something." The "problem in choosing to kick off between" 3:00-4:00pm on a Sunday "is that it’s not just something -- it’s everything." But ESPN Senior VP/Programming Scott Guglielmino said, "When it comes to this particular year, the reality is we have established Sunday as the home for MLS in the fall. We did see the conference final game this past weekend, we saw a nice bump in millennial traffic, the 18-to-34 group. We believe we’re looking at a slightly different audience than the football audience. Our proposition with MLS is a different proposition. It is resonating with a core fan group of 18-34 year olds. We’re not going to shy away from the windows where we think it makes the most sense." He added that Sunday's MLS Cup "should have a strong lead-in from the College Football Playoff selection show." DeCourcy noted placing the game in this window also "allows it to be shown on ESPN rather than an alternate such as ESPN2." Still, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and the league's TV partners "do not have an easy solution to this issue" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 12/4).
KEEPING IT CASUAL? Revolution President Jonathan Kraft on Friday said of MLS competing with the NFL for TV viewers this Sunday, "You won’t get the casual sports fan. If we weren’t up against an NFL Sunday, I’m sure the rating ... would be at least three or four times what it’s going to end up being." Kraft, speaking on WBZ-AM, added, "It’s not a smart way of doing it. I think starting next year, we have a new television deal with ESPN and Fox and it’s for a significant amount of money. I believe that as a part of that deal, we will figure out game windows that give us the best opportunity of succeeding" ("Felger & Massarotti," WBZ-AM, 12/4).
COMING OF AGE: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Matthew Futterman writes most of the chatter surrounding Sunday's game "is an existential discussion of what MLS is and what it will become as it exits late adolescence and enters adulthood." MLS "is still trying to solve the puzzle of soccer in North America -- specifically, how to transform massive interest in international soccer into tribal support of local teams in a domestic league." Nothing "is thornier for MLS right now though than its coming decision on where to expand." The choice has "become a referendum on what MLS values most, since each candidate offers qualities that have proven successful elsewhere, but no one offers everything MLS would want -- a great, downtown soccer venue with a ready-made fan base" (
WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/5).
