ESPN yesterday drew a 0.42 overnight for the Timbers' 2-1 win over the Crew, marking what could likely be the least-viewed MLS Cup on record. The previous low for viewership was for Sporting KC-Real Salt Lake in '13, and that game drew a 0.45 overnight. Timbers-Crew is down 25% from a 0.6 overnight for Galaxy-Revolution last season, which featured the swan song for former Galaxy F Landon Donovan. Timbers-Crew had a lead-in from the "CFP Rankings Show," which drew a 0.9 overnight (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
GETTING THE TIMING RIGHT: In Philadelphia, Jonathan Tannenwald noted while MLS viewership was up during the regular season, in the playoffs, the league has "taken a beating." Despite having "every postseason game nationally televised in the U.S. for the first time ever, viewership figures have been about the same as those for the regular season, and in some cases worse." If MLS "wanted to get its weekend games on big-time networks, it had to take Sunday time slots that put it up against the NFL." ESPN, Fox and Univision have "always presented their eight-year deal with MLS as a long-term play," but in the short term, there are "questions about whether the Sunday strategy is working." ESPN's Adrian Healey admitted that he and some of his colleagues are "'a little frustrated' with where things stand, and have been for a while" (PHILLY.com, 12/5).
