MLS has announced its ’16 regular-season schedule, one that sees it enhancing its U.S. television coverage across all of its network partners. Four matchups will be shown on Fox for the first time, each with a 30-minute pregame show. All but five of ESPN’s 34 matches will be broadcast on its flagship station -- up from nine last season -- with the network adding additional pregame coverage before select games. ESPN will also align MLS coverage with its broadcasting of the UEFA European Championship, creating five back-to-back broadcasts. ESPN and Fox Sports will continue their Sunday night programming, while Univision Deportes will continue with its Viernes de Futbol Friday night programming, showing all of its 28 matches on UniMas. MLS and Soccer United Marketing Senior VP/Media Seth Bacon said the expanded coverage "really shows the increased commitment of our network partners in growing the sport with us.” He added that part of the drive for expanded coverage also came from sponsors. Bacon: "We’re very focused on creating more content, whether it’s having these pregame windows or expanded windows on Fox. We’ve had such demand from our sponsors that we’re constantly trying to find ways to create more inventory.”
MAKING THE PUZZLE PIECES FIT: The schedule took a bit more finessing this year from MLS VP/Club Services Brad Pursel, given the additional soccer coverage that will be seen on television this year, including the Copa America Centenario and the UEFA European Championships. Bacon said, “We were able to align our programming around these other competitions, which is a large reason why I think this is our smartest and most strategic schedule yet. We did a lot of ratings analysis, and I think if we can surround our games with premier soccer and other live sports, we stand the best chance to drive a lot of viewership to our matches as well.” MLS will have an 11-day break during the Copa America Group stage, but will use the later rounds of that event and other tournaments as springboards for its broadcasts. For example, Univision will air on UniMas a doubleheader of the third-place match along with Earthquakes-Galaxy. Fox' first broadcast -- a May 21 match between NYC FC and the Red Bulls -- will be a doubleheader with the FA Cup Final, while ESPN will align MLS coverage with five '16 UEFA European Championship match dates. “We often ask ourselves how can we continue to build equity and create these moments throughout the season,” said Bacon. “We’ll be using a number of new creative ways that will live on both our platforms and our partners' platforms, and I’m really excited to see it play out.” Other schedule highlights include:
* Heineken Rivalry Week will return for two weeks: May 20-22 and August 26-28.
* The last two weeks of the season will feature flex scheduling. The second to last week will have every Eastern Conference team playing at 5:00pm, and all Western Conference teams at 7:00pm. The final Sunday of the season -- Oct. 23, which MLS is again calling Decision Day -- will see all games beginning at 4:00pm. The league’s network partners will show coverage from other games beyond their schedule matchups.
* Fox Sports' 30 other matches will air on FS1, while the 5 remaining ESPN matches will be shown on ESPN2.
* All 340 regular-season games will be broadcast internationally.
* The MLS ASG, which is being held in San Jose during the last week of July, will be broadcast on ESPN and UniMas.
