The Los Angeles Football Club, which begins its inaugural season in March, has announced a multi-year partnership with YouTube TV that will make the streaming service the exclusive home for all of the team’s locally televised English-language matches.
The partnership, which marks a first in North American professional sports, has those matches geo-fenced and featured on a designated YouTube TV channel available in the Los Angeles market. Broadcasts will feature 30-minute pregame and postgame shows from the YouTube TV Studio set at Banc of California Stadium, and the channel also includes original programming and content.
YouTube TV will carry all nationally televised LAFC matches on ESPN, FOX and FS1 — channels already included in the base $35 per month subscription service.
The deal also calls for a prominent YouTube TV logo on the LAFC jersey.
“This truly is a historic day for our club,” LAFC owner and president Tom Penn said in a statement. “YouTube TV is an ambitious and innovative brand that we are proud to showcase on the front of our jersey and in our community. We are excited to provide our fans with a new and creative way to watch all of LAFC’s matches in one place during our inaugural season.”
YouTube TV previously has sponsored the World Series, and now it can be a solution for LAFC as it enters the competitive Los Angeles sports market. Among MLS teams, some teams have done TV deals with regional sports networks that do not pay rights fees. LAFC is doing something differently and going with a streaming service instead.
“When we talk about innovation, it goes beyond a traditional distribution deal and really looking at programming for LAFC fans both on and off the field,” Angela Courtin, global head of marketing at YouTube TV and YouTube Originals, told Variety. “We think it’s going to be groundbreaking.”
