In DC, Steven Goff reports DC United is in "serious talks with NBC Sports Washington about becoming its local broadcast partner, a move that would return the MLS organization to a cable platform after a disastrous, short-lived pact with a national streaming service." The club also is "looking into a supplemental streaming element to broaden its reach." NBCSW "would provide the team with a place on a well-known platform synonymous with local sports after last year's subscription-based plan with FloSports was marred by technical problems, fan complaints and limited accessibility." It is "unclear whether NBCSW would pay a rights fee or simply cover production costs" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/28).
WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY? SI.com's Avi Creditor notes Fox Sports has "acquired the English broadcast rights from Concacaf" to the USWNT's Olympic qualifying competition in addition to the '20 men's Olympic qualifying tournament, the '21 and '23 Gold Cups and the '20, '21 and '22 Concacaf Champions League tournaments. Tonight's USWNT opener against Haiti "will appear on FS2" at 8:30pm ET. One of the holdups to a deal was that Concacaf "was trying to package the women's Olympic qualifying tournament with other soccer properties and that two networks had yet to bite." Concacaf "controls the rights to the women's tournament," while NBC, which carries the Olympics, aired the qualifiers for Rio in '16 (SI.com, 1/28)
CALLING IT A CAREER: The Crew announced that TV/radio play-by-play man Dwight Burgess had "called his final game" with the team and was "stepping aside after 24 years as part of television and radio broadcasts." Burgess "decided that he could no longer meet the demands of the job while staying on top of his health" after missing games in May '18 because of a stroke and then again in '19 due to other "health reasons" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 1/28).
