After signing four-year multimedia deals with Sky Sports and Eurosport in recent weeks, Major League Soccer "is eyeing additional deals around the globe, including in Latin and South America, Africa, and Asia," according to Ian Thomas of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. MLS Business Ventures President/Managing Dir Gary Stevenson: "To now have Sky Sports and Eurosport broadcasting live matches and providing ancillary coverage of MLS, these are two big milestones in our league history. These agreements make it clear that fans around the world are recognizing MLS as an important league on the worldwide soccer scene."
MLS "does not plan to stop there." The league "has signed a multiyear deal with Abu Dhabi Sports Channels to show at least two games a week on its pay and free-to-air channels, as well as offering live digital streaming of games." The league "was also expected to formally announce this past weekend a multiyear deal with Brazilian cable service Globosat for rights to show games in that country that are not already covered by ESPN Brasil." While Stevenson "declined to comment on the fiscal terms of any of the global deals," he said MLS believes that “our content has value, both economic value and value for the networks in terms of placement.” He said announcements of additional global media deals "should come over the course of the 2015 season." For Sky Sports and Eurosport, both networks believe MLS "fits in well with their overall broadcast plans." Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton: "In many of our territories, we’re showing German Bundesliga and then we’re able to shift right into MLS and extend our football story throughout the day." Sky Sports' Head of Football Gary Hughes said that the network "is taking a similar approach with MLS, adding it to the larger pool of soccer-related content for which it already has broadcast rights." Hughes: "The main appeal for us [to acquire the rights] is that it increases our big football portfolio and gives us access to a league we’ve never had before. Ultimately, we want to extend our football narrative" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/30 issue).
