MLS is currently in the midst of television negotiations, so this news comes at just the right time for the league. The season opening match between Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City saw a tremendous 283% increase in overnight ratings on NBCSN from last season. This year's game drew a .23 rating while last year's opener only managed a paltry .06. Small numbers yes compared to other sports, but still, a significant improvement.
The biggest reason why Seattle-KC saw such a dramatic increase? It immediately followed live EPL coverage on NBC Sports Network. Via World Soccer Talk..
"One major reason for the boost in ratings for Seattle-KC was that it was preceded by live coverage of Chelsea-Tottenham, which drew a 0.39 rating, up 34% from NBCSN’s Saturday 12:30pm ET window average to date (0.29). This was NBCSN’s second best metered market rating for that timeslot for the season-to-date. Liverpool-Southampton on March 1 (0.40) is the record overnight rating thus far."
The EPL-MLS partnership is NBCSN's greatest asset at the moment in helping MLS ratings. While I'm a big of a supporter of MLS's mission and purpose, the truth is the league is behind the EPL as a television product at the moment. The MLS can definitely use the bump from the English Premier League on NBCSN and the more doubleheaders the network schedules, the better it will be for both the league and the network.
This week's MLS game, Toronto-Seattle, won't get the same EPL boost as the game airs at 4:30 ET. This is one of the major issues MLS will have to sort out in their next television contract. Right now EPL games are a helpful lead-in, but moving forward the league is going to have to find a consistent window to air games so sports fans know when and where they will be able to watch MLS games instead of guessing from week to week. That's just one of the ways in which MLS can continue to see much-needed ratings growth.
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