MLS Puts MLS Cup Against Eagles-Giants Sunday Night Football For Second Consecutive Year
by Scott Kessler on May 10, 2011 10:50 AM EDT
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MLS announced that the 2011 MLS Cup Final will be played at the Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA, on November 20. The Galaxy have hosted the Cup three times since MLS began in 1996.
This marks the second year in a row that MLS has scheduled its championship game at the same time as a Sunday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. Last year, MLS' final between FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids was a television ratings dive for MLS. Here's what MLS Talk had to say about the 2010 Final:
The TV ratings are in for the 2010 MLS Cup. And according to Sports Media Watch, the overnight TV rating was 0.5, the lowest overnight rating since at least the late 1990's.
The 0.5 TV rating was down 44% from last year's MLS Cup between Real Salt Lake and L.A. Galaxy. In the 2010 MLS Cup, Colorado Rapids defeated FC Dallas 2-1 in extra time in front of a not even sold-out crowd at Toronto's BMO Field. The 0.5 TV rating was down 28% from the 2008 MLS Cup between Columbus and New York.
If the New York Red Bulls or Philadelphia Union make the final, it could be another concerning night of TV numbers for MLS.
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Don Garber is praying for an extended NFL work stoppage
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What a joke.
So MLS plays most of its league matches on Saturdays but runs its Cup against the single highest rated show on TV last year on a Sunday? I don’t get it. The lockout is gonna hurt NFL in the short term, but Sunday Night Football killed in the ratings last year and I’m going to assume the NFL will have something in place by November. If MLS wants to grow in this country they need to recognize that they’re not going to do it by going head to head with the NFL.
I just don’t understand the thought process here.
Suggestion from Martin Shatzer of Black and Red United:
Put it on the Friday after Thanksgiving, when nothing else is on.
Managing Editor for Brotherly Game, SBNation's Philadelphia Union blog and contributor for SBN Philly. // @scottdkessler
"College is only 4 years, but the Eagles are for life." - Ironhank
by Scott Kessler on May 10, 2011 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Saturday is college football night on ESPN
That has its own set of problems, namely that ESPN sees college football as a priority. And with the better ratings that college football draws, why wouldn’t they.
I’m not defending MLS, but this really is a catch 22, though I think Scott might be onto something with putting it on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Writer at SB Nation's Philadelphia Union blog, The Brotherly Game. Follow me on Twitter.
The Thing About Saturday Night College Football
College Football tends to be centered in the Southeast. Not completely, but the SEC has been a powerhouse. Last time I checked? No Southeast MLS Teams.
MLS has a relationship with Fox Soccer Channel, why not work it out with them to show the game on the FOX network on Saturday night, a typically horrible night for normal television programming?
ESPN puts primetime college football games on both ESPN and ESPN2
Essentially, the networks are taken up on Saturday. Putting the game on ESPN Classic is an even worse idea.
If Fox could negotiate the rights away from ESPN, that would be a good idea. After years of terrible to downright horrible sports coverage, I think they are finally beginning to turn the corner in terms of quality (see Johnson, Gus). To put the MLS Cup on Fox would be excellent for soccer and the Fox network.
Writer at SB Nation's Philadelphia Union blog, The Brotherly Game. Follow me on Twitter.
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