FOX is giving Major League Soccer a big helping hand on Thanksgiving Day. The network will follow the noon kickoff between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions with an MLS Cup Playoff game.
Major League Soccer’s TV audience is still relatively small compared to the other major American sports leagues, but ratings were up for the league in 2021. Games saw a 3% growth in viewership on traditional television this season. As Sportico’s Anthony Crupi points out, that is especially remarkable when fewer Americans are watching live television and MLS’s fanbase skews younger, into a demo that is more likely to give up linear TV for digital options.
The expected help the NFL can provide is coming at a good time for the MLS. The league has set TV rights discussions to the side until after the December 11th Cup Final. Once that date arrives though, MLS owners will be looking to lock in the most lucrative rights deal the league has ever signed.
“We’ve had numerous and productive discussions about our unique set of rights, but right now we’re most focused on how to build momentum through the playoffs,” Seth Bacon, MLS senior VP of media, said.
While you can bet that there is interest from American soccer club owners in just how much the English Premier League gets in its current round of American TV rights negotiations, the reality is MLS TV rights likely won’t be close.
Thanksgiving football could be the kind of boost that raises some eyebrows amongst the network executives involved in the discussions. 27.1 million people watched the last time the Bears and Lions met on Thanksgiving Day. FOX will be promoting the MLS Cup Playoff contest during the game. If those ads convince just 2% of an audience that size to stick with the network instead of headed to ABC to watch the Cowboys and the Raiders, it will be a huge success and a number that is most certainly brought up during rights negotiations.