The network reportedly agreed to pay $2.7 billion to retain Premier League U.S.

And so far in EPL's current season, NBC Sports said games averaged 609,000 viewers across its TV channels. NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC, said it averaged 414,000 viewers for its English Premier League soccer package for the 2020-21 season. But soccer viewers have shown more interest in consuming international leagues over MLS. MLS said it averaged 284,00 viewers per game on the Spanish-language network Univision. 'Ratings have been OK in terms of linear, but they still struggle compared to ratings for Liga MX or Premier League,' Berke said, referring to international leagues. That's up from the average 233,000 viewers who consumed 39 MLS games in 2020 on ESPN platforms.Īnd on Fox channels, MLS said viewership increased 4% compared to the 2020 season. The contest drew an average of 1.97 million viewers.įor the 2021 regular season, MLS said it averaged 276,000 viewers for 31 regular-season games across ESPN channels, including ABC. United at RFK Stadium against the San Jose Earthquakes. That year, soccer star Freddy Adu, then age 14, made his MLS debut with D.C. That became the most-watched MLS game on the network and the highest MLS audience since April 2004. Fox Sports aired the Thanksgiving Day playoff game between the Timbers and Colorado Rapids, which attracted an average of 1.8 million viewers on Fox platforms.

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