Edwin Games

MLS TV# SpaceWalker/ Telecommunications, Avid Soccer Fan, Terps/Skins/O's/DCU
Ret.USMC 80's baby @UniteToWatch Team

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

Confirmed MLS most entertaining league in the World screw 🖕🖕🖕the haters 🤣🤣 stick it in my veins #MLSAfterDark 😍😍❤️❤️❤️

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@fredthefan @AlexMSilverman Definitely not.

[Premier League USA @PLinUSA]

One week to go until the World Cup! 🌎🏆

A big congratulations and good luck to all the players called up from our 20 clubs 🫡

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@fredthefan @AlexMSilverman I agree and it was totally the wrong decision if they studied the data. MLS had always avg more than La Liga on ESPN even back in the early 2010s 2010-2012 when La Liga had prime CR7 and Messi. Data in following yrs also said this. I called this a mistake from the start.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@CrunkATL My understanding is they a actually started putting more games on tv because people they assumed would sub to La Liga were not. DEPORTES carries a good bit. Probably why you aren't seeing. You think they'd at least be avg 300-400k on Deportes and 200k on ESPN/ESPN2 originally.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

Remember to 🙄 the next time you hear soccer is popular in the US just not MLS.
News today La Liga who ESPN pays $175m yr had its best viewed year, in yr 5 of 8 yr deal avg 91k🧐 across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 & ESPND.

MLS in 2022 its last yr w/Disney avg 343k. https://t.co/qFFdqoaMOS

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@thinkmetricslab Also before the 4 yrs of constant Nielsen Big Data Lift Sports Leagues on Broadcast and Cable have benefited from.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

Euro soccer Leagues not named EPL/UCL are in for dark days as🇺🇸 rights properties.

News today La Liga who ESPN pays $175m yr had its best viewed year, in yr 5 of 8 yr deal avg 91k🧐 across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 & ESPND. Yes you read that right.

MLS in its last yr w/Disney avg 343k.

[Alex M. Silverman🏒⚽️ @AlexMSilverman]

During the streaming wars of the late 2010s and early 2020s, American broadcasters were paying big bucks for European soccer. Serie A got $75M/year from CBS in '21. That's now closer to $10M as it extends for another year in a much tougher market. https://t.co/isf0Xt44Ve

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@TroopaKing @espn You're probably right.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

A reminder @espn isn't above reproach and makes mistakes. Bigger issue tho is post Skipper resignation 2018-22 how no one in big decision making had passion/knowledge for domestic ⚽️ certainly not enough to know this was a error. Wonder if that view is changing or has channged?

[Alex M. Silverman🏒⚽️ @AlexMSilverman]

@EdwinGames4 You’re right. ESPN paid $175M a year for La Liga when it wasn’t willing to pay half that to keep MLS.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@Innocent_of_FL We had yrs of MLS numbers pre Messi MLS had always outrated every Euro Domestic league yr drawing around 300k with MLS Cuos hitting around and north of 2m viewers on avg 2022 Pre Messi & Apple TV was 343k avg viewers on ESPN MLS Cup had 2.2m. MLS avg more than EPL pre NBC deal.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@aghease It was just people that valued Euro soccer got in better positions of influence and pushed their biases which affected decision making

The data was clear. But when you let Euro⚽️centric viewpoints to dominate. That is what we got over data. That can't be allowed to happen again.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@aghease Thanks for remembering. It really ticked me off in the moment. Not ESPN but the soccer people the Domestic Soccer people who just went along with it yes you @TheAthletic so many think pieces on how the networks made their decision its on MLS.

Yeah the networks made BAD DECISIONS

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@SanjiKo14 @RemEEEE Its actually thr opposite here. Premier League would struggle against the Traditional US Sports in Prime time. Theres a culture of Premier League mornings where you can do the EPL in the am to late morning/early afternoon then be a Traditional sports fan. That would change that.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@mikeszustak Dark days for those Euro Leagues that see dollar signs when they see the U$A not for us. We'll be fine. Soccer exploded here when those leagues got less TV money FSC!(Fox Soccer Channel) GolTV era was the best for soccer here.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@Stephen_B_11 @TaylorTwellman Avg 535,000 viewers
Premier League draws second-best season average yet on NBC, USA Network https://t.co/2EJ1OUPuwM

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@goalkeeper02134 I've long said the samethings when people used to throw EPL viewership in MLS face. Not to mention the avg sports guy having to decide if EPL matches occurred in Prime time if he wants to skip his Yankees/MNF/Lakers game to watch Burnley vs Newcastle at 8pm

[Schmidt @AndrewSchmidtFC]

Every number in here is shocking in a different way.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@RemEEEE Yes this is US.. its a huge market why would we care the about whaf those leagues did other places. Here those leagues don't move the needle in popularity as far as Domestic Club Leagues from Europe the only popular league is EPL.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

You could do a whole The Soccer Business Podcast on this topic.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@sgevans you see this today?

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@AlexMSilverman ESPN has started ahead of time divesting from their La Liga deal they let go of the rights in Brasil.
https://t.co/BIt4yNimPO

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@AlexMSilverman ESPN has started ahead of time divesting from their La Liga deal they let go of the rights in Brasil.
https://t.co/BIt4yNimPO

[Yannick Manuel Ramcke @YannickRamcke]

Most commentary around #CazéTV acquiring #LaLiga rights in Brazil from #ESPN focuses on “#YouTube beating legacy TV” — which misses the more important strategic shift by #LiveMode:

When CazéTV launched in 2022, it was positioned as an incremental layer within a broader evolution of sports rights distribution: rights owners experimenting with creator-led, free-to-view digital distribution to (1) reach younger audiences and (2) create incremental competition in a relatively uncompetitive Brazilian rights market. At the time, CazéTV was largely perceived as complementary to incumbents (both in terms of audience and media rights income).

Why this needed to change: With sponsorship-funded free-to-view distribution alone unlikely to sustainably support tier-one sports rights economics, LiveMode has gradually evolved CazéTV into something structurally much closer to a traditional broadcaster.

• ⭐️ The key development: B2B distribution revenues, complementing ad-funded revenue line.

Through carriage/retransmission agreements with platforms such as Disney+ and #Amazon's Prime Video, CazéTV now monetizes not only through advertising and sponsorships, but increasingly through wholesale platform distribution economics tied to each platform's subscriber reach. That has materially changed both perception and monetization of the previouly YouTube-centric streamer:

• 🥊 Competitive positioning: Rights owners increasingly evaluate CazéTV less as a digital add-on and more as a fully-fledged bidder for exclusive premium rights — competing directly with incumbents in a zero-sum auction environment.

• 🤑 Sustainable revenue model: Ironically, the model now resembles U.S. broadcast networks such as #ABC, #FOX, #NBC and #CBS — technically free-to-air, but generating substantial economics from retransmission/carriage fees in addition to advertising revenue, and rguably one of the most resilient models in today’s fragmented and subscription-fatigued consumer video marketplace.

The unintended consequence for rights owners, however, may be reduced (rather than increased) competitive tension. Because CazéTV content is also distributed on a wholesale-basis via #DisneyPlus, ESPN can lose exclusivity to LaLiga while #Disney still retains effective consumer access to the product within its ecosystem. For many current subscribers, the user experience barely changes heading into next season.

Bottom line: The market may have replaced an incumbent rights holder (Disney/ESPN) without meaningfully disrupting the incumbent distributor (Disney/ESPN). If accurate, a significant portion of Disney’s avoided rights cost (~$30M annually, excluding production) could flow directly to operating profit, by way of preserving subscriber retention.

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

@AlexMSilverman You would think a network the size of ESPN would run the hard numbers. However with soccer fandom in the US the marketing for European Soccer is broad brush stroked assumption repeated time after time is Euro Soccer is more popular. Real data shows huge caveats ex EPL vs others

[Edwin Games @EdwinGames4]

A reminder @espn isn't above reproach and makes mistakes. Bigger issue tho is post Skipper resignation 2018-22 how no one in big decision making had passion/knowledge for domestic ⚽️ certainly not enough to know this was a error. Wonder if that view is changing or has channged?