MLS commissioner thinks there’s ‘way too much soccer on television’

MLS commissioner Don Garber thinks there’s too much of his sport on American television. Way too much. And no, he’s not being sarcastic.

He made the poorly phrased claim while speaking to the Associated Press Sports Editors and to avoid headlines like the one above, it probably should’ve come out a bit different.

Garber said the sport must deal with a glut of soccer on American television, where MLS has national deals with ESPN, NBC and Univision. NBC takes over the English Premier League next season from Fox, which retains rights for the European Champions League and Europa League. BeIN Sport televises the Spanish, Italian and French leagues, GOL broadcasts the German Bundesliga and ESPN and Univision televise Mexican games.

“There’s more soccer on television than any other sport by far,” Garber said. “You’ve got European soccer. You’ve got Mexican soccer. You’ve got Major League Soccer. There’s way too much soccer on television. I think all of us got to figure out a way to narrow that window so you can get a situation like the NFL has, a couple of days a week, short schedule, something that’s very compelling and very targeted.” Read more