Major League Soccer has revealed its plans to build on the success of the World Cup as the global soccer tournament reaches its conclusion. The plans include an ad campaign and nationally televised games on Fox during the World Cup, but they do not address the league’s broader television distribution.
During the semifinals and final of the World Cup on Fox this week, MLS will debut a new advertising campaign with a bold tagline, “Thanks World, We’ll Take It From Here.” The campaign will feature global soccer superstars involved in MLS, including Lionel Messi, LAFC star Son Heung-Min, Inter Miami owner David Beckham, Austin FC owner Matthew McConaughey, LAFC owner Magic Johnson and Philadelphia Union owner Kevin Durant.
As part of the ads, 22 of 30 MLS clubs will offer free tickets as part of “first match on us” promotions.
“This campaign is about showing people that there’s a club, a community, and a story waiting for them every week in MLS,” Radhika Duggal, the CMO of MLS, told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re meeting fans through culture, music, and entertainment, making it easy to discover the league, whether that’s on Apple TV or at their local stadium. MLS has never been more ambitious or more connected to the moments shaping culture, and we’re excited to welcome a whole new generation of fans.”
The ad campaign comes as some have criticized the MLS for the lack of advertising so far this World Cup. This campaign, though it will only go through the semifinals and finals, will finally change that. To the MLS’ credit, the semifinals and finals will likely be some of the most-watched soccer matches ever in the United States, outside of those involving Mexico and the USMNT.
The MLS and Fox have also made smart scheduling decisions to give the league national TV exposure while the World Cup is ongoing. Between the semifinals this week on Tuesday and Wednesday and the Final on Sunday, Fox will broadcast an MLS doubleheader in Friday primetime. Nashville-Atlanta will kick off at 8 p.m., while LA Galaxy-LAFC will be at 10:30 p.m.
That second game is actually an addition to the originally announced schedule. El Tráfico, as the LA-LA rivalry is known, was originally scheduled to only air on FS1.
But it will be much harder to watch the MLS after that. Those matches will be the last MLS regular-season matches to air over-the-air on Fox this year, and likely the last MLS matches to air over-the-air until the MLS Cup. After July 17, only nine regular-season MLS matches are scheduled for national television, all on FS1.
Outside of those national games, the only other way to watch MLS is with an Apple TV subscription. Unlike MLB, the NHL, and the NBA, Major League Soccer does not have any live matches through local club-level television deals because of its contract with Apple.
So while the MLS is running a highly visible ad campaign with superstars and even has some well-timed national TV windows, its TV situation could make it harder to convert World Cup watchers into MLS fans.
