According to multiple sources familiar with the situation, Major League Soccer is finalizing the list of play-by-play and color commentators for the MLS Season Pass talent that will air on Apple TV.
These sources spoke on condition of anonymity to maintain ties with MLS executives. Former ESPN commentator Taylor Twellman, who announced he was leaving the network last week, is one of the broadcasters who have reached an agreement with MLS.
Others expected to be on that list or at various stages of discussion include play-by-play commentators Keith Costigan, Ed Cohen, Steve Kangiarosi, Tyler Terrens, Eric Krakauer, Kevin Egan. Color commentators include Bryan Dances, Lloyd Sam, Kindla de St. Aubin, Ross Smith, Tony Meola, and Jamie Watson. Former MLS players Maurice Edu, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Sacha Kriestan are also in preliminary talks with MLS, sources said.
Update: In Tuesday’s press release, MLS We have confirmed the following talents have been signed: Max Bretos, Steve Cangialosi, Jake Zivin, Pablo Ramirez (Spanish), Frédéric Lord (French) Commentary, Match Analysts: Kyndra de St. Aubin, Maurice Edu, Lori Lindsey, Danielle Slaton, Taylor Twellman, Marcelo Balboa (Spanish), Sebastien Le Toux (French), Sacha Kljestan, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Diego Valeri (Spanish), Studio Hosts: Liam McHugh, Jillian Sakovits, Tony Cherchi (Spanish).
MLS will unveil at least some of its talent as part of a preseason media event in California on Tuesday. Some final groups of commentators are guaranteed a minimum number of games during the season, while others have more flexible arrangements.
Famous names that were said not to be part of the primary impetus for the initial coverage include JP Dellacamera, Dave Johnson and Shep Messing.
Multiple sources say there is some concern about what is going on as the season, which starts in 47 days on February 25, approaches. , and according to multiple sources, IMG has hired John McGuinness, who has worked on NHL and Olympic broadcasts, as one of his top MLS producers.
The league and Apple announced a 10-year, $2.5 billion broadcasting deal last June. This will allow him to watch all of his season and playoff games as an MLS regular on the Apple TV streaming service starting this season. Most of these matches are shown in the MLS Season Pass subscription service, over 40 percent of them It is available free of charge.
The league previously announced that the Season Pass app will cost $12.99 per month or $79 per season for existing Apple TV+ subscribers and $14.99 per month or $99 per season for non-subscribers. bottom. MLS Season Ticket holders will receive one free subscription to the service per account.
new season pass The app also includes a large amount of club-created content in a channel called “Club Room”. According to internal league documents obtained by athletic This week, these club rooms require specific pre- and in-season content. This includes club profiles, player profiles and a fan/culture specific feature called ‘The Ritual’. These channels include club ‘legends’, team traditions, videos about the big games in team history, weekly and monthly content during the season (top team reports, player interviews, MLS Next Pro and Academy reports, community, etc.). report.
MLS will also simulcast games on linear TV. His 34 games in the regular season and his 8 games in the postseason aired on the Fox network, his 21 games in the League Cup aired on his Univision/UniMás/TUDN in the US, and quite a few games aired on TSN. will be aired on Canadian RDS.
Leagues Considering Playoff Best of 3 Series
Multiple sources say MLS is considering changing its playoff format to include a best-of-three series in the first round. athletic.
If accepted, only the first round may be contested as a best-of-three event. A source who was not authorized to speak publicly about the proposed change said the rest of the playoff tournament would likely be single-elimination. There will be 16 teams, 8 teams each.
Sources didn’t know the exact details of how a potential best-of-three series would be contested, but some point out that MLS used this format in the first two rounds of its early playoffs. In these series, the first team to score five points advanced, and extra time was added to the third game if the team ended in a tie with three or four points.
According to sources, the best-of-three proposal seems more likely to be adopted than the previously discussed proposal to change the playoff format to include a group stage and a knockout stage. revealed by athletic in October.
As reported by athletic In October, MLS will increase the total number of playoff games from 13 in 2022 to about 30. Year of new media copyright agreements.
Contending for eight best-of-three first-round series before transitioning to a single-elimination format in the conference semifinals, MLS would have a total of 23 to 31 playoff matches.
A format that includes a group stage and a knockout stage is now a longer shot than a best-of-three proposal as the league doesn’t want to end up with teams playing in the group stage, sources said. It is said that there is. A match irrespective of which team progressed to the knockout round.
Sources also warned that none of the proposed new playoff formats have been approved. need to do it.
Sources optimistic MLS will allow intra-league transfers
Momentum is building within MLS towards establishing an intra-league transfer market, some sources say athletic That such a mechanism could be introduced this summer.
Currently, MLS teams cannot buy or sell players for cash to or from other MLS teams. They can exchange them for quotas, but that’s an MLS budget device, not real-world currency. This policy made sense in the league’s turbulent early days, when some owners managed multiple teams, but MLS has grown to a point where an internal market is easily profitable. There were some concerns about creating a new discipline where teams would have to pay training fees to fellow MLS clubs for internal sales. There were also questions about how it would be legally enforced, as all players are contracted to MLS and not to specific clubs. The sources weren’t clear how these questions would be answered if an intra-league transfer market were introduced.
Allowing teams to buy and sell players internally creates an additional revenue stream for selling clubs and adds another mechanism for keeping talented players in leagues.
Sources were unsure how an intra-league transfer market would work if adopted. We expected that only players, or players whose new team plans to immediately give them contracts that result in salaries exceeding the maximum budget fee, would be eligible for intra-league transfers. That same source expected in-league transfer fees to go to teams’ budgets in the same way as they do in the current system. The buying team amortizes the commission and adds it to the player’s salary to generate a budget fee, while the selling team can pocket the cash or at least convert some of it into general distributions.
Introducing an intra-league transfer market was a very popular idea in America. athletic2022 Anonymous Survey of MLS Executives21 of the 21 executives surveyed said they would like the league to allow it.
“In the most successful leagues, the most active transfer market is the inside market,” said one executive. “By definition, when I want to sell a player, I am cutting off a potential sales channel. If you want to get a better DP than what you have, another club might get that (the big club’s current) DP, they say, ‘I know him, he’s in the league. I’d rather pay and get him than go to South America and try something less certain.” You can see multiple benefits. And why don’t we?
“Exactly. 100 percent (there should be one),” added another. “I don’t understand. If you have a very good player who is very well suited for the league, why would he have to leave the league if the club can’t offer you a better deal or want to sell him? Why can’t a team buy him as a DP? If you have to sell a player, but you can’t buy him.
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