MLS Awaits Beckham, Sets TV Slate
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 2/6/2007 12:22:00 PM
While the exact date of David Beckham’s Major League Soccer kickoff remains up in the air, soccer fans will have plenty of opportunities to see the English midfielder perform on national TV after his contract with Real Madrid expires June 30.
The first appearance by Beckham, who signed a five-year, $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy last month -- a matter of his conditioning and acclimation to the States and his new club -- could come in Dallas as part of the SuperLiga, an eight-team tournament following the league’s July 19 All-Star Game, late that month, according to an MLS spokesman.
Univision holds the U.S. TV rights to the SuperLiga tourney, comprising four teams from MLS and four from Mexico’s Primera Division, which concludes with semifinals and finals in late August.
Becks’ MLS regular-season game debut could come north of the border against the domestic soccer circuit’s expansion club, Toronto FC, Aug. 5. Currently, that game does not have a national carrier.
Following that contest, 16 of the Galaxy’s 18 remaining regular-season games will be televised either on Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Sports en Español, ESPN2, Galavision, TeleFutura or HDNet.
All told, 113 of the league’s 195 matches -- including the opener April 7 with D.C. United visiting the Colorado Rapids -- will air live on national television. MLS officials noted that remainder of the matches will also air on regional broadcasts, meaning that for the first time, each MLS match will be televised.
ESPN2 will air its 29 MLS regular-season contests principally Thursdays, while Fox Soccer, FSE (28 games simulcast on the sister services) and HDNet will present matches Saturdays (27 of 31). TeleFutura (22) and Galavisión (three) plan to air MLS games Sundays.
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