Univision out of regular-season and playoff TV broadcasts in 2023

Univision will not carry Major League Soccer regular-season and playoff games in the new era of broadcast rights that starts next year, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Inquirer on Monday.

When Apple takes over as MLS’s primary rightsholder next year, its streaming platform will have every game in the regular season, the playoffs, and the new Leagues Cup tournament pitting MLS teams against opponents from Mexico’s Liga MX. And they will all be available in English and Spanish, plus French broadcasts for Canadian teams’ games.

Univision will have linear TV rights to a package of Leagues Cup games for its channels, including over-the-air Univision and cable’s UniMás (which is also over the air in some cities) and TUDN. The highest-profile game in the deal will be the final, for which Univision will have exclusive linear TV rights.

But that will be it for a network that has carried MLS games since 2007, and was the league’s first Spanish-language TV home from 1996-99.

» READ MORE: Apple TV becomes the new home of Major League Soccer with a 10-year deal for every game

The news came a few hours after the New York Post reported that ESPN is also out of televising MLS games, ending the only broadcast relationship that has run for the league’s entire 27-season history.

Multiple sources confirmed this to The Inquirer. One source said there was a disagreement over Apple putting some ESPN games outside of the streaming platform’s paywall, which would disincentivize fans from watching on TV.

An ESPN spokesperson contacted by The Inquirer said the network had no comment.

With ESPN and Univision out, Fox will be the exclusive home of TV broadcasts of MLS games. What that will look like — specifically, how many games will air on Fox’s broadcast network versus cable channel FS1 — is still to be confirmed. But it’s no secret that Fox is the only major U.S. network that doesn’t have a major live sports streaming platform separate from its TV channels.

ESPN and ABC have ESPN+; Univision has Vix+; CBS has Paramount+; Comcast’s NBC and Telemundo have Peacock; and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports has HBO Max.

The last of those will be the new English-language home of U.S. national team rights starting next year, through 2030. Every game that the U.S. Soccer Federation controls rights for — in essence, home and away friendlies — will be live-streamed on HBO Max, with some games also televised on TNT.

» READ MORE: U.S. Soccer’s new TV deal with Turner Sports will put games on HBO Max and TNT

HBO Max also has the rights to the U.S. Open Cup, the national tournament involving teams from every level of the sport — from MLS down to amateur leagues.

This means ESPN will be out entirely of broadcasting American soccer for the first time in nearly 40 years. The next opportunity to change that will be in 2024, the first year of the National Women’s Soccer League’s next broadcast deal. ESPN would have to beat incumbent CBS to win the rights; CBS has indicated it’s interested in keeping them.

There’s also news about the future of MLS broadcast rights in Canada. Incumbent TSN has kept the English-language rights, and French rights will return to TSN’s sibling RDS after six years with rival TVA Sports.

The likely return of MLS rights to RDS was first reported by Montreal-based IMFC Radio in August. The deal seems to have been completed in recent weeks.

In June, Apple and MLS announced that the tech giant would pay at least $250 million a year for 10 years of rights. Games will be available on Apple’s platforms with no local blackouts, but there will also be no traditional local TV broadcasts.

The subscription price was announced last month: $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year, with discounts for existing Apple TV subscribers. Season ticket-holders of MLS teams also get a subscription for free.

» READ MORE: MLS and Apple announce the price of their new streaming package

Apple’s MLS deal spans the entire planet, which means fans anywhere in the world can pay to watch. It’s a lot of money and a groundbreaking arrangement, but the league is also taking a risk by decreasing its traditional TV exposure.

U.S. Soccer is doing the same thing by taking its friendlies off free-to-air TV in English. (A Spanish deal has not been confirmed yet). But that’s less of a risk, because other networks have the tournaments that U.S. national teams play in. Fox and Telemundo have the biggest ones, the men’s and women’s World Cups, and puts U.S. games on its broadcast network.

Fox and Univision have Concacaf’s men’s Gold Cup and men’s and women’s youth tournaments. CBS and Univision have the men’s Nations League, the W Championship for women’s teams, and the future women’s Nations League that will start in September 2023.