After opening the season without a local broadcaster, D.C. United finally reached a new television deal with Comcast SportsNet. The team and the cable channel announced the deal earlier today.
Despite not having a local deal at the season’s start, the club was able to take advantage of the fact that three of its first four games were nationally televised, stretching the negotiations with CSN well into the first month of the season.
“Through this new contract, Comcast SportsNet continues to provide resources and effort necessary to best bring D.C. United matches into the homes of soccer fans throughout the region,” said D.C. United Chief Marketing Officer Doug Hicks via a press release. “Through game broadcasts, ancillary programming and news coverage, we appreciate the commitment shown by our partners and look forward to sharing a bright future with them.”
The three-year agreement calls for at least 16 televised games per season, and the network has the option to pick up more matches should the need arise. CSN will show 14 consecutive matches this summer, and also broadcast the club’s September 15 game with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Though the number of games is small—United is one of just two of MLS clubs with local broadcasts of fewer than 21 games this year—there are some upsides to the deal.
Under terms of the deal leaked so far, CSN won’t pay a rights fee to broadcast the club’s matches but will cover all the production costs. In previous seasons, United and Comcast SportsNet have split production costs. United is said to have turned down other suitors – the club wouldn’t comment on the matter to DCist today – but multiple sources have confirmed that 2 other networks had been in negotiations. Though other outlets may have offered to cover a greater number of games, CSN is the region’s largest local sports outlet – something that likely played into the club’s decision.
As of now, there’s a bit of a trade-off: The deal represents a financial victory for the club, but a loss for the fans in the number of games broadcast. A source familiar with Comcast’s end of the negotiations suggested that the network was unable to commit to more games at the moment because the network doesn’t fully have a grasp on their schedule beyond July. CSN provides in-depth coverage of other local teams, of course, notably the Washington football team—their pre-season starts towards the end of summer, as do the Caps and Wizards pre-seasons. It’s safe to say that the network seems to want to keep its options open, though to be fair, it added several United games to its schedule last year during the club’s run toward the MLS playoffs.
The extended length of the agreement has also come under fire on social media. With United drawing ever closer to a stadium deal, however, the timing makes sense. Even if United reached a stadium agreement tomorrow, they wouldn’t move into it until sometime in late 2015, when the new deal would be reaching its end.
There has also been talk of a “coach’s show” or pre and post-game coverage, but those ideas are still being “batted around,” a source familiar with the situation told DCist earlier this morning. Former United player John Harkes and Dave Johnson—he of the “It’s in the net!” goal call—will reprise their broadcast roles, though (as in years past) they won’t travel for away matches, instead commentating on a video feed from CSN’s studios in Maryland.
Though an agreement has been reached, it doesn’t include the club’s next two matches: Friday night’s clash at Sporting Kansas City and next Saturday’s match-up with the New York Red Bulls. Both of those games are available on MLSLive, the league’s online streaming package, or Direct Kick, its cable broadcast package. Ten more games this season will be broadcast nationally on NBC, NBC Sports Network, ESPN2, UniMás, or Univision Deportes. CSN will offer an English-language option for the five games scheduled on the two Univision channels.
