TV Report: MLS regional broadcast plans confirmed
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Feb 22, 2017
Atlanta United. Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southeast will air 19 Atlanta United games as part of a multi-year agreement with the expansion tram. Three games will be broadcast on Channel 69 because of scheduling conflicts.
Chicago
Fire. CSN Chicago will carry 29 games (four with Spanish-language simulcasts on CSN+). It will also air Fire Weekly and four behind-the-scenes Fire All-Access programs. All telecasts will
begin with a 30-minute live pre-game show.
Broadcasters: Returning for Fire match broadcasts are Dan Kelly as play-by-play
commentator, Frank Klopas as color analyst and Paul Tenorio as sideline reporter. Chicago radio host Fred Huebner will be joined by Klopas and Tenorio for Fire Weekly.
Colorado Rapids. Altitude will broadcast 29 matches.
Broadcasters:
Returning on-air talent includes Richard Fleming on play-by-play duties, teaming up with Rapids legend Marcelo Balboa. Ally Sturm will join the crew as the sideline reporter for
all home broadcasts.
Columbus Crew. Crew games (32 in all) will air on CW Columbus, ABC-6, FOX-28 or MyTVColumbus. CW Columbus
will serve as the flagship station and is expected to air 25 matches. In addition, matches will be simulcast on Spectrum Sports in Columbus and across its footprint in Ohio, Northern Kentucky and
Western Pennsylvania.
Broadcasters: Neil Sika (11th season) and Dwight Burgess (22nd season) will return to the Crew SC
broadcast booth to do play-by-play and analysis. Spectrum Sports’ Marisa Contipelli, ABC-6/FOX-28’s Clay Hall and ColumbusCrewSC.com’s Alex Stec will also be on
the talent team.
FC Dallas. TXA21 will broadcast 21 FC Dallas regular-season games. All non-nationally televised games
(26 in all) will also be simulcast on FCDallas.com.
Broadcasters: Mark Followill will handle play-by-play for most TXA21
broadcasts. The Ticket’s Bob Sturm, back for his 17th season, will work on select games, while FC Dallas columnist and Big D Soccer founder Daniel Robertson will do color
commentary. Gina Miller will handle the pre-game show on TXA21.
D.C.
United. Newschannel 8 will air 28 games, while WJLA (ABC 7) will carry two games.
Houston Dynamo. The
Dynamo will have a new home. KUBE TV, Channel 57 will air 24 Dynamo matches after carrying three games during the 2016 season. KUBE TV will also air a weekly 30-minute Dynamo and Dash magazine show
that will air on Friday nights at 10 p.m. throughout the season.
LA Galaxy. Spectrum SportsNet and Spectrum Deportes will
feature 18 regular-season games. Access SportsNet: Galaxy will air 30-minutes prior to every regular-season game broadcast. Postgame, Access SportsNet will feature game highlights, analysis and
interviews with players and coaches.
Broadcasters: Galaxy play-by-play announcer Joe Tutino will return to call all
games on SportsNet alongside Galaxy legend Cobi Jones, who also returns as lead analyst. On Spectrum Deportes, games will be called by Spanish-language play-by-play announcer Samuel
Jacobo and Martin Zuniga will serve as analyst. Kelli Tennant will return as sideline reporter covering Galaxy home matches and join the Access SportsNet: Galaxy studio team for road
games. Spectrum SportsNet studio coverage will be led by veteran host Chris McGee, along with former Galaxy players Clint Mathis and Dan Gargan as studio analysts.
Minnesota United. All non-nationally broadcast MNUFC matches (26 in all) will air on FOX 9/My29 and simulcast on 1500 ESPN radio.
Broadcasters: Callum Williams (play-by-play), Kyndra de St. Aubin (color commentator) and former Loon Jamie
Watson (sideline reporter).
New England Revolution. CSN New England will return for the eighth consecutive
season as the Revolution’s local broadcast partner and carry up to 32 regular-season games. “State of the Revs” will air on a bi-weekly basis.
Broadcasters: For the fourth straight year, Brad Feldman and Paul Mariner will team up to call the action from the booth.
New York City FC. The YES Network will televise 19 regular-season matches.
Broadcasters:
Joe Tolleson will carry the play-by-play duties on YES for the third straight year, while Ian Joy and Janusz Michallik will return to split analyst duties.
NY Red Bulls. MSG, the the regional television home of the Red Bulls since MLS's launch in 1996, will televise 19 matches. All games
will also feature pregame coverage and home games will include postgame coverage.
Broadcasters: Steve Cangialosi will
return for his 10th season as the team's play-by-play announcer and 16th season covering the Red Bulls, while former goalkeeper Shep Messing will start his 17th season as game analyst. Host and
sideline reporter Tina Cervasio will be back for her 10th season covering the Red Bulls.
Orlando City. WRDQ TV 27 will
provide coverage of 20 live matches, including a 30-minute pregame show, halftime show and 30-minute post-game show, as well as the weekly Orlando City Insider on WFTV 9 and WRDQ TV 27.
Broadcasters: Play-by-play announcer Jeff Radcliffe has been the voice of Orlando City on TV and radio since the Club’s
inaugural season in 2011. Former Orlando City player Lewis Neal and Paul Shaw, Orlando City’s youth soccer director of coaching, will serve as color analysts. Mackenzie
Thirkill will the new host of Orlando City on TV 27, while Tom Traxler will serve as co-host.
Philadelphia Union.
The local broadcasts of 29 Union matches will air on 6abc (4), the Comcast Network (20) and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (5).
Portland
Timbers. Root Sports will air 11 games across the Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska), while nine matches will be featured over the air on FOX 12 or sister-station PDX
TV. Root Sports will also re-air completed Timbers matches throughout the season. FOX 12 will host the Timbers’ weekly program, “Timbers in 30,” on Friday night with subsequent
airings each week on Root Sports.
Broadcasters: Jake Zivin and Ross Smithwill return after signing multi-year
contract extensions.
Real Salt Lake. KMYU is scheduled to carry 33 RSL in 2017.
San Jose Earthquakes. CSN will broadcast 27 matches on CSN Bay Area, CSN California or CSN Plus.
Broadcasters: Anthony Passarelli and Chris Dangerfield will return for the fourth consecutive season and are joined by sideline reporter Danielle Slaton
for the second season.
Seattle Sounders. The Sounders' home will remain Q13 FOX (KCPQ-Channel 13) for eight games and JOEtv
(KZJO-Channel 22) for 12 games, while Root Sports will again serve as the live out-of-market television home of Sounders FC. Q13 FOX and JOEtv coverage includes a 30-minute pre-match show and
30-minute post-match wrap-up following each locally telecast contest, two feature-length Sounders FC specials during the 2017 season and a weekly segment during Friday's "Q It Up" sportscast
throughout the year. Univision-Seattle (KUNS-TV) returns to provide televised Spanish-language coverage for 10 matches, in addition to 15 episodes of 30-minute shoulder program Sounders FC en
Acción.
Broadcasters: Keith Costigan will return to do
play-by-play, and former U.S. national team and Sounders keeper Kasey Keller will do analysis. Jackie Montgomery will return as the host of pre-match, halftime and post-match
coverage, alongside broadcast analysts Taylor Graham, Marcus Hahnemann, Steve Zakuani and Peter Fewing.
Sporting KC. FOX Sports Kansas City will take over as the home of Sporting KC and air 26 games in 2017. All Sporting KC telecasts will air on FOX Sports Kansas City or FOX
Sports Kansas City Plus in Kansas, Nebraska and western Missouri. All games are also scheduled to air in the St. Louis market, and the vast majority will be available to viewers in Mid-Missouri and
Iowa as well, on FOX Sports Midwest or FOX Sports Midwest Plus.
Broadcasters: Nate Bukaty will return for his third season as
Sporting KC's play-by-play announcer, with Matt Lawrence as color commentator and Jillian Carroll as sideline reporter.
