MLS Kickoff 2024: Behind the Scenes With MLS Productions' New SVP and Executive Producer Ignacio Garcia Every match in English and Spanish, 1080p productions, evolving studio programming By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Friday, February 23, 2024 - 4:22 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2023 season marked the start of a new era for Major League Soccer, which kicked off a new 10-year rights deal with Apple. Now, in year two, which began on Wednesday with Lionel Messi and Inter Miami beating Real Salt Lake 2-0, MLS and Apple are looking to evolve their coverage both on the pitch and in the studio.
Ignacio Garcia at MLS Studios (All photos: Mark Smith-USA TODAY Sports)
In addition to carrying every game, Apple's MLS Season Pass streaming service features an MLS 360 whip-around show, as well as MLS Countdown and MLS Wrap-up studio shows - all produced from the league's production center in New York City. Once again teaming with NEP for broadcast facilities and IMG for production services, MLS Productions now has a fully staffed broadcast operation running out of its NYC facility and will once again deliver all matches in 1080p with production crews and both English and Spanish announcers onsite for every match.
SVG sat down prior to the league's opening weekend with Ignacio Garcia, SVP/executive producer, MLS Productions, who came aboard this season after more than 20 years at ESPN Deportes, including serving as GM of its studio shows since 2010. Garcia, a native of Argentina, discussed how his team plans to balance coverage of Messi with the rest of the league, his key production goals and philosophies heading into this season, enhanced production technology in the studio and on the road, and what soccer fans can expect from MLS Season Pass in 2024.
In your first year with MLS, what are you most excited about this season? What are some key production philosophies and goals you're focusing on?
One of the things that gets me the most excited is the chance to elevate the storytelling and elevate the experience throughout the season. In 2023, there was great coverage during match days but not necessarily a 24/7 type of [offering]. I come from that 24/7 network environment so one of my goals here is to provide not only the great coverage on match days but also great shoulder programming. We want to transition into creating content seven days a week that fully surrounds the league.
At MLS Studios: (from left) Liam McHugh, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan, and Andrew Wiebe
And how are you going about creating that 24/7 network mentality?
A lot of it is being done behind the scenes with the foundational bones [of the operation]. We now have more of a proper newsroom with people working here at our facility five days a week. We are putting in a lot of work behind the scenes to beef up the production, and I'm very confident that you will be see the results on-air.
We're also looking to expand our digital content. For example, this week, we debuted a brand-new show: This Is MLS in English and Esto es MLS in Spanish on YouTube, which is a one-hour show previewing all the matches happening this weekend. We didn't have one before, and it could potentially transition into MLS Season Pass at some point. We will continue to [create content] like that for the digital space throughout the season.
Kevin Egan at MLS Studios
How are you looking to boost your coverage for Spanish-speaking fans this season?
We are very eager to serve fans on both the English- and the Spanish-language side equally. One thing we are super excited about is adding MLS 360 in Spanish, which we only had only in English last year. We also have two different studios: one for our English[-language programming] and one for the Spanish-language side. We have made several enhancements to the Spanish-language studio, and we also plan to use Studio 1, which is our largest set used for [English programming] to do some preproduction and original content for the Spanish shows. Whether you are watching us in English or Spanish, you'll see much more cohesive coverage across the board.
TV crew at MLS Studios
Let's dive a bit deeper into MLS 360. After a pretty strong debut last season, how are you looking to evolve that whip-around show in 2024?
We are pumped to be debuting a new host, Kevin Egan, who is high energy and very engaging, while keeping most of the core talent that we had in the show last year. We are very excited because we are also adding some bilingual talent that can contribute, with former MLS coach Gio Savarese joining the team.
Philosophically, for MLS 360 this year, we're going to lean much more on the games and the live action, with the premise that you are not going to miss a single goal and you're going to see every key moment in every match. When we come back to the studio, the talent is going to be much more intentional about what they can contribute.
Since live action is the number-one priority, we're also going to be much more mindful about when we go to break, always looking to break at halftime and not in the middle of the action. There are a lot of things that we are doing conceptually to bring a new vision to MLS 360 while also building on the success of year one.
Tony Cherchi at MLS Studios
In terms of live match productions, how are you looking to build on year one of MLS Season Pass?
We love the studio side, but matches are obviously our bread and butter. First of all, just like last year, every match will be produced [onsite] with at least one truck, if not two, and both English and Spanish announcers will be at the stadium for every match. All matches will be done in 1080p again this year. And there are several things happening behind the cameras that we are confident will create new MLS style that
North America Stories
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13 with guest ...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
04/12/2025
Lightware, a global specialist in AV connectivity, is looking back on a year defined by new advancements, strong collaboration and continued growth. Across the ...
04/12/2025
Riedel Communications today announced a new partnership with Haivision, a leading global provider of mission-critical, real-time video networking and visual col...
04/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) and Normann Engineering today announced a major milestone in their strategic collaboration, celebrating 20 successful broadband deployme...
04/12/2025
Creative software developer Foundry today announced Mari 7.5, the latest iteration of its artist-friendly paint toolset that can handle large, detailed assets w...
04/12/2025
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a leading provider of wireless audio solutions and RF management, was on site at Dreamforce 2025 in San Francisco providing...
04/12/2025
LTN's purpose-built IP video network brings all-movie diginet to over 100 stations and streaming platforms in just three months while eliminating satellite ...
04/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with ThinkAnalytics, the global leader in AI-powered data a...
04/12/2025
The HELM, a global expert in cinematic live broadcast and high-end production workflows, has signed a partnership agreement with Keslow Camera, one of North Ame...
04/12/2025
At ISE 2026, LiveU will showcase its expanded IP-video EcoSystem, enabling broadcasters, sports, production companies and pro-AV professionals to share their st...
04/12/2025
Since the beginning of commercial television, advertising has been a key part of broadcasting. Over the years, the technology for inserting ads into programs ha...
04/12/2025
MUNICH and MILAN Warner Bros. Discovery said HBO Max is expanding into Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein on Jan. 13, 2026, and ...
04/12/2025
SAN FRANCISCO AudioShake has launched its first streaming-capable software development kits (SDKs) designed specifically for real-time music detection and copyr...
04/12/2025
NASHVILLE The mobile and REMI production company TNDV has announced that it headed south into Mexico to live-produce the three-day 2025 Zane Grey Championship P...
04/12/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Hollywood Professionals Association Executive Director Phil Kubel has stepped down from the organization to pursue new opportunities, the group ...
04/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission said it has closed 2,048 inactive proceedings, the largest number of dormant dockets ever terminated in a singl...
04/12/2025
A new tech blog from Netflix highlights the importance of the AV1 open video codec, which now powers about 30% of the platform's streaming and discusses a v...
MLS Kickoff 2024: Behind the Scenes With MLS Productions' New SVP and Executive Producer Ignacio Garcia Every match in English and Spanish, 1080p productions, evolving studio programming By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
