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
Most recent headlines
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
16/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December.
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
16/12/2025
Singer -songwriter Brian Kennedy has been announced as the final celebrity dance...
15/12/2025
Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100th Anniversary With New Brand Campaign From Th...
15/12/2025
Top L-R: La Tierra Del Valor (The Home of the Brave), Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawe...
15/12/2025
L3Harris will leverage 15 years of experience supporting the E-4B Nightwatch and...
15/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the loss of federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and operational changes, the statewide pub...
15/12/2025
BOULDER, Colo. Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), Venture Technologies Group (VTG), and WQED have completed a multipart agreement that they say will significant...
15/12/2025
Cape Town, November 13, 2025 - SES and International artist and humanitarian, Fo...
15/12/2025
Luxembourg, December 15, 2025 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Abra Group launched fast and reliable multi-orbit inflight connectivity service on t...
15/12/2025
How Rivian s Design Puts Drivers First-And Why That Matters Published on Dec 15, 2025 Categories: Business Solutions
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Sha...
15/12/2025
Space42 and Cobham Satcom completed the full range of advanced terminals for the...
15/12/2025
15 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan Delivers First Starlink Direct to Cel...
15/12/2025
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor finds himself the topic of year's cracker jokes
Oasis, David Harbour, Celebrity Traitors and Angela Rayner all feature in this y...
15/12/2025
Comscore Expands Cross-Platform Campaign Measurement to Include Audio and Social New capabilities strengthen cross-platform campaign reporting suite; CCR rebran...
15/12/2025
NVIDIA today announced it has acquired SchedMD - the leading developer of Slurm, an open-source workload management system for high-performance computing (HPC) ...
15/12/2025
RT .ie has reached one billion page views this year and is on track to finish 2025 2% ahead of last year. Average time spent on the site is up 3% on 2024, with ...
15/12/2025
Modern workflows showcase the endless possibilities of generative and agentic AI on PCs.
Of many, some examples include tuning a chatbot to handle product-supp...
13/12/2025
Powering Client Growth: Horizon Deepens Nielsen Partnership, Enabling More Effic...
13/12/2025
In a move that will help it offer more flexible and less costly programming options, YouTube TV has announced that it will be launching YouTube TV Plans with mo...
13/12/2025
SINGAPORE Magna Systems has designed, built and completed what is believed to be the first full UHD and IP-based OB truck in Southeast Asia for a Singapore medi...
12/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Everything You Need to Know for Next Week's Big Sho...
12/12/2025
Hailey Gates at the Atropia premiere (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
12/12/2025
Last month, Spotify announced a new collaboration with the ATP Tour, the global governing body of men's professional tennis, aimed at bringing the next gene...
12/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the elimination of Federal federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and changes in the way they...
12/12/2025
Wisycom and DPA Microphones announce the appointment of Ren Moerch as Group Product Director, Wireless, a strategic leadership role that will guide the combine...
12/12/2025
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, in conjuncture with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Entertainment Technolog...
12/12/2025
Keepit, the vendor-independent, cloud-native data protection provider, today announced a strategic go-to-market relationship in Poland with Ingram Micro, a lead...
12/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking Open Gate 48P RAW recording w...
12/12/2025
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) once again played a critical role in delivering flawless wireless coordination and support at the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards a...
12/12/2025
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), together with the Video Services Forum (VSF), the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadc...
12/12/2025
DHD audio will demonstrate the latest additions to its range of digital audio production solutions on Booth 321 in Hall B6 at Hamburg Open 2026. The show will b...
12/12/2025
Chaos today announces the release of V-Ray for Blender, update 2, bringing its award-winning rendering technology to even more Blender users by adding support f...
12/12/2025
Lighting specialist UltraLEDs has launched Precision LED Tape, a high-CRI lighting solution designed specifically for professional film, TV, and studio use.
P...
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. 
