It's New Year's Day for soccer fans across North America, and the continent's premier soccer league is set to see a further boost in the quality of its national television product. On Sunday, Major League Soccer (MLS) kicks off its 21st season and the second year of its current media-rights agreement with ESPN, Fox Sports, and Univision Deportes.
The MLS season kicks off with a full slate of games on Sunday, including a rematch of last year's MLS Cup Final between defending champion Portland Timbers and Kei Kamara and the Columbus Crew (ESPN, 4:30 p.m. ET).
Under the new deal, the league streamlines its national-rights package, targeting Friday nights (with UniM s) and Sundays (with a doubleheader across ESPN and Fox Sports) each weekend. This year, all three networks are investing in even greater levels of technological advances to help raise the level of productions on nationally televised games.
This week, the media partners announced uniform acceptance of placing microphones on coaches, bringing a new level of access to the action on the field. Each network is also planning to give its own flavor to the proceedings: ESPN will regularly use its innovative goal-post cam, Fox Sports will deploy its roving handheld camera on a M VI M10 three-axis gimbal, and Univision remains committed to its resources-saving at-home production workflow.
The ability to mike the coaches and the utilization of the goal-post cameras are areas where we are very bullish about the positive impact to the production, says ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer Amy Rosenfeld. And, by the way, these enhancements don't happen without a league partner willing to take a few leaps of faith; MLS has been shoulder to shoulder with ESPN on all ideas and making them a reality.
Here's a deeper dive at what each of MLS's three national partners has up their sleeves:
ESPN Puts Goal-Post Cam in Regular Rotation
ESPN kicks off its 21st season of Major League Soccer coverage this Sunday with a 2015 MLS Cup rematch between the victorious Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew FC. The game will also mark the regular-season debut of ESPN's goal-post cam and the first time ESPN will mike the head coaches on the sidelines.
Goal-post cam comprises two cameras that slide up inside each goal post and a small mirror system for each camera that helps ESPN get the best shot. The cameras are hardwired via fiber to the production truck.
The technology, exclusive to ESPN, was first tested at the 2014 MLS All-Star Game; the process of research, development, league sign-off, and regular-season deployment has taken nearly two seasons. This season, ESPN will travel camera-equipped goal posts to selected matches.
We are really excited about the technical additions to ESPN's coverage of MLS this season, says Rosenfeld. We have consistently pledged to be additive to the viewer's experience and to enhance the documentation of the match without being disruptive or in the way'.
This season, 29 of the 33 MLS on ESPN telecast windows are on Sunday afternoon, establishing a consistent programming window for the league on ESPN. The 33 regular-season matches will air on ESPN (28) or ESPN2 (5) and ESPN Deportes. All matches will be streamed live on WatchESPN and in Spanish on ESPN Deportes+.
Fox Sports Readies Specialty Cameras for Its First MLS Cup
This fall, Fox Sports will conclude year two of its eight-year MLS-rights deal by televising the MLS Cup for the first time. In the meantime, Fox is looking to build on its successful first season of MLS coverage, in which viewership on FS1 increased 40% over the previous year. In addition, Fox Sports has moved four of its MLS matches to the Fox broadcast network this season.
We are very much anticipating another exciting season of MLS, and we are extremely eager to build on last season's inaugural success, says Francisco Contreras, director of field operations, Fox Sports. We were so happy with the outcome. We anticipate exceeding the success we had in the first year, and we are looking forward to being a part of the MLS family.
In all, Fox Sports will produce 34 MLS matches: four on Fox, 30 on FS1, and Fox Deportes also carrying the 34 matches in Spanish. Most matches will kick off on Sundays in primetime. In addition to MLS Cup, Fox Sports will televise selected MLS Cup Playoff matches.
Expected to be deployed this season are several of the tech toys used on Fox's marquee MLS games last season, such as its MLS opener and the MLS All-Star Game. A few new elements will be added at the MLS Cup this year, including a roving handheld camera on a M VI M10 three-axis gimbal, Inertia Unlimited Dirtcams, goal-post cams, and high-speed cameras.
During the regular season, we won't do much different [since] we will exhaust much of our best resources for the big MLS Cup game, where we will deploy special technical features, such as the M VI camera, the Dirtcams, and high-speed cameras, says Contreras. We feel that we can have a very successful regular season using our basic technical resources and still build on last year's success.
Fox Sports' coverage begins Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, with the Seattle Sounders host Sporting Kansas City on FS1 and Fox Deportes.
Univision Fills Friday-Night Slate With At-Home Production
Thirty-six games on the league's national television calendar are slotted for Friday nights on Spanish-language UniM s.
Univision Deportes will again produce its slate of games using its at-home production workflow, supported by a The Switch-provided infrastructure connecting all MLS venues and Univision's studios in Miami.
On match nights, Univision places 12 cameras in the stadium and backhauls all the individual feeds via fiber to Miami, where the producer, director, technical director, replay ops, audio techni
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
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
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
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
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
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
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
It's New Year's Day for soccer fans across North America, and the continent's premier soccer league is set to see a further boost in the quality of its national television product. On Sunday, Major League Soccer (MLS) kicks off its 21st season and the second year of its current media-rights agreement with ESPN, Fox Sports, and Univision Deportes.
