This won’t immediately impact anyone outside of Los Angeles, but YouTube TV just pulled off a pretty major move in the sports TV world. They booked the exclusive TV rights to the new Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) that’ll kick off their first MLS season in a couple of months.
The details here include 18 LAFC matches on their own YouTube TV channel that are restricted to subscribers in and around LA. Many of the rest of the matches from LAFC will be played nationally on ESPN or Fox Sports, giving subscribers TV access to 30 of the club’s 34 matches. Subscribers in the LA area won’t pay extra for this new channel.
Why is this a big deal, you ask? While it is mostly irrelevant for those not in LA, the bigger picture here is the fact that a pro sports team in the US has picked a streaming TV service for their TV deal, rather than your typical cable operator or local network. For example, my hometown Portland Trail Blazers have had a long-standing relationship with Comcast and what used to be Comcast Sportsnet NW (now NBC Sports NW). The problem with a deal like the one the Blazers have is the fact that if you aren’t a Comcast subscriber or don’t have access to it, it’s been tough to be able to watch Blazers games. A deal like this one with LAFC and YouTube TV makes access more readily available (because it’s streamed over an internet connection) and more affordable.
I think the ultimate rights setup would be for channels like this to be broadcast nationally, though the cost there might not be worth it for someone like YouTube, who also happens to now be the jersey sponsor for LAFC. But that’s the great thing about streaming TV – all you need is internet and you can access it. I’d be surprised if other teams don’t follow a similar path as this.
🖤💛🖤 We are joining forces with @LAFC 🖤💛🖤
YouTube TV is now the official home for #LAFC games. https://t.co/YYyv7m60KX
— YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) January 31, 2018
UPDATE 3/15: YouTube TV has also locked in an exclusive deal with the Seattle Sounders. Fans who subscribe in the Seattle and Spokane areas will have access to a special Sounders FC channel that will show all 20 of their locally televised matches.
// LAFC | Variety | Seattle Sounders
It’s cool that they’re expanding.!
Yawn. Wake me up when they have Jai alai
um soccer??? Who cares!
It’s cool that they’re expanding, but YouTube TV won’t really be viable for me until they strike a deal with Turner & Viacom.
Dodgers should adopt this ffs
I already have YouTube TV but this doesn’t excite me at all. Its only soccer, if it was a sport that I cared about then I would be excited.
Yup. Woopadeedoo soccer.
Go Galaxy! On a serious note this is p cool
Why its stupid:
*Not everyone willing to cut the cord.
*Even if you are, may want different streaming service
*Limited channel lineup compared to other services
*Very limited Spanish speaking sports networks (No unimas/univision/fox deportes) What about ur spanish speaking base?
I have YouTube TV and it sucks that I can’t catch New York Red Bulls games because there’s no MSG Network. But at least I have options elsewhere. This being your only option and a limited one at that seems pretty dumb.
Good points, sir
Agreed. While on one hand this is great for an MLS fan who wants to cut the cord and is looking at Youtube TV, on the other I could see this introducing more fragmentation for sports fans. I cut the cord and didn’t grab Youtube TV partially because it doesn’t have MSG for the Devils/Red Bulls or SNY for the Mets.
Could you imagine though if more teams started to do this across different services? What if you needed to sign up for Youtube TV to watch LAFC and the Clippers, but you needed Hulu Live TV for the Angels, and DirectTV Now for the Rams and Ducks? It would be worse than cable at that point.