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MLS Update: Sounders/Timbers Tops Galaxy/Red Bulls on ESPN2

May 23, 2011 9:44 AM 9 comments

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ESPN2 earned more viewers for a Pacific Northwest MLS showdown than a star-studded, big-market matchup one week earlier.

The May 14 Sounders/Timbers MLS match earned a 0.2 U.S. rating and 328,000 viewers on ESPN2, up 138% from the match in the comparable week last year, which aired on a Thursday night (HOU/RSL: 138K).

The match drew more viewers than the star-studded battle between New York and Los Angeles one week earlier.

The May 7 Red Bulls/Galaxy match drew a 0.2 and 320,000 viewers on ESPN2, up 160% from the match in the comparable week last year, which aired on a Wednesday night (KC/DC: 123K).

The match not only featured the nation’s top two television markets, but also two of the biggest stars in MLS, David Beckham and Thierry Henry.

(Numbers from Son of the Bronx 1, 2)

  • DrX

     Thanks for the update !!

  • Napoleon2blake

    We love getting the MLS ratings numbers.  Keep ‘em coming.  :)  

  • Robert1969

     Four games that I know of have the following viewership:

    LA v Sea 604,000 (+79,000 on ESPN Deportes)

    Port v Chi 214,000 (Deportes uknown)

    NY LA 320,000 (Deportes unknown)

    Port Sea 328,000 (Deportes uknown)

    Numbers I don’t know:

    NY v Phi

    NY v DC

    LA v Chivas

    The four we know has an average of 366,500, the numbers on ESPN Deportes clearly takes the average above 400,000. The question is how far off are the other three matches from the average. If they are near the NY-LA or Port-Sea matches, MLS is averaging almost 340,000 for the year, and close to 400,000 when combining the Deportes numbers. It would be nice to have all of these numbers to know. 

  • Thedudeandwalter

    Thanks for the updates. Us MLS fans need to look high and low for the ratings so if you continue to post them we will come here.

    • Paulsen

      No problem at all. I try to post MLS numbers whenever I get them, although they are not always readily available.

  • Eric Flatness

    Its a good start for the Cascadia Cup. It will be interesting to see the ratings for the rubber match in Portland. 

  • Yevgeniy

    Thank you for the update. Much appreciated

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=67500386 Brian Shea

    Some fans complain about the late starting times, but the reality is that MLS is as much a West Coast league if not moreso these days. The games are starting at 11 ET because that’s really 8 p.m. for a significant part of the league’s fan base.

  • Steveo

    thanks for the info! finally see some numbers for the LA-NY game.. and with numbers that close, i feel it very easily could been in the NY-LA game’s favor

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