AP
Major League Soccer and ESPN are moving games from a regular Thursday night time slot to different days of the week in hopes of boosting ratings. The average audience on ESPN2 decreased 12 percent from 288,800 viewers in 2007 to 253,000 in 2008. The league and network are entering the third year of an eight-year contract.
The shift is expected to result in better lead-in programming, which would mean more people are already tuned into ESPN2 when the games start. On Thursday nights, taped shows often aired before MLS matches; the mix of nights will mean the games more often will follow live events, which generally draw higher ratings.
A greater number of appealing matchups also will be available for the telecasts. The franchises in Los Angeles and Houston share their stadiums with other teams, which can prevent them from playing Thursday night games.
“What we’re trying to do is trying to be as flexible as we can to feature those teams and feature specific matchups,” said Scott Guglielmino, ESPN vice president for programming.
MLS officials also hope the shift will result in larger crowds for those nationally televised games.
“We’ve had games that have done tremendously well on weeknights, and games that have not done as well as we want to see,” MLS president Mark Abbott said. “The flexibility allows us to maximize that.”