McCarthy's Musings: MLS Primetime Move

By Kyle McCarthy

After reading a few of the headlines from the past few days, you may have thought ESPN dumped MLS down into the gutter somewhere after ripping up its contract with the league.

“ESPN booting MLS from its Thursday slot,” blared Sports Business Journal. “MLS Dumps 'MLS Thursday,'” read Soccer Insider.

Those headlines don't tell the whole story. ESPN will still show MLS games on ESPN2. ESPN will show a plurality (at least 10) of its MLS games on Thursday night with Saturday, Wednesday and Friday night games mixed in for other television and venue scheduling reasons. ESPN and MLS came to this schedule shift together as part of the league's eight-year deal with the network, not as a unilateral decision from Bristol.

Even with those clarifications in mind, is it a good sign that MLS struggled on Thursdays? Not particularly. Teams struggled to draw fans and games struggled to draw flies. The Nielsen data suggests MLS hasn't reached appointment viewing status yet.

Those hoping for instant growth from the programming switch shouldn't expect it. Wednesdays and Friday aren't known as great soccer viewing nights (though UEFA Champions League games do alright on Wednesday afternoons) and a few Saturday games likely won't raise the ratings enough to make an appreciable difference. Ratings growth is a long, hard slog; both ESPN and MLS would like this move to inspire steady, not exponential, growth they weren't finding with a steady date on Thursday nights.

Missing out on an immediate ratings bounce doesn't mean that the shift away from a fixed Thursday date is a bad idea for MLS or ESPN. In fact, the move may end up helping the quality of play and aiding the quest for more eyeballs in the long term.

As the traditional English Saturday three o'clock kickoff shows, following the game is far easier when it turns into a habit. The need for habit is part of the reason why having a dedicated night appealed to MLS and ESPN. The idea made sense, but the execution failed because Thursday didn't fit for a variety of reasons including fans viewing Thursday as a school night and Thursday as a sitcom-at-home night.

In the attempt to create a habit for the fans, MLS and ESPN contradicted the habits of its players and coaches. Count me among those who believe that coaches and players benefit from a regular schedule. Coaches prefer set training schedules week after week that ebb and flow depending on the match day. Players benefit from the cadence of playing consistently and recover their legs more easily when given regular rest on regular intervals.

Thursday night games don't fit into the rhythm of a regular game week. Teams have to adjust to compensate for the oddly-defined rest; some teams benefit one weekend from extra days off and face ill effects the next from a short week. Training schedules are altered and adjusted to compensate for the abnormal rest period. Players don't have the proper recovery time. Those schedules are more easily adapted for games on Wednesdays (the traditional mid-week fixture players and coaches around the world expect) and Friday (in place of a Saturday fixture).

In the end, both MLS and ESPN have to bank on the fact that better games will help attract new fans. The shift away from Thursdays won't cure the evening commute headaches or the meager attendances Wednesdays and Fridays can bring. It likely won't bring a massive or modest ratings increase in the next year or two. But it may just make the games those fans see better and that should be just as important.

For a television network with six years left on its deal with MLS and a league which still fights doubters about its on-the-field quality, the next year or two isn't the problem. The long-term growth and the continued improvement of the standard of play is just as important as the short-term ratings bump and extra butts in chairs. Bearing that long-term metric in mind, the biggest hurdle for MLS amongst soccer fans and others is the perception of inferiority to the European game. Spending more money on more established stars will help someday, but the ability to showcase the talent currently in the league by placing them in a situation to succeed is the best the league can do right now.

Getting away from Thursday games, if only for a few weeks, should help now. Maybe better rest and unbroken rhythm for players won't lead to better games. Maybe it will help only a little bit. But winning over neutrals and raising the standard of play, like growing ratings, tends to be a long, hard slog. In those types of battles, every little bit helps.

Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kylemccarthy@gmail.com.