Twitter snags the Major League Soccer live streaming deal from Facebook

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Twitter snags the Major League Soccer live streaming deal from Facebook

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Facebook is streaming Major League Baseball, and now Twitter will stream Major League Soccer. The company announced on Friday a new three-year streaming deal that will bring at least 25 of soccer matches that broadcast on Univision networks in Spanish to Twitter’s network, where they’ll be available in English.

Notably, Major League Soccer (MLS) had partnered with Facebook for these weekly games last year, but this year went with Twitter.

It’s also an important win for Twitter, which has lost out on other top streaming sports deals, like when the NFL’s Thursday Night Football games went to Amazon, for example. It also saw non-sports streaming deals, like the Golden Globes’ red carpet, go to Facebook this year, after it had debuted in 2017 on Twitter.

For the next three years, MLS will provide Twitter with live matches, plus other soccer programming, including highlights and features, some of which will be available on-demand.

The first match, Real Salt Lake hosting expansion club Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC), aired this weekend, on Saturday March 10. Others that will air in the U.S. on Twitter are available on this schedule on MLS’ website.

For MLS, the organization claims the live-streaming deal will help it better engage its younger fans.

“MLS constantly strives to connect with fans in new and innovative ways,” said Chris Schlosser, SVP Media, MLS, in a statement about the deal. “Our fans are the youngest and most socially engaged in pro sports, which is why we are excited to partner with Twitter to feature live matches on their platform.”

This isn’t the first time Twitter has worked with MLS, however. The two have collaborated in the past on the he MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, Heineken Rivalry Week, Decision Day presented by AT&T, and the MLS Cup.

The companies are also now promising that, along with the live matches and highlights, they’ll collaborate on “innovative executions” to support MLS Big Events during the season.

Fans can choose to follow along via the @MLS or @FutbolMLS Twitter accounts, or those from the 23 MLS clubs across the U.S. and Canada.

 

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March 12, 2018 at 01:38PM