NEW YORK – August 15, 2012 – NBC Sports Network will broadcast this week’s MLS coverage Sunday when D.C. United hosts the Philadelphia Union live from RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. at 5 p.m. ET.
COMMENTATORS: NBC Sports Network’s MLS coverage will feature Arlo White (play-by-play) alongside Kyle Martino (“Between the Benches” analyst) as they return from the London 2012 Olympic Games. Russ Thaler will serve as studio host on-site for the pre-game and halftime analysis.
RATINGS: TheMLS game on Friday, August 10, which followed Olympics coverage and featured the NY Red Bulls against the Houston Dynamo, was up 271 percent from the 2011 regular-season average on Fox Soccer. After 23 regular season games, the MLS on NBC Sports is up 115 percent in average viewership compared to the 2011 regular season average on Fox Soccer (146,000 vs. 68,000).
UPCOMING MLS GAMES ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK: (All Times ET, Home Team Listed First)
Fri., August 24, Philadelphia vs. Salt Lake, 7:30 p.m.
Sun., August 26, Los Angeles vs. Dallas, 7 p.m.
For the full NBC Sports Group 2012 MLS Schedule visit www.NBCSports.com. Viewers can also follow all the action on Twitter @MLSonNBCSports.
ProSoccerTalk on NBCSports.com: Steve Davis (@SteveDavis90), a respected soccer journalist for more than two decades, is the featured writer for ProSoccerTalk on NBCSports.com. Davis, who has covered Major League Soccer, since its inception in 1996 contributes regular posts and will provide video reports to NBCSports.com, and is expected to be an occasional guest on NBC SportsTalk, the daily hour-long news and information show on NBC Sports Network.
# # #
Last August, Major League Soccer (MLS) and the NBC Sports Group announced a three-year media rights agreement that calls for 46 MLS games and four U.S. National Team contests to be televised live across both NBC and NBC Sports Network each season. This agreement was the first rights deal for the new NBC Sports Network. All telecasts on NBC and NBC Sports Network will consist of pre-game and post-game coverage.