March 18, 2007

Univisión and La MLS

During halftime of tonight's América-Chivas superclasico, Univisión ran a preview piece on the upcoming MLS season.

A smart move for the Spanish-language giant, as the Mexican superclasico is easily the most-viewed soccer match in the United States every year. Although Univisión is not scheduled to televise any MLS games, it's sister networks of Telefutura and Galavisión will show 25 Sunday games throughout the season. A full schedule can be seen here.

Highlights of the piece included: An emphasis on Latino players including Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez, Amado Guevara bad-mouthing Los Toros Rojos de Nueva York in the 10 seconds of interview time they showed, Alexi Lalas "attempting" to speak Spanish, and of course, a spotlight on Chivas USA. Sadly, this did not include any mention or shots of the ChivaGirls.

I, for one, am thrilled at this. Univisión could have used the time to sell more commercials (and received a ton of money), but they decided to promote a league that many Latinos in the United States are still rather apathetic about.

And with the inaugural SuperLiga taking place this summer, the sky's the limit for the growth of the MLS market.

Or maybe I'm just excited that now some of my buddies will have to learn some Spanish to watch their beloved D.C. United matches.

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