As previously reported Tuesday (found here) the North American Soccer League broke early Monday with a national TV Deal with One World Sports. A lot of questions were left unanswered after the initial announcement. Complicating matters further, the league’s website made it incredibly vagure what the circumstances of the deal were, as well as the issue of access and the differences between this new deal, and the deal the league currently holds with their other provider, ESPN 3.
NASL works to ease concerns involving One World Sports TV Deal
Late Tuesday, the league issued a follow up press release as well as additional clarifications on the circumstances of the deal:
- JP Dellacamera will be a part of the crew that will be broadcasting the first game of the deal, Carolina Railhawks hosting the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
- The first game of the deal, LIVE on One World Sports at 7:30 PM, will be available to everyone for free online at www.OneWorldSports.com
- Games may be geographically locked with access online for fans in the cities that are being played. That means, for example, that for the first game marked as being potentially geographically locked, that only viewers in the city of the teams playing in that match will be given access to the feed.
This deal DOES NOT remove the ESPN 3 deal that has been in place since the beginning of the 2015 Spring season. Any games in the middle of the week not chosen for One World Sports will be on ESPN 3 as well as the normal schedule of weekend games that will be on ESPN 3 and the Watch ESPN App. This clears up a lot of the issues fans had yesterday when the news initially broke. The news release from today (seen here) also states that all local TV deals with clubs will still be honored during the middle of the week as well as weekend games.
The local TV deals have been a huge progress for the league. Obviously, the NASL would like to be on national TV every match every week, but that isn’t possible only a few years after being restarted. The ESPN 3 deal gave great value for the local TV deals because commentators as well as the local call letters on ESPN 3 streams were great for business there.
Another issue still remains that non-local supporters won’t be given free access to games which can present a moderately inconvenient nuisance if you are traveling or live outside of the local market for a team. This doesn’t seem to be a major concern for the league, and if you are outside of the geographical location that One World Sports and the league sets (if they do for games marked for geographical lock) than you are more than likely not going to be able to watch the game unless you gain access to the channel through your cable provider.
What is also still left out open is the length of the deal as well as the possibility of NASL moving all games to One World Sports next year full time. In the end though, after more details have been released by the league it seems that this is still a strong move to distance from the mud of Traffic Sports as well as give the fans more ways to view. While many fans argue that One World Sports isn’t a “national” channel, the platform it will be on gives more eyes to TV network execs and the possibility that the league might one day make it onto Fox Sports or ESPN full time is still alive.
You can request that either your cable provider grant you the channel or you can purchase acccess through the One World Sports website here
Below are the Indy Eleven matches that will be on One World Sports. All the others can be found here:
- Indy Eleven vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies
7:30 p.m. ET | Wednesday, August 19
Carroll Stadium | Indianapolis, Ind.
Watch | ONE World Sports
ONEWorldSports.com*
Watch ONE World Sports app (authentication required)
WISH-TV (Local – IND)
ESPN Player (Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East)
WatchESPN (Brazil)
ESPN Play (Latin America and the Caribbean)
ESPN3.com (Oceania) - Minnesota United vs. Indy Eleven
8:00 p.m. ET | Wednesday, September 2
NSC Stadium | Blaine, Minn.
Watch | ONE World Sports
ONEWorldSports.com*
Watch ONE World Sports app (authentication required)
KSTC45-TV (Local – MNU)
ESPN Player (Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East)
WatchESPN (Brazil)
ESPN Play (Latin America and the Caribbean)
ESPN3.com (Oceania) - Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Indy Eleven
7:30 p.m. ET | Wednesday, September 30
Al Lang Stadium | St. Petersburg, Fla.
Watch | ONE World Sports
ONEWorldSports.com*
Watch ONE World Sports app (authentication required)
Great 38 (Local – TBR)
ESPN Player (Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East)
WatchESPN (Brazil)
ESPN Play (Latin America and the Caribbean)
ESPN3.com (Oceania)
