''MLS Primetime Thursday'' was the weekly presentation of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

games on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

for the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

seasons. The program was presented by

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

History

ESPN and MLS had previously had a contract where

televised live games, usually on Saturday afternoons. Under the arrangement, no rights fee was paid, and MLS controlled production, advertising, and promotion. Time slots varied under the deal, secured by

Soccer United Marketing Soccer United Marketing is the for-profit marketing arm of Major League Soccer which primarily deals with the commercialization, marketing, promotion and operational execution of professional soccer in the United States. The promotion also owns b ...

's providing of rights to the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

. For the 2007 season, an eight-year deal was signed with an $8 million rights fee. ESPN added several features in an attempt to improve presentation—high-definition broadcasts, a sky-cam for some matches, a virtual offside line, a ball tracer, a sideline reporter, and three commentators. For the inaugural season,

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

announcers Dave O'Brien and

Eric Wynalda Eric Boswell Wynalda (born June 9, 1969) is an American soccer coach, television commentator, and former player. He was formerly an analyst and color commentator for soccer coverage on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Previously, he served as head coach ...

served as play-by-play and analyst, respectively, with Allen Hopkins serving as the

sideline reporter In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...

Tommy Smyth Thomas Michael Smyth (pronounced Smith) (born 19 December 1946) is an Irish soccer commentator. Since February 1993, he has been employed by ESPN in the United States, where his primary role is as color commentator and in-studio analyst for ...

was later added as a co-analyst. Glenn Davis and Rob Stone filled in for O'Brien on occasion. For the 2008 season,

JP Dellacamera John Paul "JP" Dellacamera (born January 11, 1952) is an American play-by-play sportscaster primarily for Major League Soccer with the Philadelphia Union, as well as major soccer tournaments and ice hockey. Early life Dellacamera grew up in Wa ...

and

John Harkes John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American Association football, soccer coach and former professional player who last coached Greenville Triumph SC. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American to pla ...

replaced O'Brien and Wynalda as the lead team with Davis, Smyth, and

Julie Foudy Julie Maurine Foudy ( ; born January 23, 1971) is an American retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004 ...

occasionally filling in. Following the 2008 season, ESPN discontinued the Thursday programming, citing lagging ratings and hoping to find better lead-in programming. It was replaced by the ''

MLS Game of the Week Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

'', which rotated among a variety of nights and time slots.

Ratings

After averaging 223,000 viewers during the 2006 season, ratings increased slightly in 2007, to 289,000 viewers, including a regular-season high of 658,000 viewers for

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

's second regular season match. However, ratings dipped to 253,000 in 2008. Attendance often lagged, with few sellouts for the weeknight matches, with marquee club

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

unable to host home matches at the

Home Depot Center Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...

on Thursdays due to its agreement with

California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

Personalities

Play-by-play announcers

# Dave O'Brien (2007), lead #

(2008), lead # Glenn Davis (2007–2008), secondary

Analysts

(2007), lead #

(2007–2008), secondary #

(2008), lead

Sideline reporter

# Allen Hopkins (2007–2008)

Studio team

* Rob Stone (host, 2007–2008) *

(studio analyst, 2007–2008)

References

External links

ESPN MLS HomepageMLS Homepage
{{MLS on ESPN Primetime Thursday ESPN2 original programming 2007 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings