MLS national TV schedule includes 29 games on ESPN, 4 on Fox

ESPN and Fox are committing to Major League Soccer in a big way for the 2016 season. On Thursday, MLS announced their schedule for this season, which includes 96 games airing on national television, including 29 on ESPN and four on Fox. Last season, just eight games aired on ESPN and none aired on Fox’s broadcast network.

The national coverage kicks off with a tripleheader on March 6th over MLS’s three national partners, ESPN, FS1, and UniMas. An MLS Cup rematch between the Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew begins the year on ESPN, while FS1 gets a tasty-looking Seattle Sounders-Sporting KC matchup and UniMas gets a marquee matchup between the LA Galaxy and DC United.

There will also be three more Sunday tripleheaders this season, on July 17th (Fox, ESPN, FS1), August 7th (ESPN, two on FS1), and August 28th (two on ESPN, FS1). ESPN once again gets the MLS All-Star Game in July, though the date and opponent is still unknown.

MLS also brings back Decision Day for the last two weeks of the 2016 season, with flex scheduling in effect for both weeks of intraconference matchups.

Of course, many of the league’s large market teams are featured more than the smaller market teams. 17 of the LA Galaxy’s first 32 matches are featured. The New York Red Bulls show up 16 times. NYCFC also shows up 17 times despite missing the playoffs in their debut season. At least the MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers are appearing 15 times.

But Western Conference runner-up FC Dallas? Four times. Eastern Conference champion Columbus Crew? Three times. MLS MVP Sebastian Giovinco’s Toronto FC? Four times. Come on, those teams deserve to be featured more!

Here’s the full schedule.

[MLS Soccer]