MLS off to strong, though unremarkable start in 2015

The start of the 2015 MLS season was almost destroyed because of a work stoppage. But the players union and MLS got a deal done before Friday’s Galaxy-Fire match, and the MLS season kicked off as scheduled this weekend. The ratings and viewership totals for the first four national games are beginning to trickle in, and while the numbers won’t blow your mind, they’re still pretty solid overall.

On Friday night, the Galaxy and Fire kicked off the season in LA on UniMas (and simulcast on Univision Deportes), drawing 341,000 viewers. That viewership total may not seem too exceptional, but Univision is claiming that the game’s non-Hispanic viewership set a record for an MLS match on a Spanish network.

From Univision: LA-Chicago was the most-viewed MLS match among non-Hispanics ever on a Spanish-Language network.

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) March 10, 2015

Also from Univision: Non-Hispanics were up 26% of total viewers and 30% of the 18-49 viewers for LA-Chicago, up by over 20% in both from ‘14

— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) March 10, 2015

OK, so those are impressive marks. But what about the Sunday tripleheader on ESPN2 and Fox Sports 1? Not all that bad!

-Orlando City vs NYCFC on ESPN2 drew 539,000 viewers.
-Sporting KC vs New York Red Bulls on Fox Sports 1 drew 268,000 viewers.
-Seattle Sounders vs New England Revolution on Fox Sports 1 drew 289,000 viewers.

Orlando City-NYCFC actually beat Liverpool’s Sunday FA Cup match with Blackburn Rovers on FS1.

MLS drew 539k viewers on ESPN2 Sunday. That’s more than watched the FA Cup earlier that day, and 50% more than watched Liga MX.

— Ryan Rosenblatt (@RyanRosenblatt) March 10, 2015

The two FS1 games drew low viewership totals in comparison to ESPN2’s first match of the year, but they were both well above the average ratings for MLS games on ESPN2 over the past five seasons.

So all in all, what’s the verdict? Not a bad start for MLS in 2015, but there’s still a long way to go.