LAFC Reaches Local Broadcasting Deal With YouTube TV
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The Los Angeles Football Club -- which will make its debut this season in Major League Soccer -- announced Wednesday that it had reached a multi-year broadcasting agreement with the streaming provider YouTube TV for local broadcast rights.
LAFC and YouTube reached a partnership that will allow for locally-televised LAFC matches to be shown on a designated YouTube channel.
"The YouTube TV broadcasts will feature a 30-minute pre and post-game show from the YouTube TV Studio set at Banc of California Stadium," the team said in a news release. "Locally televised LAFC matches will be geo-fenced and available only in the Los Angeles market on YouTube TV."
LAFC also has 16 matches this season scheduled to be broadcast nationally on ESPN, FOX, FS1 and Univision, which are also channels available on YouTube TV.
"This is the first partnership of its kind in North American professional sports where all locally televised matches are on a live TV streaming provider," LAFC said.
In total, 30 of LAFC's 34 regular season matches will be available on YouTube TV.
"We couldn't be more excited to partner with LAFC to be the exclusive home for all locally televised matches and to share our name on the front of their jerseys," YouTube Director of Sports Partnerships for the Americas Tim Katz said in a statement.
LAFC will begin its inaugural season with several road games, starting March 4 against the Sounders in Seattle, followed by a March 10 tilt with Real Salt Lake in Utah. It won't debut on its home field until April 29 against the Sounders.
The team, led by former U.S. men's national team coach Bob Bradley, began training last week at UCLA, with its first preseason game against Toronto FC on Friday.
According to LAFC, the $350 million open-air Banc of California Stadium will have the steepest seating bowl in the MLS at 34 degrees, designed to give the venue a more intimate feel for fans.
The 22,000-seat stadium is the former site of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. It is part of a $250 million entertainment complex in Exposition Park, alongside L.A. Memorial Coliseum, that will also feature restaurants and a soccer museum.
The team's owners include A-list names such as comedian Will Ferrell, Lakers legend Magic Johnson, private equity billionaire Larry Berg and U.S. soccer star Mia Hamm.