Though some made it sound as if bringing David Beckham to MLS soccer as part of the L.A. Galaxy team would suddenly make soccer a sensation in the United States, ESPN is finding that turning Americans on to Soccer has been a bit more difficult than they had hoped:

Through 25 games on ESPN2 last year, MLS delivered a 0.2 cable rating and 229,000 households. The league’s performance on television is more on par with the WNBA than Major League Baseball. As ESPN enters the second year of an eight-year, $64 million commitment to the league, it will be looking for improved ratings. - [Source]

Major League Soccer is made up of 14 teams currently, including the Canadian based Toronto FC and will be adding two more teams in the next two years… the Seattle Sounders FC in 2009 and a yet to be named Philadelphia team in 2010. ESPN hopes that adding a Spanish version of the channel will help bring up viewership from Spanish speaking Americans. For now, Canada seems to be the most willing to embrace soccer in North America at the moment with Toronto FC tickets seeing an explosion in demand at the moment:

Toronto FC had to cap its season ticket sales this season at 16,000, which is an MLS-high. The sea of red at BMO Field is something that needs to be seen… Even without a big-name player on the team, Toronto FC has been, huge financially—and a big asset to the MLS. - [Source]

Tags: MLS, Soccer, Toronto FC
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