The 2020 campaign of MLS began on 29th February and as part of that, MLS will host a weekly Watch Party on Facebook and create official Facebook Groups for select teams around the league.
In addition, the agreement will bring archival clips, top moments in MLS history and player-centric highlights to Facebook Watch.
“Facebook’s innovative Watch Party experience is the perfect place for Major League Soccer fans around the world to exchange views and share their passion for our clubs and players,” said Chris Schlosser, MLS’s Senior Vice President for Media.
“We’re proud to collaborate with Facebook to deliver exciting game recaps and engage globally with MLS fans.”
This partnership allows supporters to stay up to date with the latest highlights by simply liking the MLS Facebook Page. Currently, based off all the league, team and player accounts on the social media platform, the MLS Facebook community exceeds more than 30 million people.
“Major League Soccer is one of the fastest growing leagues in the US, and we’re excited to help it continue to reach new fans through this partnership,” said Rob Shaw, Facebook’s Director of League and Media Sports Partnerships.
“This content will bring people together to celebrate wins, commiserate over losses and share the top plays with their friends, making it a fantastic fit for Facebook Watch.”
The MLS agreement extends Facebook Watch’s content offering. Most recently, the streaming service secured a global partnership with golf’s PGA Tour in January to distribute daily highlight packages, adding to deals with competitions such as the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball League (NBL), UEFA and LaLiga in select markets.
Last June, Facebook revealed that 720 million monthly visitors and 140 million daily users were tuning in for at least a minute to its Watch platform, attributing that live sports content helped to boost those numbers.
However, a report by The Information at the start of 2020 claimed the company was looking to dial back on original programming and the purchase of live sports rights was in favour of licensing clips and talk shows.
