Major news has been released about the NASL this week, including 2 TV announcements, first with Bein Sports and second with CBS Sports Network, plus an extension of the ONE World Sports and ESPN3 deals. There is also a team announcement to get to.
The deal with Bein Sports will carry at least one game each playing week. Bein is available on Comcast, Dish, DirecTV, Fios, and many more providers. Here is a list of the games that will be broadcast on Bein.
For the first time since the demise of the league back in the 1980s, the NASL is back on CBS (Sports Network). They will broadcast select games throughout the second half of the season, and a list is available here. The important part: games on CBS Sports Network supersede local broadcasts, so the game will not be available to you locally if you do not get the channel. Channel Finder
The Cosmos games will all be available on OWS and will not be given air time on CBS Sports Network. All NASL games not on national TV will be available on ESPN3; Bein games will be available to local markets.
Lastly in the offseason news, I would like to welcome the San Francisco Deltas to the NASL. I laid out an expansion plan earlier in my blog, and it seems they are following it... for now. We must wait and see if they target more West Coast markets (as they should be doing).
The TV deal with CBS is a big one because not only could this be a ratings boost for the league, it could get so big that CBS decides to shift it back to CBS and put a domestic soccer league back on over-the-air TV for the first time since the original MLS TV deal with ABC/ESPN. I understand that its reach is about the same as Bein's, but this brings more marketing opportunities. I pray that CBS advertises the NASL during the Final Four and the National Championship game for college basketball.
Now, here are my score predictions for the Week 1 games to start this weekend: The game(s) in bold are the games I will be going into detail about next week.
Carolina 1-2 Minnesota
Ft. Lauderdale 1-1 Miami (Bein)
Tampa Bay 0-1 Indy
Rayo OKC 1-0 Edmonton
New York 2-1 Ottawa (OWS)
(Sorry, Rayo fans, but the first South Florida Derby takes precedence over your first home game ever. Your time will come, I promise.)
