November 4 – The final play-off games of the MLS season have been breaking ratings record ahead of the Seattle Sounders vs Toronto FC final at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field this Sunday.
ESPN, who are building their soccer broadcast footprint with domestic and international leagues, have reported that viewing for the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs is up 36%.
The playoff matches on ESPN and ESPN2 delivered an average audience of 388,000 viewers, up from 286,000 viewers for seven playoff matches on the same networks in 2018, according to Nielsen.
This has been ESPN’s most-viewed MLS Cup Playoffs since 2012 with last Tuesday’s MLS Western Conference final 3-1 win by Seattle Sounders over LAFC, averaging, 389,000 viewers, up 7% year-over-year.
Sundays game against Toronto – who beat last year’s winners Atlanta 2-1 in the Eastern Conference final – is the third time in four years that Seattle and Toronto have met in the MLS Cup final. In 2016 Seattle won on penalties, whole Toronto won 2-0 in 2017.
The final was announced as a sell-out by the MLS last Friday, with more than 69,000 expected to attend.
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