''MLS Game of the Week'' was the weekly presentation of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

games on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

History

Following the 2008 season, ESPN discontinued ''

MLS Primetime Thursday ''MLS Primetime Thursday'' was the weekly presentation of Major League Soccer games on ESPN2 for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. The program was presented by Adidas. History ESPN and MLS had previously had a contract where ESPN2 televised live games, ...

'', citing lagging ratings and hoping to find better lead-in programming. It was replaced by the MLS Game of the Week, which rotates among a variety of nights and time slots. ESPN left all MLS televising duties after the 2022 MLS season, of which games will mainly be shown via streaming on

MLS Season Pass MLS Season Pass is a soccer streaming television, streaming service operated by Apple Inc. which will include live matches from Major League Soccer. The service will be available in over 100 countries at launch and will feature every MLS regular s ...

Ratings

Ratings have largely remained steady if stagnant despite the move from the regular time slot. Viewership averaged 299,000 per broadcast in 2009, up from 253,000 in 2008; however, it dipped to 253,000 in 2010 before rebounding to 291,000 in 2011 with some matches (having been moved to

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

as opposed to

) drawing over 600,000 viewers.

Personalities

Play-by-play announcers

JP Dellacamera John Paul "JP" Dellacamera (born January 11, 1952) is an American play-by-play sportscaster primarily for Major League Soccer with the Philadelphia Union, as well as major soccer tournaments and ice hockey. Commentary career Soccer In the 1 ...

– lead play-by-play (2009–2010) *

Ian Darke Ian Darke (born 1954) is an English association football and boxing commentator who currently works for ESPN and BT Sport. Darke was previously one of Sky's "Big Four" football commentators alongside Martin Tyler, Alan Parry and Rob Hawthorne. ...

– secondary play-by-play (2010–2011) *

Adrian Healey Adrian Healey is an English football commentator, currently working with MLS Season Pass broadcasts on Apple TV. He is a veteran football commentator in the U.S., working for networks such as ESPN; he was part of the ESPN commentary team in So ...

– lead play-by-play (2011–2018), alternate play-by-play (2018–2022) * Glenn Davis – secondary play-by-play (2009–2022) *

Jon Champion Jonathan Martin Champion (born 23 May 1965) is a British sports commentator currently working as the lead association football commentator for ESPN (US). Champion is a well-established and experienced commentator who has also worked for the BBC ...

– lead play-by-play (2019–2022)

Analysts

John Harkes John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is the head coach of Greenville Triumph SC. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American ever to play in the ...

– lead color commentator (2009–2011) * Kyle Martino – secondary color commentator (2009–2010) *

Taylor Twellman Taylor Timothy Twellman (born February 29, 1980) is an American former soccer player who played professionally from 1999 to 2010. He now works in the media as a soccer television commentator. Twellman is best known for his play with the New Eng ...

– secondary color commentator (2011), lead color commentator (2012–2022) *

Brian Dunseth Brian William “Dunny” Dunseth (born March 2, 1977) is an American television soccer commentator and former player. Career College Dunseth played college soccer at California State University, Fullerton, and was one of the first players t ...

– secondary color commentator (2013–2022)

Sideline reporter

* Allen Hopkins (2009) * Rob Stone (2009–2011) * Mónica González (2012–2016) * Katie Witham (2016) *

Julie Stewart-Binks Julie Stewart-Binks (born April 30, 1987) is a Canadian journalist who has worked for Barstool Sports, ESPN, and Fox Sports. Early years Stewart-Binks was born in Toronto, Ontario, where she attended Havergal College. Stewart-Binks graduated fro ...

(2017) * Sebastian Salazar (2018–2022) * Sam Borden (2021) * Jillian Sakovits (2022)

Studio team

Max Bretos Maximiliano Bretos is an American sports reporter and sports announcer, who is currently the play-by-play announcer for MLS broadcasts on Apple TV. He formerly hosted ESPN Major League Soccer and SportsCenter for ESPN as well as being the lead a ...

– lead studio host (2010–2022) *

Julie Foudy Julie Maurine Foudy ( ; born January 23, 1971) is an American retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004 ...

– studio analyst (2007–2022) *

Alexi Lalas Panayotis Alexander "Alexi" Lalas ( el, Αλέξης Λάλας; born June 1, 1970) is an American retired soccer player who played mostly as a defender. Lalas is best known for his participation with the United States men's national soccer te ...

– lead studio analyst (2009–2014) *

Kasey Keller Kasey C. Keller (born November 29, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played in Europe and the United States, as well as being the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. national team. He is a four-time FIFA World Cup partici ...

– lead studio analyst (2012–2022) *

Alejandro Moreno Alejandro Enrique Moreno Riera (born July 8, 1979) is a Venezuelan former footballer who played as a forward, and who is currently a television commentator for ESPN FC, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Latin America. Moreno won three MLS Cups during his ...

– lead studio analyst (2012–2022) *

– secondary studio host (2019–2022) * Sebastian Salazar – lead studio host (2021–2022) *

Robin Fraser Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') **Bush-robin ** Forest r ...

– studio analyst (2021) *

Ben Olsen Benjamin Robert Olsen (born May 3, 1977) is an American sports executive, Association football, soccer coach, and former professional player who was formerly the president of Washington Spirit, a professional women's soccer club in the Nationa ...

– studio analyst (2022)

References

External links

ESPN MLS HomepageMLS Homepage
{{MLS on ESPN 2010s American television series Game of the Week ESPN2 original programming 2009 American television series debuts