U.S. soccer league in wireless talks
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major League Soccer is in talks with the three top U.S. wireless providers about sponsorships or content delivery deals as part of its push into digital media, Commissioner Don Garber said on Wednesday.
Garber said the league is looking to increase revenue and boost the profile of soccer in the United States, where baseball and American football dominate.
"We're in the process of evaluating our whole digital space," Garber said at the Reuters Media Summit in New York.
As a key part of this, the league is in talks with AT&T Inc (T.N), Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L), and Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) with the hope of signing a deal in about six months.
"We're deeply engaged with all the carriers," said Garber, adding that a deal could involve the delivery of text alerts about scores or other game highlights, including a video clip.
"We want to sign a deal that will provide us with the best level of exposure and revenue," he said, when asked if the league would look for an exclusive deal with one carrier or different deals with all carriers.
Garber says Web sites such as YouTube are also important for expanding viewership of U.S. soccer highlights.
"We're not preventing free access to our highlights," he said. Other soccer leagues, including England's highly popular football Premier League, sued Google Inc (GOOG.O) and YouTube earlier this year for copyright infringement.
(Click here to see Reuters MediaFile blog)
(Reporting by Sinead Carew and Ben Klayman; Editing by Brian Moss)
