skip navigation

USL Productions Broadens League's Visibility to Unprecedented Scale

By CHRIS HOCKMAN - chris.hockman@uslsoccer.com, 06/08/18, 7:30PM EDT

Share

$10 million investment has created broadcast reach of 84 million viewers domestically, worldwide audience

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Launched late in 2016, USL Productions has proven a game-changer for the league, with the $10 million investment made into broadcast technology now allowing the league to reach a broader audience than ever before in the USL’s modern history.

The unprecedented venture for the league has entered its second full season with even more improvements, which have facilitated a high-quality matchday and tertiary broadcast experience that gives fans the widest access to USL action in its history. The league’s games are now available to a domestic broadcast audience of 84 million fans through local television partnerships, with the league’s national television partnership with ESPN bringing the USL to more passionate sports fans than ever before.

This is possible thanks to the use of the biggest REMI (Remote Integration) production in the world, which has allowed USL Productions to create a sustainable broadcast production model for team owners, partners, and communities. With broadcast partner VISTA Worldlink providing centralized match production, USL Productions is able to provide a consistent and high-quality broadcast through league partner ESPN+ and to local individual terrestrial broadcast partners, which allows fans to watch USL matches wherever they are in the world.

“We came here with a unique challenge and that was to solve the problem of producing over 500 games and do so in a cost-effective way for the clubs, in a way that produced high-quality broadcasts, and standardized the look and feel of all those productions,” said USL President Jake Edwards.

In creating a standardized look and feel in a high-quality manner, USL Productions has been able to make every broadcast an opportunity to showcase the best the league has to offer. It has also opened up new opportunities for the league’s clubs to highlight their matchday experience to entice new fans and sponsors it can then aim to target for future events and matchdays.

“Outside of the live event, the match experience, the broadcast is the window into the brand for the club and the league,” said Edwards. “We need to be able to capture that in a compelling way, with a compelling broadcast.”

As the USL continues its expansion across North America, with four new additions already set to join the 33 clubs competing for the USL Cup this season in 2019, the scope of USL Productions will keep pace with the league’s growth, which will make it the largest-scale producer of live match broadcasts in the world.

“A large portion of the teams work with our partner VISTA on REMI productions. What that means is that the production of the game is handled mostly away from site,” said Brad Baker, USL Vice President, Broadcast. “Because of those REMI productions we’ll oftentimes have five or six games going on at one time. Nobody is doing sports REMI productions on this level consistently.”

Having a world-class production is only the beginning for USL Productions, which is going to continue to innovate and set the bar for live broadcasts in the future as the league continues to increase its visibility not only with soccer fans across North America, but a broader range of sports fans as well.

“We have produced one of the largest REMI production models of any league in the world,” said Edwards. “Now we’re able to deliver anywhere in the world, to our partners at ESPN, fully produced matches from all over the country and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the progress we’ve made and some of the innovative things we’ll be able to bring into the broadcast moving forward.” 

Latest From the Pitch