Online retail and streaming video giant Amazon has struck a three-year rights deal with Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders FC, extending the company’s growing interest in regional sports rights.
The agreement, covering the entirety of Washington state, will see all Sounders FC marches not on national television streamed through Amazon’s Prime Video. The team’s games will also still be televised regionally through JOEtv (KZJO-TV), but the latest deal tightens the local bond between fellow Seattle-based corporate entity Amazon and the defending MLS Cup champions.
The first Sounders FC match on Prime Video will be August 26 against the Los Angeles Galaxy as the league now shifts from its recently concluded MLS is Back Tournament in Florida to market-based play. Sounders FC had previously streamed its games regionally through YouTube TV during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
The Amazon-Sounders FC agreement covers the 2020-22 seasons, a timing driven by MLS as its national deals with ESPN, Fox Sports, and Univision Deportes expire that year, and it will ideally be able to return to the market with all of its regional and national media rights. A recent content deal between MLS and Bleacher Report expands on that timing philosophy.
“Sounders FC is a fundamental part of our culture here in the Pacific Northwest, and as a club they have always been at the forefront of innovation in professional sports,” said Marie Donoghue, Amazon vice president of global sports video. “We share this common vision for innovation at Prime Video, and are committed to delighting fans and enhancing the value of a Prime membership through sports, and we believe this deal accomplishes just that.”
The deal represents the second foray into local streaming rights for Amazon, which also had an agreement with Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees that was not yet activated due to that league’s significantly abridged 2020 season amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Amazon’s plans with the Yankees for the 2021 season have not yet been determined, but the company remains an equity partner in the team’s YES Network.
Amazon’s busy year and deepening sports ties also include a recently struck, large-scale arena naming rights agreement with the National Hockey League’s expansion Seattle Kraken, and a three-year renewal and expansion of its streaming rights with the National Football League.
Sounders FC, meanwhile, last year significantly retooled its ownership group, and more recently became one of the first MLS clubs to sign a sleeve sponsor.
“When I think about our hometown, few brands are as closely associated with Seattle’s sense of innovation and ingenuity as Amazon,” said Adrian Hanauer, Sounders FC owner. “This is a proud day for our club, as we’re now able to bring our fans Sounders FC matches on the world’s premier video streaming service through a company that is synonymous with our city’s culture.”