Sporting Kansas City announced Wednesday that local station KSMO-TV will serve as the team’s broadcast partner for the 2011 Major League Soccer season. As part of the agreement, all of Sporting’s MLS matches not broadcast on national television will be carried live and in high definition on KSMO-TV.
Additionally, KSMO-TV will air a 30-minute pre-game show prior to each Sporting Kansas City telecast on the network and the station will also launch a 30-minute weekly soccer show to be broadcast every Sunday at 9:30 p.m. CT during the MLS season.
“This is a great deal for Kansas City sports fans, as our games will continue to reach roughly one million homes in the metro area in high definition,” Sporting Kansas City President Robb Heineman said. “Both KSMO and KCTV5 have shown a great commitment to sports in Kansas City, and we are proud to have them as broadcast partners for our highly-anticipated 2011 season.”
“We are very proud to add Sporting Kansas City to our local sports footprint on KSMO,” said Bobby Totsch, Vice President and General Manager of KCTV/KSMO-TV. “We are very excited to be able to carry these soccer matches locally, as well as ancillary Sporting KC programming, interviews and a variety of content that will bring Kansas City much closer to our local professional soccer franchise. We are dedicating our resources to bring even more local sporting events to one local station, KSMO, and there is no doubt that Sporting Kansas City is a cornerstone of our yearly lineup.”
KSMO-TV, operating since 1983, is shown on satellite television and broadcast over-the-air on Channel 62, and is available as Channel 10 on cable systems. The MyNetwork-TV affiliate is the home to University of Kansas and UMKC men’s and women’s basketball in Kansas City, as well as men’s basketball for the Missouri Valley conference. The station also carries football and basketball for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
One of 12 local broadcast stations owned by the Midwest-based Meredith Corporation, including sister station KCTV5, KSMO-TV features local news and community programming, as well as syndicated shows like Friends, Scrubs and Everybody Loves Raymond.
KCTV5, a leader in local news, sports and weather coverage, will also simulcast one or more Sporting Kansas City matches in 2011. In April 2010, the local CBS affiliate introduced Off the Bench with Michael Coleman, a weekly half-hour sports show on Sundays at 10:30 p.m. CT on KCTV5, which has regularly featured soccer and Sporting Kansas City coverage.
KCTV5 and KSMO-TV also launched ¿Que Pasa, KC? in 2010, Kansas City’s first local television show that focuses on the Hispanic community in Kansas City. The show, hosted by Sandra Olivas and Iris Hermosillo and broadcast in English, airs weekly on Fridays at 9:30 p.m. CT on KSMO-TV and is replayed on Sundays on KCTV5.
Sporting Kansas City will feature one of Mexico’s most popular players in 2011 as striker Omar Bravo debuts as the club’s second-ever Designated Player. The team will also open its state-of-the-art stadium currently under construction in Kansas City, Kansas in the highly anticipated home opener on June 9th against the Chicago Fire.
Sporting Kansas City begins the 2011 season on March 19th at Chivas USA in Carson, California.
KSMO-TV Channel Lineup
Broadcast: 62 (analog), 62.1 (digital)
Time Warner Cable: 10, 1471 (HD)
Comcast: 10, 237 (HD)
AT&T U-Verse: 62, 1062 (HD)
DirecTV: 62, 951 (HD)
Dish Network: 62, 6382 (HD), 8434 (HD)
Surewest: 10
