Where to Watch Live Soccer in the US
Sometimes it feels as if trying to watch live soccer in America is like pulling teeth. There's actually quite a bit on if you know where to look, but it can all be a bit overwhelming if you're just getting into the beautiful game.
Fox Soccer Channel lives up to its namesake by offering the most soccer action on television, bar none. The glory of FSC comes in their coverage of the Barclay's Premier League (or English Premier League) and the UEFA Champions League. FSC and its sister channel Fox Soccer Plus cover just about all of the games of the EPL and UEFA Champions League, mostly live. What isn't live is syndicated, often between the two channels. FSP isn't absolutely essential although will often show a big game or two which is its selling point. Another large selling point of the FSC and FSP are the fact that they are the sole broadcasters of the Italian Serie A in the US. Both channels also have exclusive rights to the FA Cup and Carling Cup matches, as well as the rights to broadcast a single French Ligue 1 match per week. FSC also broadcasts a Major League Soccer game during the weekends and also had the distrubution rights for the CONCACAF Champions League. If you're looking to watch live soccer in the States, the Fox family of networks really delivers. The current Fox Soccer Channel schedule can be found here.
ESPN offers an early morning game of the EPL on Saturdays, usually sometime between 7-8AM EST. There are also sometimes Monday afternoon EPL games depending on the schedule. ESPN is usually dedicated a weekly MLS game, often on Thursday or Sunday nights. ESPN's online service, ESPN3, sometimes broadcasts matches from the Spanish La Liga. ESPN Desportes offers La Liga matches as well as Mexican Primera Division games. Of course, ESPN and ABC maintain the rights to the grandaddy of them all, that is, the FIFA World Cup.
Digital cable isn't essential if you want to watch live soccer, but it surely helps. MLS in particular offers high-quality streaming of matches for a flat-rate over the entire season so you can watch live soccer online for free. It's possible to watch live soccer streams online to get your fix, although this is technically illegal and such streams often get shut down rather quickly. If you don't have digital cable then you're probably better off seeing what your league offers in terms of paid streaming matches. The advantage to this approach is the fact that you get to see exactly what you want. For example, a bulk of Fox Soccer Plus' program is rugby which rather misleading for those paying extra to watch more soccer.
There are plenty of resources out there for Americans to watch live soccer, whether it be through basic or digital cable, or leagues streaming matches online. As the sport's popularity increases and the domestic league grows, we can only hope that we can get even more soccer matches on television in the future.
