The Final Chapter of Red Bulls on MSG Network

photo by Matt Kremkau

On Sunday, October 10th the New York Red Bulls will end their long partnership with Madison Square Garden Networks as the 2023 season will begin with the brand new broadcasting partner in Apple TV+ as Major League Soccer signed that 10-year deal to broadcast League games, the new Leagues Cup along with Liga MX & several matches involving two teams in MLS Next Pro.

While the League continues to try and secure National Broadcasting agreements with ESPN, Fox Sports, and Spanish Language Partner Univision, the local broadcasts will now be replaced by different broadcast crews working for Apple & MLS either in a centralized office building or sending new broadcast crews to the stadiums like what CBS & FOX does for the NFL when it's not Thursday Night, Sunday Night or Monday Night Football.

As Major League Soccer began its existence to promote the sport in the United States with ten teams and originally the club was called the NY/NJ MetroStars owned by Metro Media across Route 3 from the Meadowlands, the main company that produced all the local broadcasts for local games was Winnercomm in Tulsa, Oklahoma before MSG took full ownership of the production work. If the Metros weren't on any ESPN channels, you would see it locally on both MSG Network and, FOX Sports New York.

We remember those great moments when Giovanni Savarese scored the bicycle Kick to level the match at 3 against the Tampa Bay Mutiny & defeated them in the shootout. Or the golden goal victories by Mike PEtke at RFK Stadium against DC United, or Peter Villegas who smashed home a long-distance ball, The long shootout playoff game where a hobbling Peter Vermes would earn the final tally to win it at Giants Stadium.

Or some of the most recent memories with the New York Red Bulls like Danny Cepero who became the first goalkeeper in Major League Soccer to score a goal as the ball bounced on the FieldTurf at Giants Stadium to beat the Columbus Crew, or when Jozy Altidore scored his first professional goal coming up from the academy. Most recently at Red Bull Arena when Thierry Henry scored an Olimpico or smashed a long-distance ball that hit the woodwork and into the back of the net. The free kick second-half stoppage time winner by Juan Pablo Angel,

Bradley Wright-Phillips scored multiple goals at home including several hat tricks and of course, we can't forget he became the first player in MetroStars/Red Bulls history to score 20 goals in a season. But the greatest moment of all for this club was hoisting the MLS Supporters Shield three different times on MSG Network twice at home & once on the road, but nothing will beat that first time at Red Bull Arena with that dominating performance in the second half to defeat the Chicago Fire 5-2 and hoist silverware for the very first time. 

At this time I would like to thank those special people that gave their time, heart, soul & professionalism to spend their time informing us about what was going on the pitch for the full 90 minutes with the game clock counting down and then up.

Thank you, Joe Tollison, Tommy Smyth, Derek Rae, Ed Cohen, Jonathan Yardley, Adrian Healey, JP Dellacamera, Steve Cangelosi, Shep Messing, as well as the sideline reporters in Brian Kilmeade, Tina Cervasio & currently Michelle Gingras for making these broadcasts special and wonderful. 

As the league now shifts away from the gold standard into this new era of permanent streaming with Apple TV+, we shall see how smooth or bumpy this 10-year ride will be starting in 2023, whoever we get for each and every home or away match, I hope it will be the experts that we are familiar with for such a long period of time.