ESPN2 is showing the semifinal round of the U.S. Open Cup for the first time ever this week, which seems like a positive step forward for domestic professional soccer in America, and it’s part of a larger positive trend. Anecdotally speaking, there have been more Saturday-Sunday back-to-back MLS games on the ESPN networks this summer than I can ever remember, and a larger portion of those games have come on the big channel as opposed to its younger sibling that was originally marketed as the hip alternative to the original ESPN (graffiti logos!).
Though not as much now as in the past, ESPN dictates the sports conversation, and that conversation is not just including soccer, but MLS more often and more seriously than ever before.