major league soccer with espn and abc sports announced the league's first television rights deal on march 15, 1994, without any players, coaches, or teams in place. the three-year agreement covered english-language broadcasting for the 1996–1998 seasons, and committed 10 games on espn, 25 on espn2, and the mls cup on abc. the deal gave mls no rights fees but split advertising revenue between the league and networks. univision, galavision, and unimás broadcast matches in spanish. the original univision deal lapsed after a few years, leaving only the abc/espn networks as the league's national broadcasters.