YouTube is participating in a revenue sharing deal with Major League Soccer, becoming the third major U.S. sports league to partner up with the video sharing site for this type of a deal. Other sports leagues include the NHL and the MLB.
The goal here is for Major League Soccer to expand its fan base and attract new fans, leveraging the popularity and status of YouTube. With nearly 30,000 subscribers between the NHL and MLB channels, MLS is hoping to garner as much support for its new channel. MLS will have a sponsored channel on YouTube, where updated clips will be played, with alerts sent out to subscribers. Player blogs and clips will be included on the channel as well. Clips submitted by users will be moderated by MLS, but it's hoping to gain more traction with contests, which will be supplanted by user-generated content.
Other sponsored YouTube channels include Bollywood, the National Lacrosse League, National Geographic, and the Chealsea TV channel.
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