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Sporting Kansas City chief Heineman call on TV to "Americanize" soccer coverage

Sporting Kansas City's president and CEO Robb Heineman would like MLS to "Americanize" soccer.

Heineman was speaking with Sports Radio 810 WHB on Wednesday.

"Where we can Americanize this sport is in the television broadcast," Heineman said. "We're spending a lot of time talking about that here because that, for us, is the next big frontier from a Sporting perspective.

"Our ratings have started to creep up over the course last couple of years. They're still a fraction of what the Chiefs and the Royals are, and we understand that.

"The way we believe that [lower ratings] can change is if you Americanize the broadcast a bit, give you tighter angles and tighter shots on what's going on in the game," he said. "Where we really see that in-stadium is when we have people who sit close, the first two or three rows, and sit down at the Field Club. They come up and they say, 'I'm not a huge soccer fan, and I certain never understood the speed and physicality that these players play.'

"And so I think some of that has to reflect through on the broadcast," he went on, "to allow us to get not only the core fans, the die-hard fans, but also the casual fans and non-soccer fans to spend some time watching our broadcasts."

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