MLS in-game commentary writers

STATS LLC in suburban Chicago is looking for soccer-knowledgeable writers in the following cities: Columbus, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Toronto, Washington D.C. and San Jose to provide real-time, in-game commentary for MLS matches.

In order to be certified to be a paid reporter in this role, you’d need to be scheduled for and perform 3 to 5 test commentary games (unpaid) so we can evaluate your ability level.

This reporter would be sitting in venue writing their opinions of what is happening on the field. This is not intended to be a strict play-by-play of the action, but a hybrid of play-by-play and color commentary. Your own running blog of the game, if you will.

If you live in or near any of the cities above and are interested in this opportunity, please contact me via email at:

chuckm@stats.com

Chuck Miller
Operations Manager
STATS LLC

 

Has anyone worked with Stats Inc before? I'm already at games for Examiner.com, so even moderate pay is worth it for me.

 

Three to five unpaid "test commentaries," rather than a resume and clips, are necessary to determine whether you're good enough to be paid for giving your opinions about what's happening on the field??

Yeah, okay. Thanks anyway. :

 

This coming from someone who played a hell of a lot of soccer and still doesn't mind covering it...
What the fuck does Stats LLC need in-game commentary for? They will get virtually nothing out of this via the subscribers or anything else. What another fucking waste of resources.
(By the way, I'd love to see Stats LLC tell a guy like David Boyce in KC he needs to make 3-5 unpaid appearances to make sure he can handle it. Douchebags.)

 

Which by that point Stats will figure out that this is a dumb idea and quit doing it.

 

A buddy of mine who has played and covered soccer from preps to the World Cup and used to be an MLS.com correspondent is putting in for this just to keep his hand in the game. Let's see them say he can't handle this.

 

Just line up several tests and you get the job done for free.

 

I sent in something about a week and a half ago just to do some writing, since I have a good p.r./writing job, but never heard so much as a courtesy 'thanks but no thanks'

 

I'm in the same boat. I sent in an e-mail saying I was interested, have covered a couple dozen games in the past....
Then just silence.
Oh well I gues.s

 

STATS probably wants this given their new partnership with PA, which has soccer on the brain and does play by play of all European games, in some cases using former players to do it.

 

I did two test commentaries over the weekend, and I was "approved" for live, paid commentaries starting this week. I'm not going to get into the pay rates here (unless they are OK with me providing them), but they seem fairly competitive, especially considering that you can do commentary from home (if the game is televised or you have something like the Direct Kick package).

Is it going to make or break you? No. But it seems like decent pay and clips. I'll report back as a get further into the process.