Sockers Announce Broadcast Teams & Partnerships

The San Diego Sockers today announced their broadcast teams, partnerships, and initiatives for the 2022-23 season, which begins at home on Sunday vs. Empire Strykers.

Every Sockers match, home and away, will be streamed live on the Major Arena Soccer League’s official broadcast platform, Twitch. Broadcasts and highlights will be archived on the league’s official YouTube channel, MASL TV. In addition, the Sockers will have highlight recaps for every home match on their Youtube channel @SanDiegoSockers.

Craig Elsten, Nate Abaurrea, and Melissa Mae return as the club’s English-language broadcast team. Elsten begins his eleventh season as the “Voice of the Sockers”, and his fifth as the club’s Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Communications. Abaurrea is in his seventh year with the club, offering analysis and play-by-play duties on air. Melissa Mae returns for her fifth season as the club’s sideline reporter and in-arena host.

For the first time, the Sockers will also offer a Spanish-language simulcast of select home matches on Canela.TV, the league's new Spanish language broadcast platform partner, beginning with the Home Opener on December 11. The January 29, March 17 and April 2 matches will also be simulcast, as well as any Sockers home playoff match. Beginning their first year with the club are José Antonio Sánchez and Alejandro Villaseñor, popularly known as “Tony and Chiva” from the 2BallsAndAMic podcast. Tony and Chiva will handle both Spanish Language play-by-play and analysis, as well as serving as the English Language broadcast team for SDSockers2 in the MASL2.

Jerry Jimenez reprises his role as the Sockers’ Gameday Social Media Coordinator as well as Supporters Ambassador. Jerry guides the Sockers ’social media team feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok over the course of San Diego Sockers home match days, bringing all the color and excitement of the club from behind the scenes to out in the parking lot, and everywhere in between. In addition, Jerry offers invaluable support as the club’s primary liaison to our official supporter’s group, Los Brewjos del 78.

For a fifth season, Sockers Overtime is back as the club’s official weekly talk show, streaming live Tuesdays at 5:00pm on our Twitch channel, twitch.tv/sandiegosockers. Craig Elsten and Jerry Jimenez co-host the 90-minute look at the Sockers and the MASL. The show is also available on our YouTube channel on replay, as well as in audio form as a podcast.

In addition, the Sockers are partnering with Sintesis TV in Tijuana and San Diego to offer rebroadcasts of all Sockers home matches for the fifth season. Sockers home matches will be rebroadcast on a next-day basis, and for the first time, Sintesis will also re-broadcast select Sockers Overtime programs, either next-day or as a lead-in to the match broadcast.