MLS going all-digital with 10-year Apple deal

[PCSPounder]

Linear Network Partnership Details (2023 - 2026)​

FOX Sports

• 34 regular season games annually and eight Audi MLS Cup playoff matches each season on FOX/FS1/FOX Deportes (Including 15 regular season matches each year on FOX)
• MLS Cup every year on FOX and FOX Deportes
• Leagues Cup: 10 Group Stage, four Round of 32, and two Round of 16 matches each tournament on FS1

Bell Media (TSN & RDS)

• Extensive schedule of regular season matches, eight MLS Cup playoff matches, and MLS Cup each season
• One match per week featuring a Canadian club
• Leagues Cup: 12 Group Stage and four Round of 32 matches each tournament on TSN; Three Group Stage and four Round of 32 matches on RDS

TelevisaUnivision

• Leagues Cup: 21 matches each tournament on Univision/UNIMÁS/TUDN, which includes:
  • 12 Group Stage matches
  • 8 Knockout Round matches
  • Leagues Cup Final

In the end, double the old contract just with streaming, and a linear presence for good measure.

And I’m not here to give MLS a thumbs up (the way Fox has managed this World Cup has often been lamentable). Streaming is real, yo. That’s the message, time to get used to it.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

We will have to consider the Apple deal is global and not just US/Canada

 

[jkrdevil]

In the end, double the old contract just with streaming, and a linear presence for good measure.

And I’m not here to give MLS a thumbs up (the way Fox has managed this World Cup has often been lamentable). Streaming is real, yo. That’s the message, time to get used to it.

We don’t know if it double because we don’t know what the league was pulling on local tv and international rights, which got rolled into these deals (specifically the Apple deal).

 

[eddygee]

We don’t know if it double because we don’t know what the league was pulling on local tv and international rights, which got rolled into these deals (specifically the Apple deal).

Only a small handful of teams and thats literal it was reported made a profit on local TV deals. It was reported in the Athletic most lost money to the tune of $1.5-2m per club on local rights production. International rights only brought in $15m and thats likely all from Canada. The prior deal was $90m which under the old now defunct partnership with USSF, USSF cut was $25m yr. out of the $90m yr from ESPN/Fox/Univision.

So old deal actual team cut was $65m yr vs the $250m yr min guaranteed from Apple TV with escalators now. MLS will build out a Production Studios in the coming years which will cost about $50-60m yr to initially run. However those fees largely won't be new expenditures but shifted cost as teams no longer have to spend money on local rights productions. Those cost each team spent a yr will be put to the MLS Production Studios.

 

[Reaser]

With STH's getting the package for free, and with MLS paying Apple [back] for each STH subscription, I've been wondering if that counts towards the total subscribers for the package from Apple's POV, and for the total subscribers escalators that are part of the deal. Seems like for Apple, they wouldn't care where the subscriptions are coming from, even if MLS is buying them (which they are for the STH's deal) that's still a subscription for Apple's MLS service. And from MLS' side, seems like a quick way for them to add a first chunk to the subscriber total -- working towards hitting any escalators.

Just wondering how they (Apple) are counting that. Towards the total subscriptions towards the escalators, or if it is just part of the contract/deal to start with and they knew MLS was going to offer STH's a free subscription.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

In the end, double the old contract just with streaming, and a linear presence for good measure.

And I’m not here to give MLS a thumbs up (the way Fox has managed this World Cup has often been lamentable). Streaming is real, yo. That’s the message, time to get used to it.person who actually pays attention to these type of things th

In the end, double the old contract just with streaming, and a linear presence for good measure.

And I’m not here to give MLS a thumbs up (the way Fox has managed this World Cup has often been lamentable). Streaming is real, yo. That’s the message, time to get used to it.

I sincerely doubt any human that pays attention to these types of things thinks that streaming isnt a viable option.

 

[varsaku]

With Season Pass, MLS hopes Apple's gravitas can accelerate its growth

MLS Season Pass is now live.

6 matches per week is offered free without Apple+ subscription which I think is quite amazing.

 

[varsaku]

DirecTV To Provide Major League Soccer Games to Bars, Hotels for 2023 Season

 

[varsaku]

I’m loving this Apple TV deal. Much better and smoother interface than ESPN+. Just need to add a split screen option to watch multiple games.

MLS360 is great for a second screen to catch stuff going on in other games. The best implementation of a red zone type show for soccer.

 

[Reaser]

I’m loving this Apple TV deal. Much better and smoother interface than ESPN+. Just need to add a split screen option to watch multiple games.

MLS360 is great for a second screen to catch stuff going on in other games. The best implementation of a red zone type show for soccer.

Other than the scorebug which I'm not excited about, the graphics package and presentation is really good. So is the picture, obviously. Which was probably the most predictable thing about the deal, that the picture quality would be excellent.

MLS 360 can be a lot better, not even into first two hours of it yet so lot for them to figure out with experience but I think that could/should/probably will be a lot better than so far.

Only real annoyance is when I tried to open another match on my other monitor and it paused the original match I was watching. Or like you said, a split screen option would be nice, or a quicker way to switch match-to-match. Ah, actually, also was annoyed that I switched to MLS 360 and it wasn't on at the time stated so had to switch back to a game to watch the pregame with the same 4 people that were going to be on MLS 360. MLS 360 should include the pregame, too. That way can just stick it on that channel if that's what one wants to do. Extra clicks and going back-and-forth felt unnecessary.

As for FOX, holy embarrassing. Not as much for MLS, though doesn't look good for them either so some embarrassment, but FOX should really be embarrassed. When coverage started and they were at that hilariously small desk, way too close to eachother, with that tarp behind them ... just looks so low budget and borders on unprofessional. And of course not sending the announcers to the match. Looks like FOX probably paid [next to] nothing for these simulcast rights and are putting nothing into it. Cheap wouldn't even be fair to cheap -- just a bad look.

Worse when Apple has the same match with better presentation, picture quality, etc. so it's a real time comparison with FOX looking pretty bad.

 

[varsaku]

Other than the scorebug which I'm not excited about, the graphics package and presentation is really good. So is the picture, obviously. Which was probably the most predictable thing about the deal, that the picture quality would be excellent.

MLS 360 can be a lot better, not even into first two hours of it yet so lot for them to figure out with experience but I think that could/should/probably will be a lot better than so far.

Only real annoyance is when I tried to open another match on my other monitor and it paused the original match I was watching. Or like you said, a split screen option would be nice, or a quicker way to switch match-to-match. Ah, actually, also was annoyed that I switched to MLS 360 and it wasn't on at the time stated so had to switch back to a game to watch the pregame with the same 4 people that were going to be on MLS 360. MLS 360 should include the pregame, too. That way can just stick it on that channel if that's what one wants to do. Extra clicks and going back-and-forth felt unnecessary.

As for FOX, holy embarrassing. Not as much for MLS, though doesn't look good for them either so some embarrassment, but FOX should really be embarrassed. When coverage started and they were at that hilariously small desk, way too close to eachother, with that tarp behind them ... just looks so low budget and borders on unprofessional. And of course not sending the announcers to the match. Looks like FOX probably paid [next to] nothing for these simulcast rights and are putting nothing into it. Cheap wouldn't even be fair to cheap -- just a bad look.

Worse when Apple has the same match with better presentation, picture quality, etc. so it's a real time comparison with FOX looking pretty bad.

The score bug is definitely bland but I’m sure they will make some improvements eventually. They seem to be listening to fan feedback.

MLS360 does also have room from improvement but definitely a lot better than I was expecting. Pretty hard to do a Red zone type show for a sport that can have events happen in a second. Weird choice to have the camera looking at their backs.

I didn’t watch the game on Fox but saw some screenshot on the Reddit match thread. That looked hilariously bad. It seems like the Apple feed can’t be also used for the fox broadcast. I was hoping that would be allowed.

 

[PCSPounder]

The score bug is definitely bland but I’m sure they will make some improvements eventually. They seem to be listening to fan feedback.

MLS360 does also have room from improvement but definitely a lot better than I was expecting. Pretty hard to do a Red zone type show for a sport that can have events happen in a second. Weird choice to have the camera looking at their backs.

I didn’t watch the game on Fox but saw some screenshot on the Reddit match thread. That looked hilariously bad. It seems like the Apple feed can’t be also used for the fox broadcast. I was hoping that would be allowed.

By score bug, you mean how scores show on the game selection screen? If so, saw someone who figured out that users can turn off that feature. There’s a few handy little options to customize the broadcast.

360 had too much of the panel and not enough game action. Too many ads (many believe one was too many). But with game time in sync by time zone, the 3-4 late goals in the ETZ window last night showed the strength of that presentation.

So there’s things to change.

And maybe the Pac-12 should worry less about Apple as an option.

 

[oknazevad]

By score bug, you mean how scores show on the game selection screen? If so, saw someone who figured out that users can turn off that feature. There’s a few handy little options to customize the broadcast.

360 had too much of the panel and not enough game action. Too many ads (many believe one was too many). But with game time in sync by time zone, the 3-4 late goals in the ETZ window last night showed the strength of that presentation.

So there’s things to change.

And maybe the Pac-12 should worry less about Apple as an option.

The score bug is the little constant score display in the corner of the screen during the game. I agree it's too bland. No team logos, just a square of the predominant uniform color to let viewers know which team was which. Which is especially disappointing when they had so many teams showing off their new alternate (road) kits which aren't the regular team colors. No reason they couldn't have used both. Then again, even that square is more than the plain text that they use for the Friday Night Baseball games.

But overall I thought it was well produced.

 

[joelef]

The studio is great

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Apple giving their whiparound show for free on YT...

 

[eddygee]

Apple giving their whiparound show for free on YT...

Cool idea to get around and spread the word about MLS 360 Whip Around Show but it seems like it's a one-off. They should definitely do it regularly or at least include it on the basic Apple TV app outside of Apple TV+.

 

[OG6ix]

Giving away your product this early in all honesty means you are not attracting enough of a base. I didn't want MLS behind a paywall for this reason - it's not big enough even with its hardcore base to sustain growth behind a paywall. Infact, it's probably hurting it more in the long run.

Only the NFL and probably the NBA can do something like that at this point.

 

[Reaser]

A few minutes after the MLS 360 on YouTube stream ended it was listed as having 9.8k views.

Standard measurement of average viewership was estimated to be roughly 300 people. Not 300k, obviously, but 300. For clarity since not used to dealing with numbers these small.

There was more people watching those static train track cams (couple hundred live viewers) than watching MLS 360 for free on YT at various times of the night.

Also on Saturday night they had a match on FS1, newest rivalry (STL-KC), that did 78k.

Brutal Saturday for MLS.

Did get better on Monday when Andrew Marchand confirmed what normal people already knew, by saying that he keeps being told MLS Season Pass isn't doing well on Apple.

No kidding it's not doing well, national #s aside, MLS local/regional (RSN, OTA for some teams) broadcasts historically did horrible #s. No one watched locally. So it has been laughable when people try to sell others that MLS is being watched by MORE people now that it's behind a paywell than were watching previously. That's delusional and defies all logic. Common sense says it's being watched by fewer people now, much fewer, and the starting point wasn't great to begin with.

It's going about how most expected it to go.

Fortunately it's a long term deal (though an opt-out evidently, but surely Apple won't opt-out after a year) and even more fortunately, MLS can always add more expansion teams, keep the revenue up as they're want to do.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

MLS numbers are bad unsure how this will continue

 

[eddygee]

A few minutes after the MLS 360 on YouTube stream ended it was listed as having 9.8k views.

Standard measurement of average viewership was estimated to be roughly 300 people. Not 300k, obviously, but 300. For clarity since not used to dealing with numbers these small.

There was more people watching those static train track cams (couple hundred live viewers) than watching MLS 360 for free on YT at various times of the night.

Also on Saturday night they had a match on FS1, newest rivalry (STL-KC), that did 78k.

Brutal Saturday for MLS.

Did get better on Monday when Andrew Marchand confirmed what normal people already knew, by saying that he keeps being told MLS Season Pass isn't doing well on Apple.

No kidding it's not doing well, national #s aside, MLS local/regional (RSN, OTA for some teams) broadcasts historically did horrible #s. No one watched locally. So it has been laughable when people try to sell others that MLS is being watched by MORE people now that it's behind a paywell than were watching previously. That's delusional and defies all logic. Common sense says it's being watched by fewer people now, much fewer, and the starting point wasn't great to begin with.

It's going about how most expected it to go.

Fortunately it's a long term deal (though an opt-out evidently, but surely Apple won't opt-out after a year) and even more fortunately, MLS can always add more expansion teams, keep the revenue up as they're want to do.

Reaser I'm gonna say this your use of Brutal is objectively funny MLS lost about 100-200k TV average to Apple MLS isn't counting on TV nor are the networks. FOX paid peanuts because they were wise enough to realize the die hard MLS viewership would shift to Apple. Brutal means there's consequences TV numbers don't really matter for MLS as in years prior.

Secondly only thing that matters is Apple they've said they are pleased. Looking at what was essentially a 1 days notice(when I saw it) pop up notice of a special Rivalry Week promo as a success marker for how many folks are on Apple MLS Season Pass is fool hardy.

Tell me other than Apple themselves saying they are very pleased with things(Which was said) how would you gain knowledge to conclude otherwise beside based off a 24+hr notice of the pop up YT feed. Why would subscribers already subbed watch a red zone-like feed when they already have subs to the product? This was meant as a quick hit showcase of Rivalry week to tempt any leery folk into subbing. I was told there was about 400-500 constant watchers which was verified by a screenshot of about 541 watching at that moment.

Finally my one critique would be if they did this Weekly and not a one off. Looking at views for the still up almost 6hours recorded feed 22k have watched since Sat night. From a local word of mouth promotion there's positive room for growth. I don't blame MLS for taking the money the league deserved. They kept a lifeline with FOX and Univision if they ever have to go back exclusively to TV and I'm sure ESPN would do a deal again. It's better to get paid than to not get paid.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Weather channel might get better numbers than MLS it seems, some of those numbers are brutal.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Messi is now in the MLS let's see how that goes for the Apple deal

 

[varsaku]

Messi is now in the MLS let's see how that goes for the Apple deal

This going to drastically increase international viewers. Great they have it all in one place for interested to viewers to find. Not sure though how affordable the pricing is in other countries for MLS Season Pass.

 

[Reaser]

This going to drastically increase international viewers. Great they have it all in one place for interested to viewers to find. Not sure though how affordable the pricing is in other countries for MLS Season Pass.

It'll be huge for increasing international subscriptions. Also a ton of jersey's will be sold, internationally.

MLS attendance is generally already good but where applicable Messi will increase that, too.

Outside of his debut -presumably they'd put that on FOX?- he won't do much for U.S. viewership, or subscriptions. Much better player but see it a bit like Beckham, good # for debut, trended down from there including after a few years no one even caring to watch him (along with Donovan and Keane, fun squad to watch!) win MLS Cup.

So here, one-time/short-term spike then not much in the way of increased ratings/viewership/subs.

But internationally, big pickup for Apple.

 

[Golden_Jet]

It'll be huge for increasing international subscriptions. Also a ton of jersey's will be sold, internationally.

MLS attendance is generally already good but where applicable Messi will increase that, too.

Outside of his debut -presumably they'd put that on FOX?- he won't do much for U.S. viewership, or subscriptions. Much better player but see it a bit like Beckham, good # for debut, trended down from there including after a few years no one even caring to watch him (along with Donovan and Keane, fun squad to watch!) win MLS Cup.

So here, one-time/short-term spike then not much in the way of increased ratings/viewership/subs.

But internationally, big pickup for Apple.

Don’t think will be on FOX, unless Apple sells a game.