So...since I don't want to spend anything for AppleTV+, the question is am I willing to spend $100 to be able to see every Rapids match next season? Unsure at this point.
Personally, this is a no-brainer of a yes. I haven't had a cable tv subscription in more than ten years. I used ESPN+ to watch MLS but then could never see any of the nationally televised games or playoff games (or any time the Rapids played Sporting KC as I'm the KC broadcast area). So even though the MLS Season Pass will cost more than ESPN+ did, it actually gives me all the games including the most important ones. I'm sort of the ideal target audience for this, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As a season-ticket holder I'll get it for free, but even if I didn't $99 is a no-brainer. Just 6 years ago I was paying $79 for the streaming package that had local blackouts, national blackouts, no pre/post game shows, no whip-around shows, 3 less games a weekend (due to expansion since then), and no additional mid-week content. $99 is right in line with where I expected it to be.
I’m paying $25/month for Evoca, which gives us Avs, Nuggets, and Rapids. Love watching the Avs, so it’s been worth it. (Don’t have to mess with streaming, blocking, etc.) Probably will buy Apple, but have to say the Rapids have dropped down from our priority list.
Absolutely. I mean, people also pay $300 a year for NFL Sunday Ticket - and they still have to deal with blackouts. Not to mention the COUNTLESS and NEVER ENDING commercials during football games. NFL Sunday Ticket literally has a feature to watch every play from a game in 30min or less. And that's also only 17 games of action too. The $99 for an entire season of a sport that is growing in popularity isn't too big of a detractor of someone who wants to casually start watching MLS. I think if they put out good production and hire commentators who actually take time to research players and interesting storylines like they do in the NFL (for the most part) (and also essentially every time Richard Fleming was on the mic.....hoping against hope he gets picked up. Man's an absolute treasure), than the $99 for unlimited access to an entire sports season is a good bargain. Of course, if the end product is crappy then I'll be thoroughly disappointed. But they don't really have a high bar to cross compared to ESPN+'s seemingly all too common 720p streaming quality, local stadium camera operators which seemed to mostly vary in skill level from highschool quality to local news stations, and local broadcast crews who also seemed to have that same range of skill level....
Yeah, soccer is thoroughly unwatchable when they have that one camera system that makes action in the far corners look like it's happening in the next state over. If Apple lives up to its promise, I'll probably drop ESPN+. There's some interesting stuff there but I keep getting dropped from games when things get busy on the channel.
In my household we're excited to be able to watch Rapids away matches without jumping through a VPN workaround and espn+. We're season ticket holders so obviously this new Apple TV deal doesn't cost us anything more than our season tickets and what we're already paying for our provider, etc. Speaking of season ticket holders, I assume the free account will only go to full season ticket holders? Is that correct? Looking at the most recent article from The Athletic on the Apple deal (https://theathletic.com/3904200/2022/11/16/mls-apple-tv-details/), here are some details and thoughts: • Sat & Weds matches will start at 7:30pm local time. There may be some Sun matches as well. No reason was given for the time change. Personally, I don't like the 7:30 start time. Feb-April and again starting sometime in September as there is the potential for some very cold weather. From the perspective of players and fans it would be better to have the home club choose to have winter, early spring and October matches start in the afternoon. (Yes, I know that in the fall MLS matches are up against college football.) June-Aug it makes some sense as these are generally the hottest months of the year. Kicking off closer to nightfall will help a bit with the heat. I get that with the new platform there will be pregame shows that need to be coordinated across the country, but there should be some wiggle room here. • The opening week of the season will be in front of the paywall, so potential subscribers can get a sense of the product. • There could be up to six midweek and four Sat matches in front of the paywall and MLS is still negotiating to have linear broadcasts on ESPN/ABC, Fox & TUDN. This could include playoff matches. • Teams can produce their own content for Apple TV to go along with replays and replays.
Will there be some content available tomorrow? Drew Moor was with the team in Querétaro. Some familiar faces will be leading #Rapids96 content this season 👀Marcelo Balboa, Jordan Angeli and Drew Moor headline Colorado's on-air personalities for 2023.📰>>https://t.co/UsAa7rRVL3 pic.twitter.com/o95bwr2nSW— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) January 31, 2023
Further detail, Balboa is working for Apple on gameday as previously announced, but he will be involved directly with the Rapids doing segments and stuff (presumably filmed during the week). Angeli will be the primary host on gameday for Rapids in-house produced stuff on AppleTV, joined by Moor at times. Cape and Crookham will do the radio/alternate audio game call that will be available through AppleTV.
"Hope I can bring some good energy, good knowledge, and maybe a couple dad jokes here and there."🤣#Rapids96 great @drewmoor discusses his excitement for his new role and why fans should be excited about Colorado in 2023. pic.twitter.com/4HaAJqS1YZ— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) February 1, 2023
The service is now launched. I can see it if I navigate to the Apple TV site using a browser. Oddly, it's not yet there if I use the Apple TV app for Mac. Will check on my Apple TV box for my TV. (The nomenclature for all this Apple TV stuff is confusing as hell)
I couldn't find it on my Apple TV app on my iPhone, but I managed to dig enough to get an error that I needed to upgrade my iOS. I'm still on 15.6 so I assume it requires me to be on iOS 16. I'll update sometime in the next month.
I just spent 45 minutes playing around with MLS Season Pass via my Apple TV (meaning, in this case, the little black brick plugged into my TV). I now see it on my phone app, too, but still not the desktop app (which I'm unlikely to use). The user interface is pretty good, honestly. For the Rapids specifically, there's already a 15-minute "history of the club" type segment, 5 or 6 player profiles, a 3-minute segment on the C38 Oars, an interview with Diego Rubio with Andrew Wiebe, and maybe a couple other things.
Ten Things You Need to Know About MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+#DontBlockMyAltitude is over. Multiple fans can share Season Pass. Evergreen and education content all fans can enjoy is coming. https://t.co/I4totsUxA5 pic.twitter.com/dIgA6Z2Vbd— Burgundy Wave (@Burgundywave) February 1, 2023
Looks like you need iOS 16.2 to use MLS Season Pass on an iPhone. But if you have an older phone like I do you’re SOL as the newest iOS won’t work.
For C38 season-ticket holder members who are wondering about their Apple/MLS Season Pass code, we are working with the Rapids on that. Due to the number of C38 members and the way the Front Office handles our accounts there's some extra work that needs to be done. The codes will be distributed on February 13th.
To many Colorado Rapids fans, Apple TV is a rescue helicopter after they wandered the wilderness of the internet looking for ways to watch the Burgundy Boys play the past few seasons.via @BrendanPloen #Rapids96 https://t.co/KrvwUdorKK— Denver Post Rapids (@rapidsnews) February 2, 2023
Update on this from the Rapids, its taking longer than they thought so we won't have them on the 13th, but they will get us the codes before the start of the season.
Colorado Rapids (16 mins): They have CHAPTERS! Feels like an ESPN 30 for 30. Honestly, I expected nothing from Colorado but was immediately blown away and it only got better. MLS Original, trophies, "snow clasicos", home field advantage, legendary players, etc.Grade: A+— Justin Ruderman (@JustinRuderman_) February 3, 2023
Apparently, it was @AppleTV ‘s decision to blackout all MLS pre-season matches.Personally, I think that was not a great decision . pic.twitter.com/rGLvwwWYdN— Soccer Rabbi (@soccer_rabbi) February 9, 2023
Apple and Major League Soccer unveil live event production plan and talent pairings for MLS Season Passhttps://t.co/jq5lCEl07g— MLS Communications (@MLS_PR) February 15, 2023