Yes, MLS was ahead of the curve on this one. The timing maybe wasn't perfect but I think if they had made another traditional RSN/cable deal they would have been way behind the curve in the move to a la carte streaming. I think Apple has done a pretty good job with the platform as well. A few obvious minor flaws that are slowly getting corrected but they are making progress.
The timing seems to be absolutely perfect down to the year as the RSNs started collapsing like a few months later? I guess some people just can't admit that MLS is actually pretty competent... doesn't fit the narrative. Teams going from $10 million to $800 million in fifteen years, also completely coincidental. Garber sux I am soo edgy "is dropping its price to account for the fact that about half of the season is now over." Half the price for half the games with half the season over, the math just doesn't add up there must be some other explanation!! They're just trying to throw people off by keeping the monthly price the same! You're on to something big here, have you considered contacting Mike Wallace at 60 Minutes?
Not to mention that ABC/ESPN and FOX (Univision had already decided not to renew) had planned to jointly come to MLS at the end of last season with a reduced new TV deal offer (about $70 million overall compared to the previous deal’s $90 million overall) in basically a “take-it-or-leave-it” manner. Needless to say, they were left blindsided when the league headed them off at the pass when it decided to go with Apple’s $100+ million offer instead. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
At the start of the season I wasn't sure if I would watch 360 or not. Now that we are close to the half way mark I can say that I mostly watch 360 when the Quakes aren't playing. I've tried to just watch other game streams but I always find myself curious what's going on in the other games and I gravitate back to 360. Now that I have multicast support I wondered if I would just do my own multicast or still watch 360. It turns out I do both. I have 360 in the big window and a game or two in the small windows. When 360 goes to commercial I just switch over to one of the other games and then back to 360. When the Quakes are on I watch them exclusively. However I'm starting to wonder if I should switch to 360 when the Quakes enter 'park the bus' mode. I find I can't focus on the game when all we're doing is defending. It's nerve racking and the anticipation is that eventually the other team will score. I watch the Post Game show every time. Either that night or the Sunday morning. Even if I already know everything that happened I always watch Post Game. One of the guys in post game (Nigel) loves the Quakes by the way. He makes fun of Wiebe for being down on the Quakes (he's actually not all that down on the Quakes anyway).
Even when the Quakes are playing I have MLS 360 on in the small window (you pretty much miss nothing having it in the top right corner)... and if the Quakes game gets boring I will swap them (there's pretty much nothing in the bottom right corner for 360)... at least until MLS 360 has a commercial break. My system would be perfect if I could swap with one button press, and if it knew to put 360 in the top right corner during a game and a game in the bottom right corner during 360. Where is all this supposedly advanced AI stuff we keep hearing about?
The price is lower than it was at the three-quarter mark and lower than the monthly price. Yes, they’re repackaging because sales (as opposed to giveaways to season ticketholders) are likely not brisk. The Quakes haven't packaged half season tickets at half the season ticket price and a discount over the per-game price. Are they stupid? Or do they recognize they would be leaving money on the table?
NBA League Pass does the same thing. Of course you get a better deal by signing up for the rest of the season compared to monthly….
Have you ever seen a subscription service (consumer, enterprise, streaming video, SaaS, whatever) that didn’t offer a discount for an annual commitment? 20% is the usual minimum.
We're not talking about an annual commitment, we're talking about a half-annual commitment. Apple gave a discount for an annual commitment at the beginning of the MLS season (to those who were not already getting it free as season ticketholders or T-Mobile customers, or whomever else). The discount period expired shortly after the season started -- and now is being re-offered by Apple at the season's half-way mark. Why? And what demographic is this half-season offer aimed at? Those who weren't interested enough to be season ticketholders or pay for the discounted full season pass but who are suddenly really interested in streaming MLS games on Apple. Seems like a really small subset of the North American population -- and the sort of people who would be willing to pay full freight on a monthly basis.
Episode 15 of “Quakes Exclusive” (labeled “Prepping for Colorado”) is now available to view in MLS Season Pass. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Perhaps the target audience was European fans of leagues that are just now ending? I have no idea if it is but it would make a lot of sense to try and appeal to consumers that will have a soccer void over the summer. If that’s the case for the promotion, you just open it up to everyone else too. If this is happening, I would expect that Apple is somehow involved in Messi coming to MLS.
MLB.tv runs a big promo for a rest-of-season half-price deal every June. A lot of what MLS/Apple have done resembles closely how the most established single-league streaming platform does things. Except MLB has tons of blackouts.
I haven’t seen this proposed anywhere, so I’m gonna call it “Jeff’s Big Idea”. I’m Apple, so I approach MLS with this proposal. Offer Messi a discount on an MLS franchise in Phoenix to start in 2027 (year after USA World Cup). Messi would be the majority owner in partnership with Barcelona. Team name Barca AZ. The youth academy is already there and could fold their U19 team into MLS Next Pro as early as 24/25. Messi signs a contract to play in Miami until the end of 2026 and can chose to retire after the World Cup and then run his team. Barcelona and Apple TV can come to an agreement where Apple streams Barcelona Spain games world wide. Apple helps Barcelona get on better financial footing while increasing their global brand. Messi and Barcelona help to launch Apple’s sporting expansion plans. Arizona gets a first division pro soccer team.
Most likely Messi expansion teams if he comes to MLS: 30% Las Vegas - athletes and celebrities love Vegas 25% Tampa - not exactly Miami but the closest metropolitan area without MLS 25% Inter Miami part owner - Messi has a house in Miami already 15% Phoenix - hot as hell and no beach, but the biggest metropolitan area without MLS 4% buys into some other existing MLS team like LAFC, San Diego, etc. 1% all other - Detroit, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Cleveland, etc. because why
Would You Like the NBA League Pass For 50 Percent Off? "With the 2022-23 season half done, the NBA has reduced the price of the NBA League Pass by half as well." NBA in shambles /s
The NBA has been effectively dead to me for 45 years, since 1978 when the Buffalo Braves were relocated. But your post prompted me to do some Google searching, and apparently the NBA viewership is indeed in decline. I could post Deadspin, but here's a more charitable admission of a problem (reading more like an apologia): . . . The point of this examination is not to argue that the NBA is in a particularly strong position right now. It is hard to imagine that the league wants to be in the same viewership range it was in 20 years ago, when perceptions surrounding the game were perhaps even more negative than they are today, especially given the contribution from out-of-home viewing that did not exist back then . . . It may be cold comfort that the league has been in far worse situations before . . . but that does not make it any less true . . . The reality is that the league’s downturn is both real and exaggerated . . . https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/04/nba-ratings-viewership-past-30-years-analysis-where-league-stands/#:~:text=NBA viewership in context&text=NBA viewership may be down,in the most recent campaign.
NBA viewership grows despite RSN troubles as league banks on future deals "The NBA’s scoring is up and its storylines are compelling, fueling enormous social media growth and helping keep TV ratings flat in an era of dwindling television usage. That’s the midseason report card on the NBA’s audience situation, and it’s all passing grades amid the ongoing uncertainty of the broadcast industry — with one worrisome element looming over everything: The collapse of the regional sports network (RSN) model because of the relentless cord-cutting trend."
NBA viewership flat for '22-23 on TNT, ABC, ESPN "The continued shrinking of the TV universe (broadcast and cable) meant NBA games saw its best share of the U.S. audience on record, and up 11% from last season. NBA games across ABC, TNT and ESPN also saw viewers watch for 43 minutes on average this season, the longest time spent viewing yet. NBA games on RSNs this season saw share rise 17%. The NBA’s Instagram account generated over 13 billion video views this regular season, the most of any account on the platform. The NBA is now No. 8 among all brands on the platform in terms of followers. On YouTube, the league’s official channel this season became the first pro sports league account to surpass 20 million subs."
The NBA is doing just fine. Cable and RSNs are falling off a cliff. Will NBA navigate to a streaming platform as smoothly as MLS was able to? Hopefully so but MLS has shown amazing foresight.