Apple TV buys all MLS broadcast rights for 10 years

If the Apple streaming is so great, and such a bargain, why not charge season ticketholders and find out how much they value it? Why not be transparent about viewership? And why simulcast the final on network TV?

 

Yeah, I don't think Garber wants to release the Apple TV ratings because they are for him and MLS extremely embarrassing.

If the numbers were great or even good, I'm sure he would be bragging about them and I seriously doubt he is not allowed to talk about it.

 

Read the comments on Paul Tenorio's The Athletic article about the horrendous ratings for the MLS Cup Final....you'll see that I'm far from alone.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5993457/2024/12/13/mls-cup-broadcast-audience-decreased/

 

What do you want me to tell you? You know how to get the games; you choose not to. I respect that. I can't tell you what to do.

 

Apple TV's MLS gamble backfires: Record-low final viewership

https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/apple-tvs-mls-gamble-backfires-record-low-final-viewership/

 

I have YouTubeTV and I see all the Niners - games and a bunch of others, including the Sunday night and Monday night games. That’s all I have - AppleTV for MLS (free for me) and YouTubeTV.

 

Arguably MLS should have tried to get onto the base Apple TV+ package rather than following the Sunday Ticket/League Pass/MLB.TV model. But now Apple has scaled back on their content investments and the service's numbers overall have lagged behind their competitors by all accounts, so maybe it wouldn't have helped the viewership a ton.

Honestly I'm skeptical of the idea that catching an odd MLS game on linear TV (or streaming for that matter) simply because they were channel surfing and the game happened to be on is an actual gateway to becoming an attached fan of the league/franchises. Hardly anyone watches live sports content that way anymore...you shouldn't view televised/streamed games as a user acquisition channel, it's more a way to deliver the product and manage churn.

 

Viewership issues may not be simply a matter of platforms.

Consider that hardly anyone watches MLS remotely on TV or stream but it’s reportedly the second-best live-attended soccer league in the world.

Maybe what’s attractive about the product doesn’t translate readily to video.

 

Do you get the Prime thursday game? and is You tube TV "free"?

 

I have Prime too so I get the Thursday game. I don't think it's on youtubeTV but not sure.

 

OK. So you pay for Prime, and I assume pay for Youtube TV, when it used to be ALL the games were on "free" broadcast TV. My main point isn't so much having to "pay" but that you have to have multiple services now, and many people don't like that fact.

 

The bulk of NFL broadcasts are still free. The Sunday games are on free networks, and they've started putting a bunch of Monday night games on ABC after being on ESPN for a couple decades. Thursday isn't free, but at least it's predictable. The most annoying part is that they have a scattered few games that they sell off to other platforms. Two games on Netflix here, one game on Peacock there. That's one thing MLS has avoided by putting everything in one place.

 

I don't pay for prime for the video part; so the video part of it is basically "for free", and I could do w/o Thursday night football. I usually don't watch. YouTubeTV replaces my cable (cut the cord years ago), and MLS on AppleTV is free for me as a STH. So I'm not really paying for anything extra.

 

I think there's some truth to that, because the experience of attending MLS matches, especially in smaller purpose-built stadiums, is excellent.

I'd also add that Apple did not do themselves any favors by failing to re-hire local broadcasters...my local Sounders broadcasts used to feature Kasey Keller, Steve Zakuani, and Clint Dempsey, all former Sounders. Not sure who does the games for Apple, but I don't think it's anybody with connections to the team.

 

This is a change for the better... nothing worse than homer announcers.

But yeah a lot of people are kinda pathetic and need a Baghdad Bob directly feeding them the company line of propaganda...

As someone wrote in another thread:


We are a bad team not used to honest commentary because we had Chris Dangerfield lol

 

OTOH, much of the time the "neutral" commentators don't know our team and portray us as like the Washington Generals - nameless, faceless players playing whomever our opponent is. They don't really "see" our team. There are a few exceptions. That former Canadian goalkeeper Paul Dolan - the best IMO in terms of "seeing" our team, and Lloyd Sam and Brian Dunseth are OK.

 

You are talking about the wooden spoon winners and one of the 3-4 worst teams in MLS history, how else should be portrayed if not as the Washington Generals? The Generals probably have a higher winning percentage than the Quakes!



If the Quakes were one of the best teams in MLS, would they be treated as "nameless / faceless"? There are two good MLS teams in Ohio who are not treated that way and they are in OHIO as opposed to "fifteen minutes from Apple HQ"

 

If you are a color commentator your job is to know about both teams. 90% of your viewers are going to be fans of either team. Do your homework and present both sides. I'm not asking them to be do a stack ranking of my team and base their commentary on that. I know where my team ranks.

 

One way or another you must pay your dues to our Amazon overlords.

 

It depends on whether or not the announcers are actually "homers", though, doesn't it? Some are, some aren't. The Sounders crew were not, and never hesitated to criticize the players, manager, or team when warranted.

And that's the advantage that local announcers with connections to the team they are covering bring....i.e. detailed knowledge of the team they are covering, as well as the personal connections to dig out information and stories that announcers without that knowledge/connections would never discover.

 

This link says that MLS is ninth:

https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/to...ith-best-attendances-20240106-WST-481706.html

Not sure that it takes into consideration country population.

 

Why would attendance for any sports league take into consideration country population?

 

Cannot call where I read it reported MLS was second.