Apple TV buys all MLS broadcast rights for 10 years

MLS Commissioner On Apple TV Deal: Critics ‘Don’t Get It Yet’

 

I tried watching Stick but couldn’t make it thru the 2nd episode. But kudos to 56 year old Owen Wilson, for playing a surfer-dude doofus for at least 30 years. You could title it Shtick.

Am I being harsh? (Rhetorical) But I just read a NYTimes interview of Liam Neeson, who is playing Frank Drebin Jr in a sequel to The Naked Gun. Liam said now that he’s in his 70s, he’s trying comedy because he doesn’t want to insult his audience by continuing to play a 50 year old action character.

 

I’m watching the LAG vs SEA game live, and there is no stadium noise, only the announcers. Is that common? It’s kind of weird watching a game with no fan noise… Even less stadium noise than during the pandemic and closed stadiums!

 

I just don’t understand how MLS expects to attract new fans when their games are only on a subscription service. Sure someone who has Apple TV might come across an MLS game but I think of the millions that don’t have Apple TV that they don’t reach.

 

On top of new fans, they are losing existing fans as well.

 

If you didn't get your access to MLS pass due to your T-moblie would you pay out of pocket for it?

 

I know it to be true. Hardcore fans will be remain, but I know for certain multiple people who won't pay for AppleTV just to watch MLS who have moved from the area. That leaves them a few highlights on YouTube and no sense of knowing their team. It's easier to watch EFL Championship Division.

 

Having "Apple TV" (unclear what you mean here, the Apple TV hardware, the Apple TV app, or the Apple TV+ subscription service...this branding ambiguity is Apple's fault tbf) isn't really that salient here since the MLS League Pass content is a separate subscription entirely. I don't know if there was a viable alternative here....sign a (possibly smaller) deal to be buried beneath other content on ESPN's (poor) streaming app or take your chances with the uncertain futures of Paramount or WBD. Or continue going down with the sinking ship of the RSN distribution model. All of which have less compelling stories around global distribution.

Perhaps they should have tried to swing a deal with Amazon or YouTube instead, or lobbied for MLS to be included in the base Apple TV+ service alongside Severance, F1, etc. And they could have found better OTT broadcast partners than Fox to get some marquee games on terrestrial TV. They definitely could use expanded distribution beyond the Apple TV+ platform. But I find the argument that the Season Pass deal makes it overly difficult for engaged fans to watch their team to be a very strange one, almost every single sports league requires a subscription to watch.

 

“Engaged” fans, by definition, have a MLS Apple TV subscription— indeed, those of us with season tickets have it gratis. Those “unengaged” sports fans who are only casually aware of MLS don’t and won’t. You can’t grow the customer base that way. MLS is a niche brand that will remain that way as long as the games are behind a paywall. I warned about this prior to the streaming launch.

One (partial) solution is to offer free home team games over the airwaves in home team markets.

 

How do you propose that MLS/Apple generate revenue? You still need to get paid by someone to make a return on the rights fees. Maybe they should have piggybacked onto services with existing soccer coverage, e.g. Paramount (UCL/Serie A), Disney (La Liga, Bundesliga), Peacock (EPL) or folded the package into the general Apple TV+ package.

You can't just give the games away to fans to watch their home team, then they would have hardly any reason to pay for anything lol. You can't really make that lost revenue back through advertising.

 

Sadly this is the way all sports are moving, because the leagues/owners make more money when the product is on a paid streaming service.
And if you think MLS is bad, this is what the NBA commissioner said just three days ago:

Adam Silver says fans who can’t afford streaming services to watch NBA games can still watch free highlights, calling the NBA a “highlight sport.”

At least MLS is just on AppleTV and not on ABC NBC ESPN Peacock and Amazon Prime Video...



The companies that pay billions to air full NBA games have got to love that the league commissioner is publicly calling basketball "a highlight sport"... but Garber is a bad commissioner right lol

 

Oof, a "highlight sport". It's not even that for me. I'm not interested in watching teams trade buckets for 48 minutes. Maybe if it's a championship series and it's a close game, I'll watch the last 4 minutes or so, which lasts about 40 minutes.