News: MLS TV deal with Apple

Possibly they are, making this a so called, "Win, win" situation.

For me Brad it tainted by too many years of trying to put lipstick on the pig that was Bob Kraft's neglected Rev team. Of course that's who signed the checks so it makes some sense. Still, it was hard to listen to him.

Charlie might yet grow into an adequate announcer.

 

I heard Felger yesterday concur with my question - how do you grow the game if it's on a private channel? I think between the USSF fubar and MLS going "private", soccer's popularity probably has peaked in this country until the 2026 WC.

 

I have the exact same question - how do you grow the fanbase? How do you add new fans when you are severely restricting their access to your product?

Instead of trying to expand the footprint and the visibility of the league, MLS has chosen to milk every last dime out of its existing fanbase, and not all of us are interested in meeting their asking price.

 

None of this bothers me because I have no problem streaming content, and I don't have to pay extra for it because I get access to it as a season ticket holder. Additionally, TV ratings for Revs games locally and MLS games nationally have always been abysmal. But I get why this bothers some people. It does make it harder to just pop on the TV and tune into a game in a traditional sense. I don't know that they had to go this route, but they have. So we'll just have to see how it goes.

 

I like your take on this. I'm of a similar opinion. I think 10 years from now this will be seen as a master stroke. Oh, and by then, there will be a lot more streaming of other sports team's games as well.

 

If MLS was just trying to expand market share in the demographic represented in this forum then this would not make sense. To get younger folks interested streaming the content makes much more sense. Putting it behind a paywall does bother me but I am an old fart. I don't think the pay wall is as big a deterrent to the younger folks.

 

Last century when I taught an economics class, to grow your market you didn't put it behind a paywall. Restricting access was a way to raise prices, not market share.
I understand the argument that today's generation streams their content, but are they going to pay for it? Or is 1 person going to pay and share the password with 10 other people? Disney just announced cutting 7000 jobs, because people are not renewing their subscriptions to their services. I don't believe that is just a one-off.
My argument is from a grow-the-game perspective, personally, I know how to stream and can easily afford $100 per year.
Go Revs.

 

But, if they do that - that's increasing the exposure. So, in some cases they'll get more revenue and in others, more exposure.

- I think one factor is that any MLS game can always be found at one location - AppleTV. I have a variety of streaming platforms on Roku and when looking for a specific event, it can be maddening trying to figure out who is streaming it (yeah, I know, JFGI!). Here, at least, there is one answer and it is always the same answer.

- I think the plan is a ton of cross-promotion, Apple->MLS, MLS->Apple.

MLS has had almost 30 years to expose the product. I'm not sure how many income-producing fans (those that will buy tickets or are of high-value to advertisers) there are that would still be influenced by the local free broadcasts (it sounds like there will still be free national and Spanish-language games).

Bottom-line for me, I'm fine with this (and optimistic that it will be an improved televised product) mainly because I'm already a STH. I'll leave it to the MLS braintrust to have thought this out - I really don't believe that it's just a money-grab.

And one more thought, often the value of a product increases when it's availability is limited ...

 

Also, MLS is suddenly available worldwide. I have several British friends who are curious and can't wait to be able to watch games.

 

Wonder who we'll get?

 

I have not officially selected the MLS season pass, but I have set up my apple account. I can't tell you how bad I hate apple!!! I needed to set up an iTunes account and an apple tv account to get the MLS season pass. Is there an MLS app for my Roku like the other channels? No, I have to set up apple tv and run everything thru them and if someone clicks on any of the other apple products inside apple tv, they will gladly charge you for that.
I read the other day that a tv operator, who carries 14 MLB teams, is going belly up because their rosy projections for subscribers never materialized. I previously commented that I thought that might be the case for a lot of these subscription services. We'll see.
Sorry for the B**chy post.
Go Revs.

 

As an Apple user who is always watching games as reruns, and getting blacked out, count me in on Apple Season Pass. Picture quality of the Orlando game was crystal clear … so much better than the low-def we watched in the 2010s, when the lines were actually jagged

Now, how do I turn scores off? Hate logging in on a Sunday to watch and seeing the final score before I start! Anyone?

oh, yeah, and good to see a game after the long winter! They didn’t look great, but they won!

 

I did like the broadcast last night. I'm not a Brad and Charlie fan, so I'm not going to miss them. The PBP guy did his homework and knew all the players backgrounds. Intrigued me a little bit about Orlando which means I'll check out some of their matches. The one negative to me was you couldn't hear the announcers very well. TT on a pre-season match was a nice surprise. I do like him as an anylyst.

 

Agree completely with this. Hope they provide an option to do that. I hate knowing the score before I watch a game. I'm going to have to ask my wife to start the game for me so I don't see the score!

 

There is a per-device setting to turn off showing scores. If you watch on multiple devices you will have to do it on each one. It will not prevent all spoilers, though. The text summary with a completed game will give a lot away, and in-progress games show the current score on the overview tile.

 

That worked. Thanks so much!

 

I could not watch Saturday and then tried to find a recording of the game last night. Couldn't find it more than 24 hours after the fact. Is this going to be SOP?