After 30 years it has already become obvious that those that refuse to invest their time to MLS won't change their minds no matter what. It's also obvious that those that decided to invest their time in MLS do so but only to shit on it but not watch it. And it's also obvious that those that have stuck with MLS up until now will continue to do so no matter what MLS does or doesn't do. Sure MLS gains some fans but also loses fans. Marketing at this point won't win you over fans that would make a significant jump to put MLS as the most popular league here in the US. If you follow soccer you know MLS exist. And if you know MLS exist and don't follow it after 30 years then there is no marketing that will make you change your mind to follow MLS.
USMNT only fans shouldn’t talk too much crap given the U.S. men aren’t exactly a massive draw in their own right.
It's possible I guess, and hopefully that is the case and Nielsen missed hundreds of thousands of viewers I'd love to see the details of the data. My fear is that Nielsen doesn't distinguish between streams on the Apple TV platform, because it's all integrated. AppleTV, AppleTV+, and MLS Season pass are all within the same app/website, so I would suspect Nielsen doesn't distinguish. Hopefully they do, and the ratings weren't actually so terrible. If the ratings are accurate, I really think it's time to start looking at outs in this Apple deal. Maybe I'm biased because I despise Apple and have begrudgingly been doing business with them since this deal started and hoping for a positive breakaway for MLS. Maybe it's because the MLS production was bad in season 1 of the deal and got dramatically worse in year two. Either way, I won't shed a tear if this deal ends early. The league is healthy either way. Even if we have a dramatic revenue decline with a different media partner(s) the league will survive, hopefully with less obscurity. Flame away, but the facts are clear. Other than great convenience of all games in one place, everything about the deal sucks.
So that is the number for MLS cup final, a lot of us didn’t watch the game live because, we were at the stadium but we paid upfront, it is compared to attendance when the announcement 25,000 but only 21,000 show up to the game, so more important is revenue. same thing for tv ratings what is more important 2 mil on paid tv or 5 million of OTA free tv ?
This is why they're going after new markets. What was the number the other day? 75% of interactive MLS fans are under 45. Something like that. I'll look it up. Kids don't have the legacy that older fans do. They don't remember the bad and they're probably happy watching both a top 4 league and their local MLS team.
The good news is that this is from a YouGov survey which I suspect was commissioned by MLS (free account required). League Goals: MLS Report 2024 (October) Also thought this was interesting, though it's for another thread. The last survey I saw, which was a long time ago, suggested that 34% of MLS fans were Hispanic and support among blacks was negligible. I guess things have changed.
1867661473201500220 is not a valid tweet id Twitter wants MLS to change leadership even though last season's MLS Cup was rumored to be the most watched ever.
None of those people are interested in verifying exactly what it was that Nielsen may have reported. Just grab a headline, post a hair-on-fire tweet, get your clicks and engagement. Blocking or muting any account with MLS or USMNT in its handle will probably improve the quality of your feed, not that I do this.
The only thing I don't like about Apple/MLS playing a bunch of games at the same time instead of spreading them out over the entire weekend. Other than that the Apple deal is great if you are an MLS fan.
Agree with you, and with San Diego in, it will be more games, even with five TVs to many games at the same time, I would need more TVs and more eyes
MLS announced it will fold after this season due to linear games being down for the MLS Cup. Thanks everyone and good luck in the future when someone tries again.
Two TV's. Two Apple TV boxes. That's all you really need. You can watch eight games at once if you like.
If MLS folded a lot of the obsessive haters wouldn’t know what to do anymore. They would actually have to focus on the soccer they claim to like, hold American players in Europe accountable for their performances, etc. I don’t think they could adjust.
I just have the 5 TVs but not the Apple TV boxes, so with the boxes you can watch 4 games in one TV ? Another question if anyone knows, we went to the Stadium for the MLS CUP final and on the day when we arrived home I watched the FULL game on my Apple plus app but now my son wants to watch the full game but only shows the Recap, how can I find the full game on my mls season pass ?
When I open the app, MLS Cup is the banner feature across the screen. Click on that, scroll down past the "watch recap" button and there's a "full replay" tile. If MLS Cup is not the banner feature for you, go to the LA Galaxy page, click on the "LA vs. New York" tile, scroll down to find the "full replay" tile.
Streaming versus old school TV aside, the scheduling and format of the playoffs isn't doing them any favors. The 3-game format of the first round is completely unnecessary and I still have no clue why they think its such a brilliant idea. The international break in the middle of the playoffs also completely destroys momentum and audience interest. The format needs to be simplified. MLS Cup also needs to happen the weekend before the break if ignoring it and playing through the break isn't a real option.
I see from his feed he was throwing a tantrum because Berhalter wasn’t yet fired days after the Copa America. Surely a fair and thoughtful analyst.