Yes as discussed earlier, but what I wasn't sure of was the key part of my previous post: "have they committed to maintaining current pricing, which I believe is still $99/yr?" i.e. if I wait until February like I've usually done will the price (likely) still be $99?
MLS is an amazing success story with a great business going for itself. But the only way it gets to the next level is with higher tv ratings, and that's what they need to satisfy the type of investors they've had since the beginning. These billionaires are not going to be happy with just building a viable soccer league (which they have). I just don't understand how movie the schedule to align with all the other (mostly better) soccer leagues will make a difference to the tv ratings. MLS every year has some new theory of what might move the tv ratings up (i miss Thursday night soccer) and it never happens. Hard to see this working for that particular purpose. Hope I'm wrong though.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6808440/2025/11/14/mls-apple-tv-broadcast-rights-deal-2029/ The deal also gives flexibility to Apple, which now has an earlier out with MLS and can also re-up the contract if it chooses.
Right…inflation is a permanent condition of the world economy since we all went off the gold standard, so everything in the world economy is going to assume 3 or 4 or 5% inflation. If it was the same amount every year, by the end of the deal MLS would be at a disadvantage in comparison to other leagues.
Here’s one possibility…it’s a bank shot. 1. Align transfer windows. 2. Get more money from selling players, save money when buying players, and also get better incoming transfers. Turn that money into better players. 3. Better product on the field->better ratings. Im gonna throw out another theory that has no grounding in anything I’ve seen reported: international interest in MLS after the Euro season ends has been disappointing. They were hoping a decent number of people would subscribe from Africa, China, etc. That didn’t materialize even with Messi. A good try but it didn’t work out. Like I said, total speculation in my part, but it certainly fits with the schedule change and also the revisions to the Apple deal.
OMG this is a disaster https://t.co/CkQ3pz0Cro— MLS Moves (@MLSMoves) November 14, 2025 DISASTER!!!!!!!111
What I got from that article is that it was MLS's decision to end the deal early as "MLS executives will now be able to test the media rights market more quickly after the 2026 World Cup". I've no doubt World Soccer talk will imply that Apple wants rid. Yeah but MLS loses it's slot as America's new summer sport. If you look at the recent polls, 8% of under 18s see soccer as their favorite sport vs 5% for baseball. USL is now H2H against MLB.
If Apple wanted out, they would have exercised their 2027 opt out. Instead they've given that away. Maybe USL is going to switch too. They're already testing it with their women's league.
When did MLS ever have that slot? MLS runs February to December currently; the summer is a fraction of the schedule, and MLS is often overshadowed for much of the summer by other soccer.
So, was MLS Season pass an Apple idea or MLS' idea?? Cuz the league had MLS Live for over a decade after all............ Apple wants to grow Apple TV. How exactly does a standalone product do that again? Why would MLS be interested in growing Apple TV viewership if there's a standalone MLS Season Pass? I very well could be wrong here, but to me it sure seems as if MLS Season Pass was the league's idea. MLS Season Pass doesn't drive Apple TV growth. Apple has their fans and their haters. One thing they can all agree on is that Apple doesn't do anything without a purpose and intent for long term vision and goals. If I had to guess, the games on Apple TV were getting significant viewership numbers in comparison to the games that were on Season Pass. When shown those numbers, the league saw the light. It's a no brainer to scrap Season Pass and bring everything under the Apple TV umbrella when Apple isn't going to lower their payout to you. Just food for thought. My prediction? The World Cup isn't going to convince Paramount, NBC, Disney, Netflix, etc. to pony up the kind of money MLS is going to ask for, or near what Apple is paying MLS now. Fox and ESPN, and NBC for that matter have ratings data for MLS. Unless they offer MLS a "prove it" deal where MLS will make more if and when the ratings/viewership numbers hit certain thresholds, I don't see them giving MLS an enticing deal. Not to mention the TV landscape is going to look significantly different between now and 2029. I still believe MLS needs to just create their own network. Tell their own stories (beyond Messi, Son and Mueller FFS). Do the NFL model. NFL Films is a huge driver in the popularity of the NFL, and it's growth into the behemoth that is is today. Stick that thing on Apple TV, Pluto TV, and then sell it to the distributors (YouTubeTV, cable companies, Disney, etc.). IMO, the training wheels that need to be taken off are the shackles that have been put on their internal media. A lot of the league's best media assets and storytellers have left. Harness them!!! Let them be creative!!! Let them create shows that are engaging, entertaining and informative. Let the David Gass', Tom Bogert's, Jose Nunez', Julian Sakovits, Taylor Twellman's, Brian Dunseths', Danny Higginbotham's that you already have or had under your roof tell the league's stories, talk about tactics, and the history of the league. If you're waiting and relying upon the ESPN/Fox/NBC/traditional media outlets to do this for you, it's never going to happen.
MLS always had my full attention in the summer, so I’ll miss that. But in terms of the mainstream I’ve seen that time described as a dead time of the year for sports even taking baseball into consideration,
What does Summer consist of for you? With this new schedule MLS is still playing in Mid-July through August which last I checked is Summer......... With the CWC, WC, and Gold Cup every other year, the month of June is and was going to be largely unavailable for games anyways.
Either that or season pass was generating season pass subscriptions without driving ATV+ subs. If you're trying to grow ATV+, one way to do that is to convert people who are season pass only subscribers into annual ATV+ subscribers. I subscribed the to season pass this year, but I think I've only been a PAID ATV+ subscriber for only one month out of the past few years. Depending on what the mix is, moving all those people over to annual ATV+ subscribers could even be a cash positive move, though it would have to be pretty extreme since a few hundred thousand to half a million are season ticket holders.
Season Pass wasn't generating Apple TV subs. If I want to watch MLS, I didn't need a sub to Apple TV unless I wanted to save $20 (or $10 after I cancel my ATV Sub after a month, which was more like $0 after you subtract your month's fee for ATV). Which to me says that Season Pass was MLS' idea. Hence why IF they reached and exceeded a certain number of Season Pass subs, they'd get more money. My other takeaway is that IMO the legacy teams are the most disappointed with the Apple TV deal. Why do I say that? They're used to how TV was. They're expecting the broadcaster to promote MLS. I saw something mentioned that an MLS exec pointed the blame at Apple for not doing enough to promote Season Pass. Where as the newer teams are still in startup mode, and are out there driving engagement and interest. I wouldn't be shocked if the majority of season pass subs were from fans of the newer teams (outside STH's, though the legacy teams tend to not have large STH bases). All over the socials a common refrain is "MLS needs to be on ESPN and/or Network TV!" Simply being on those channels isn't going to drive interest or gain eyeballs, or create fans. If the league and teams aren't ALL doing the work on ground in their markets day in and day out, it's not going to matter whether MLS is on ESPN/Network TV. How do we know this? It's not like we don't have 25+ years of data saying otherwise. What are the Rapids doing, the Fire doing, the Galaxy doing, the Red Bulls doing, FC Dallas, DC United doing in their markets to get, maintain and grow interest? How do their efforts compare to San Diego, Charlotte, Nashville, Portland, etc.? Compare the Kansas City Wizards to Sporting KC. The sad thing is that we keep hearing from the league: How do we capitalize on Messi, Son and the World Cup? Therein lies the problem. MLS is not prepared nor equipped to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them. Because they haven't been putting in the effort for decades, they don't know how nor have the structure to properly harness the present and future opportunities. Copa America and the Club World Cup have come and gone. What did MLS do to capture that interest and promote itself? The league lucked out that the GOAT signed just before the expanded Leagues Cup started. Here's an idea: Apple and Peacock have a partnership. Gom call NBC Universal and ask for help. Give them the Fox deal. Take less money in order to have a package of games on NBC and NBCSN simulcasted from AppleTV. Have a select amount of games simulcast on Peacock in exchange for NBC Sports help in creating the storytelling elements and shoulder programing the league desperately needs to grow it's brand.
It's going to be even more overshadowed by other soccer given that it's going to conclude at the same time as the top 5 leagues, the Champions League, Liga MX, the FA Cup etc. And the regular season climax will presumably clash with the NBA and NHL playoffs. I'm trying not to be negative, I'm just concerned. I like the fact that MLS currently concludes just as other soccer leagues are warming up. The FIFA breaks timing sucks though.
I dunno. I think MLS is doing pretty well. It's not going to win in a straight fight against NFL and NBA, it just needs to gradually build a loyal hard core of supporters, and that's what it's been doing.
June and the July fourth timeframe is a pretty key part of summer for me, and a time of the year when MLS took center stage for me.
Yeah, and MLS has 3 match days this past June. They had three match days in June 2022. We need to keep in mind that FIFA is highly likely to make the CWC an every two years event. which would mean that MLS would have 3 or less match days in June going forward.