So looks like MLS is starting to coordinate this season with the thought of building along with their corporate partners. Article has some interesting numbers about 2025 but I think that's in the past and now they are focusing on enhancing last years successes and looking for new ones like the reshaped format with Apple TV. https://www.campaignlive.com/articl...join-major-league-soccers-2026-roster/1945334
Any theories of what MLS is planning to do after Apple? Worst case is probably building their own service and becoming direct to consumer - that's very hard to get right, and expensive.
You mean like MLS Live back in the day? My educated guess is that MLS will end up staying with Apple in the long run. They'll put out a RFP for the media rights, and then realize that ESPN, Fox, Paramount, ABC Universal, etc aren't interested (just like the last go round) in providing MLS with the platform and time slots that the league needs in order to grow. Also, consider this: The NFL Once Again Gives CBS and Fox the Shaft https://www.si.com/media/the-nfl-once-again-gives-cbs-and-fox-the-shaft This is a good observation as well. Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet (Google/YouTube) have significantly more money and flexibility than the traditional media players. One other thing to consider too: Look at the ratings drop for the CFP games last week. Add in all of the non-sense and wild west feel to the NCAA and it's transfer portal. IMO, we're watching in real time the death of Major College Sports in the US. The American sports fan isn't going to tune in to watch mercenary college players who change teams from season to season. At some point people are going to realize that the college players are overpaid, and actually worse than the players plying their craft for the local triple A affiliate/G-League team, AHL Team, etc. Fox and ESPN's big bets on College Football and Basketball could be their downfall within the the next 10 years. They're paying a fortune for these rights, and the returns are diminishing at an ever rapid rate given the parallel rapid decline in cable and network TV ratings/subscribers.
I'm not convinced college basketball is in as bad as shape as being portrayed. 1-and-dones have been a thing for a while and fans are used to churn on the teams. Plus gambling will always make it popular (and perhaps dirty). College football though, the NCAA and the major players are paying the price for sticking their head in the sand for 20+ years while players got more and more fed up. A series of small changes over the years would have gotten us to a point of a much more stable sport in 2026 instead of the absolute chaos the law and Congress getting involved has forced on the sport.
Listen to the coaches. College Basketball is in bad shape too.The tourney is really the only thing that draws good ratings. Between the musical chairs of conference realignment, and mass exodus' every transfer portal have killed the game. It's not just a couple one and dones, it's entire teams leaving every season.
The allure of college sports was seeing your fellow students compete for prizes that help your school (or your former school, or the city's school, some school that you connect to). Now its a semi pro league (with some millionaires), and at some point the hardcore fans will ask exactly why they are paying the big bucks for a semi pro league. It's actually worse than a local semi pro team too - all the contracts are just for 1 season!
I live in what is inarguably the main college basketball hotbed in America. You are wrong. The amount of talk about college basketball in the Triangle today compare to 20 years ago suggests it’s in pretty damn bad shape. The amount of discussion about regular season games that you hear waiting in line at the store and what not is tiny now in comparison.
I can't tell you if UCLA basketball ever was really big in L.A. but it definitely isn't now. UCLA played Arizona in Inglewood this season and attendance was 7,554 with at least half from Arizona. Whether this is this saying something about the state of college basketball or the fact that UCLA athletics is in the shitter I cannot say. The last time Arizona came to L.A,. in 2023, they played on campus an it was sold out.
College football though, the NCAA and the major players are paying the price for sticking their head in the sand for 20+ years while players got more and more fed up. A series of small changes over the years would have gotten us to a point of a much more stable sport in 2026 instead of the absolute chaos the law and Congress getting involved has forced on the sport.[/QUOTE] Couldn't agree more. I suspect they could have created a system where the players were making 10,000's maybe some 100,000's of thousands of dollars with rules around transfers. But they were so pig headed that they tried to stick to this system of borderline indentured servitude while they paid themselves millions of dollars. Their arrogance was unbelievable. I remember an interview with one AD who tried to use the goody bags they got from bowl games as justification pointing out that was a form of payment. Yeah like the AD would have been happy with an IPOD, some ear pods and a T-shirt instead of their salary.
NCAA knew that the moment they stepped away from amateurism everything would collapse. Everything would've turned out just how its turning out now regardless of what they did.
You might be right but I think being a step ahead could have led to some ability to remain in control rather than being about 12 steps behind and having the whole thing blown up in front of them by the supreme court. Releasing some steam by allowing players to be paid directly by the schools would have reduced some of pressure, gained them allies in keeping it under the control of the Schools and keeping other aspects like limiting transfers. But they were so stubborn and stuck to their guns past the point of any logical argument that the only way to get the players paid was to blow it up. So I think there was a way, but you're probably right, in reality the different schools and conferences would never have been able to work together coherently enough to make it work.
Exactly this. Maybe they never would have gotten there, but not even trying has led us to where we are now.
https://www.sportspro.com/news/broa...cast-deal-conctract-season-pass-january-2026/ Apple and MLS still working on improving & growing together.
https://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2026...ntroduce-walmart-saturday-showdown-on-feb-21/ As was mentioned before, MLS is working with Apple and corporate partners to grow the television audience for the league. Major League Soccer announced the launch of Walmart Saturday Showdown, spotlighting a marquee MLS matchup each Saturday throughout the regular season.
Couldn't agree more. I suspect they could have created a system where the players were making 10,000's maybe some 100,000's of thousands of dollars with rules around transfers. But they were so pig headed that they tried to stick to this system of borderline indentured servitude while they paid themselves millions of dollars. Their arrogance was unbelievable. I remember an interview with one AD who tried to use the goody bags they got from bowl games as justification pointing out that was a form of payment. Yeah like the AD would have been happy with an IPOD, some ear pods and a T-shirt instead of their salary.[/QUOTE] I think the issue is that everybody but the players got paid . If was it set up more like gaa where coaches and everyone running the teams were volunteers we probably wouldn’t have nil .
Or make them volunteer coaches . It hard to defend “ student athletes “ when you have coaches flying around in private jets.
Does/did anyone else subscribe to MLSSP through DirecTV last year? Would we be able to do it again this year? Is there an advantage to doing so? I currently don’t subscribe to Apple, so is what DTV offers any sort of a deal? I have Para/Peacock for “free” already and I subscribe to ESPN+ for hockey. Have access to Disney/Hulu through a relative so don’t necessarily need a bundle. Thx, Jay!
I didn't - but the advantage would be using your DVR like the "good ol' days". Not much of a win to me - Apple got their shit together and made a great interface. It also throws a bone to the "old people don't use apple" people.