Most of those people want a single team for like $20, which Apple/MLS will never do. I can see them doing $80 or so but that's as low as they would go.
Honestly any sci-fi fan should already have Apple TV as they have the best shows bar none. And so to people like us, MLS is literally free.
Interview with Apple TV talent Jessica Charman: https://www.youtube.com/live/2g1whilq2eA?si=x6pHX_-DXaFsvPBH
The big Cyprus vs Moldova friendly on FS got 10k. 75k for the battle of the true Gs - Germany vs Ghana on FS1 USA vs Portugal 442k on TNT and honestly I'd expect more with the WC this close. fanbase still in taters. but Mexico vs Belgium 332k on the Univision networks. HUH? Bosnia vs Italy 319kon FS1 Congo vs Jamaica 214k on FS1 Iraq vs Bolivia 137k on FS1 Brazil vs Croatia 52k on ESPND Peru vs Honduras 50k on FoxD Algeria vs Uruguay 39k on FoxD Norway vs Switzerland 39k on FS2 Kosovo vs Turkiye to determine the USA's WC opponent stirred the nation. 25k on FS2 Argentina vs Zambia 15k + 10k on BeIn + BeinE Scotland vs Ivory Coast 14k on ESPND Canada vs Tunisia - this was the BIG one. 7k on FS2 The on the weekend Atletico vs Barcelona on ESPND 338k Manchester City vs Liverpool 315k on ESPN Cruz Azul vs Pachuca 249k on Univision + TUDN Oh and we ask why there isn't more CCC coverage? ALAJUELENSE/LAFC 42k on FS! ********. Inter-FREAKING-MIAMI MESSIS 87k on TUDN + 79k on FS1. Simply HORRIFIC!!!!
This is the piece of the puzzle that MLS has struggled to find for over three decades now: "It's the greatest merging of sports and entertainment."@JoeTessESPN joins the @RichEisenShow and talks about the impact of WWE ahead of #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/XMGx3DY1cs— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 13, 2026 How does MLS tell its' stories to draw in and hook more viewers/fans consistently?
I mean, you could take the WWE route and make up goofy shit for idiots or just wait and take the organic route of building history over time. The finish to Paris-Roubaix bike race yesterday was incredibly entertaining and compelling because of the history of the race, the sport, and the riders competing, not because of some manufactured narrative shouted at my eyeballs with lasers and sponsored by Mountain Dew Exxxtreme Energy Blast. MLS can get there, too, but only with patience.
History can only do so much unfortunately . Galaxy vs. Red Bulls was a great final for me as a longtime fan but the ratings were worse than usual for that one.
THAT'S what took away away from Tessitore's overarching point? Why is so much air time spent on the NFL and NBA? There are stories to tell. Coaching changes, personnel changes, rivalries, off the field stuff. MLS hasn't really had that since the days Becks was playing for the Galaxy, or Zlatan was playing for the Galaxy and appearing on Kimmel and Fallon. MLS needs more player interviews, special interest pieces, etc. The league continues to do a lousy job at telling it's story. The game itself is only going to do so much. The league has to give people a reason to care. MLS 360 is fine. It's perfectly fine. It's not bad, it's far from perfect. It's infinitely better when Twellman is on it though. Why? He brings energy, passion and a willingness to drive discussion. A willingness to have conversations that are different (coaches and front offices that are failing, players that are failing, etc.). The league, and its' employees and executives, players, coaches, etc. need to grow a thicker skin, and allow the people covering the games to have honest conversations. Until that happens the league will still continue to grow at its' leisurely pace. It's just not going to get closer to truly reaching the potential that it has.
Oh, yeah. I totally missed the point there. In my defense, I didn't watch the video, and I assumed it was about WWE's success in merging sports and entertainment, based on the tweet. NFL and NBA get air time because lots of people like football and basketball. The same stories exist in MLS, but there aren't as many fans to generate the demand to cover them. I think there will be one day, though. Maybe in another 10 or 20 years, Matt Doyle will be sitting at the top of an American soccer media empire churning out trenchant analysis and compelling narratives about MLS and the Nats. But it won't be because of a change the league makes in its PR stance, it will be because the population of MLS fandom hit whatever critical mass made it necessary.
For me, "hype" connotes something artificial. For the sake of the discussion, consider it a healthy skepticism and I'll avoid being negative about how sports can be promoted to the point Jaykoz makes. I'm indifferent about the NBA. I can name 5 players but I can't name 10. My impression of the NBA is that they really push their star players, to the point that the identity of a given player is more important than that of the team. For me, that's a non-starter, so I've never cared. For my personal taste, the NFL suffers from TOO MUCH talk. It's damn near all talk -- before, during, and after -- and the juice is nowhere near worth the squeeze. I did watch the NFC championship game, Rams at Seattle (with the sound off.). This was an excellent game, both teams pushing the game. I average about one NFL game a year. I'm all in on the NHL, it needs zero hype. I'm indifferent of nothing -- I love my teams, and hate all the others. Nothing that happens off the ice matters in any sense once the puck drops, the pregame shows and the analysis are pointless to most hockey fans, who already know that none of it matters. How does the Premier League handle the questions of what to promote / what to hype? Surely MLS marketing teams should be watching everything the EPL does and measuring whether it can be applied here to positive effect. And ask the question of balancing hype vs substance -- is there a story about Declan Rice that makes me want to watch Man U, is there a story about Erling Haaland that makes me want to watch Man City? I think the stronger story is there is the Manchester derby and its history, and you can hype the profile of the game but the history happens organically over time.
The Premier League doesn't generate any hype, it's all the media and the clubs. And there is A LOT of talking. I think the model for MLS would be NRL. The official website of the National Rugby League | NRL.com https://share.google/gOqsj6H23pVt8YM6F
Copy that. So, the question better phrased would read -- how do the teams of the Premier League handle the questions of what to promote / what to hype?
They all have their own media teams. I noticed that Nottingham Forest put out 40 "stories" in the time Notts County put out one. If a player breaks a fingernail they'll put out a press release.
Oh? Netflix getting more Football rights? Netflix is entering the soccer market 👀Today, it’s been announced Netflix bought the rights in Mexico for the CONCACAF Nations League Finals and the CONCACAF Gold Cup.They will become the exclusive home in Mexico for the 2027 and 2029 editions of both competitions.“At… pic.twitter.com/poqLR0arb1— GOLZ (@golz_tv) April 15, 2026
TST will be on NBC, NCSN, and Peacock this year: TST x NBC SPORTSTST returns to NBC Sports this summer as 17 matches will be presented live across NBC, NBCSN, & Peacock! 🦚⚽NBC will air two TST marquee matches on Saturday, May 30 & two semifinal matches on Sunday, May 31! pic.twitter.com/OoTlkyvY0P— TST (@TST7v7) April 14, 2026
I watched that nasl documentary on TNT. One thing I'll tell you is that they were definitely going for something entirely different than MLS. MLS brought America to the world's game. Nasl tried to convert the world's game to America. It failed but it sure looked like a fun attempt.
MLS tried to Americanize the game at first too though. Clock that counted down. Shootouts to decide all games. The non-traditional shootout format. The American naming convention. Letting Nike run wild on branding.
The naming conventions is one of the major changes I hate the most.. Thank goodness only a few teams have gone the lame Burn - Dallas FC route and renounced their lineage
For whatever reason, football and basketball fans are fans of the league as a whole. For MLS, MLB, and the NHL, fans are fans of their teams, and not the league or sport as a whole. We could all guess at those reason(s) but the fact remains that whatever ails soccer ALSO ails hockey (at least in the US) and baseball.
Well, since you brought it up…. Yeah, in the NBA, the stars are bigger than the league. The nature of basketball is unique; there are only 5 players on the court, and the rules about defending make it relatively easy for a superstar to dominate (the illegal defense rule.). About 20 years ago the Celtics went from mediocre to champions by adding Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to Paul Pierce. Shaq went to the Heat and made them a top attraction for a few years, and that was replicated when LeBron signed there. Nobody cares about the Charlotte Hornets, but if for some reason Giannis and Steph signed there for next season, they’d be a top attraction. The Spurs are about to dominate NBA talk and TV lineups because of Wemby. In the NFL, the franchise is the superstar. Each individual player (except the A+ level quarterbacks) is unimportant. It might just come down to the nature of the sport of soccer, something that can’t be fixed by clever marketing. Just like it’s in the nature of baseball that no player is important enough except the starting pitcher, and they only play 30-33 times a year. And hockey has 4 lines and 3 defensive pairs, so again, no one player influences a game like a basketball superstar. I’ll end with this…like many of you, I’m kind of an MLS superfan. I was more of a superfan when the league had 16 teams because I could wrap my head around that many teams, their styles and their stars and their stories. I can’t do that with 30 teams. So clearly instituting pro/rel so that there are fewer teams in the league is the way to go. (just kidding)
I think that's the case with older fans who are still insecure about the very existence of the league. It may also be the result of the league being bad mouthed domestically and internationally. I didn't remember anyone bashing the quality of NBA or NHL compared to Yurpean leagues. But younger fans? I watch NYCFC fans social media and they mad about their team, not the league.