MLS next TV deal -- Apple TV

Interesting followup --- Apple/MLS will try to sell games to other networks:

As long as they sell the games to someone other than Bally's I'm good. Bally's (and Sinclair Media) can go to Hell to be honest.

The game of soccer is not an easy formula for broadcasters and advertisers. It lacks time outs or breaks which means minimal if any positive revenue compared to traditional sports models. I assume Apple looked at the peacock and paramount+ deals and made the leap. With that said, I think the growth of the league will suffer.

Wait until Apple TV produces "All or Nothing: Inter Miami" when they follow the team during Messi's first season, will be a ratings hit

Various tweets are making it sound like:


The mls app will be available on appletv app…..

And there will be a separate fee for the mls subscription and I don’t think an applet tv+ subscription will be necessary.

But not certain…. I’m sure there will be some kind of bundle etc…..

Any idea if they will blackout games?

Can you expand on how this would work with them shopping the games to local channels or providers?    Most on facebook forums say it won't be shopped out to local channels per some articles written on the deal.  I'm trying to understand what this Tweet really means so I can explain it better elsewhere.

One of the reasons we still have direct TV is to watch AU. Would love to be able to drop it so we can just do streaming services

my guess it will be like the MLB package they have, the app is utter garbage on your phone, but the app on the firestick isn't bad. You have to scroll, but there is an mlb "section" that has free games right now. an apple tv + subscription isn't required to open/browse the app, and some of the mlb stuff is free.

What will suck are those nights when there are 2 games on at a time, and you want to flip back n forth -- college football and Atlanta United game for example, will be a pain.

I think the mlb "package" is baked into the apple tv +, but it sounds like mls might have it's own subscription service outside of apple tv +. this is the what isn't crystal clear.



I haven't been that much of a fan of the apple tv + app though. outside of ted lasso and servant, i've struggled getting into their other content. When it first came out, they were giving it away for a free year with iphone purchases. Still cheap at $4.99 a month, but I canceled after I finished Ted Lasso

yea, it's out of control --

youtubetv
amazon/prime
netflix
hulu/espn/disney bundle
spotify
hbo max (really only for curb)
peacock (included with xfinity internet, never really watch except for epl)

recently cancelled
apple tv plus
nfhs network


i buy everything on amazon....everything.
love netflix and watch anything that looks interesting, love their foreign library series - so many gems
didn't think I'd like disney given i have no princesses left in the house, but love me some obi wan and the mando.
hulu has some interesting stuff also, but really it's just part of the bundle for me.


I'll watch an interesting MLS game (other than AU), if I happen to stumble on it, but I won't go out of my way to watch.

Between right now, the end of the nba finals and basically labor day weekend, is when MLS needs to figure out how to capitalize. I think they have to force MLS down our throats during this period, advertise like hell, push games to regular channels vs putting them behind a paywall. I just don't see the casual fan subscribing or even searching for these games. The tv numbers show, people turn off the MLS when it comes on.......Even when an Atlanta United game is no, it's crazy how few people watch, i guess even in our own market.

the mlb stuff on apple tv looks nice, but I don't really pay attention to baseball until Sept.....

We dropped our season tickets, but I have to assume there is a $$ increase from year to year, and part of that increase if not in year 1, will include "fees" for this service.
Nothing is free.

the entire linear production piece with ESPN/FOX is interesting, because even if they pay for specific games to broadcast they still will always be showing on the Apple tv app platform. So they aren't buying any exclusive rights.

I estimated 500K season ticket holders across the league, the numbers will be immediately inflated when they are included as subscribers.

I mean, how many people sign up 500K (not including season ticket holders), at 500K people at 5 month, that's about $2.5 million dollars a month, say its for 7 months, that's an extra $17.5 million in subscription fees. Not that much. For subscriptions to matter the magnitude needs to be in the 10s of millions.

Now granted, they were shooting for a $300 million dollar deal each year, so this deal isn't that far off, BUT - within the current $250 million estimate is production costs as outlined in the above video. he said ~$40,000-$50,000 per game for production. That estimate seems way low.

my guess is they will offer all mls next players free subscriptions as well (clubs will pay for them in overhead fees), and then they will have to promote the hell out of the product with cross promotions - iphone/mac/ipad sales etc. The timing of iphone releases in Sept, isn't great to cross promote offer X months free of MLS given its the end of the season etc. But might be a way to sucker people into a free mls subscription, that auto renews the following April for the next season. And bank of the fact that people forget to not subscribe.


The big problem to me is their model is based upon subscribers not watchers. To grow the game in the states, people need to watch the product not just subscribe to the service. putting behind a pay wall should drastically limit the casual viewership.