National Post (National Edition)
MLS, Apple TV+ marriage one to watch as cable faces uncertain future
HOW MANY SOCCER FANS ARE WILLING TO SHELL OUT FOR YET ANOTHER STREAMING SERVICE?
The latest salvo in the streaming wars was fired quietly on Wednesday, with the launch of MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.
It's a curious, fascinating marriage that has implications for the future of Major League Soccer, the growth of soccer in North America, and the entire business model of televised sports. Other than that, no big deal.
MLS, the fifth of the continent's big sports leagues, and Apple, the tech giant on whose devices you are possibly reading this right now, announced their new 10-year partnership last year in a deal that was reported to be worth US$3 billion. It puts every MLS game on Apple TV+, worldwide and with no regional blackouts, which at a stroke massively increased the reach of the league. Billions of people have access to the service, even if they have never noticed the TV+ app that comes on their Apple phones, tablets or laptops.
But it's also not cheap: MLS Season pass costs $19.99 monthly or $129 per season. (Those rates are $16.99/$99 for existing subscribers to Apple TV+, best known for the soccer comedy Ted Lasso, in a bit of symbiosis.)
For fans of the Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto franchises that previously were able to watch their team's MLS games with a cable subscription that included TSN, this represents a significant new outlay. There are some caveats — season-ticket holders get a free MLS Season Pass subscription, six games per week will be broadcast outside the paywall, and TSN/RDS will still televise at least one game featuring a Canadian team per week as part of its new MLS deal — but for someone who doesn't want to miss a game, Apple's full package is the only option. That's a lot of MLS, more than 500 games instead of the 34 involving a particular team. Will casual fans of, say, the Whitecaps, who might have watched the odd game on TSN, drop off rather than add a new streaming package to their monthly bills?
This, though, could be where sports are headed. There are still long-term national network and cable broadcasts deals being made for the four major sports leagues in North America, but their leaders have all mused about the possibility of one day selling their product directly to consumers, without the networks in the middle. If the only way to view NFL or NHL games was through a streaming equivalent of Sunday Ticket or Centre Ice, how many fans would do it?
It's counterintuitive that MLS would be the first to try. Its games have traditionally attracted small audiences, averaging around 300,000 viewers in the United States on ESPN/ABC, where a good college football game can pull audiences of 10 million.
The bet that MLS and its commissioner Don Garber are making is that by ceasing to be an afterthought on the schedules of broadcasters that have much bigger sports properties, it can achieve growth by becoming a key plank of a streaming service that intends to grow much larger — and plans to be around even after the last of the cable cords have been cut. That last part may come sooner than previously thought. One of the major networks of regional sports broadcasters in the United States, now known as Bally Sports, is reportedly headed toward bankruptcy due to a collapsing subscriber base. Local cable deals have been a major source of revenue for dozens of NHL, NBA and MLB teams, and without them the direct-to-consumer model would pick up a lot of urgency for leagues that have only casually thought about them until recently.
The other question for the Apple/MLS partnership is whether the tech company can do what traditional broadcasters have not — give the league a significant boost in a crowded sports landscape. The MLS Season Pass investment is enormous, judging by a preview given to media this week. Apple is hiring 90 broadcasters, and will produce every game in English and Spanish (and French for the Canadian teams) with on-site crews. There will also be studio shows, highlight shows, and the MLS landing page on the Apple TV+ service already includes a boatload of content, from recaps and highlight packages to documentaries and full games. Team-specific pages have also been created with features on players and special franchise moments.
It's the kind of content splash that usually comes with the birth of a league, not one that has been around for 30 years. But that's also the point. This is MLS, reborn.
It's also a considerable gamble. Will enough people be interested in following MLS through a premium streaming package? Canadian soccer fans must already pay for different streaming services to watch the English Premier League (Fubo), UEFA Champions League (DAZN) and the Canadian national teams (OneSoccer). How many will pony up for another? With the men's World Cup to be hosted in North America in 2026, this is a key time for the sport on this continent. (MLS deals to keep a small slate of games of linear cable in Canada and the U.S. for four years seem at least in part designed to ensure that the big domestic league doesn't entirely disappear from cable before the World Cup is here.)
The future of MLS, though, is with the company with the ubiquitous phones and what has so far been a niche streaming service. The Major League Soccer season begins on Feb 25. The games on opening weekend will be free on Apple TV+.