Last week, Major League Soccer announced a groundbreaking agreement with Apple to broadcast matches for the next 10 years. For $2.5 billion, Apple will show all MLS regular season and Leagues Cup (MLS vs. Liga MX competition) matches on the Apple TV platform via an MLS streaming service within the app. Here are the key details from the trailblazing agreement in live sports broadcasting:
Where Can I Watch?
In order to watch all regular season and Leagues Cup matches (along with select games from MLS Next Pro and MLS Next, MLS’s developmental league and academy league, respectively) users will have to purchase the unnamed MLS streaming app on Apple TV. However, viewers will not have to purchase Apple TV+ to purchase the streaming service, nor will they have to purchase a physical Apple TV product — any device that can connect to the Internet will be able to show the games. While the exact cost of the MLS streaming service is unknown, existing Apple TV+ subscribers who do not purchase the MLS subscription will still have access to some of the matches, and a further limited number of matches will be available for free for all fans, even those without an Apple TV+ subscription. MLS full-season ticket holders will have the MLS streaming app included with their purchase of full-season tickets. In addition, this deal removes all local blackout restrictions, which were in effect for MLS games on ESPN+ in their last deal.
Does This Mean MLS Won’t Be on Cable TV?
No. While MLS signed a comprehensive agreement with Apple to broadcast all games, they remain in negotiations with ESPN, FOX, Univision, and Canada’s TSN and TVA. According to The Athletic, MLS is close to a four-year agreement with ESPN that would put 23-25 regular season games on their family of networks. The deal would also allow ESPN and Apple TV to alternate which network broadcasts MLS Cup. For comparison, this year 34 MLS regular season games are set to broadcast on ESPN. While details are still light on the discussions with FOX, Univision is in talks to not only broadcast regular season matches, but Leagues Cup matches as well. This season FOX and Univision are set to broadcast 34 and 32 regular season matches, respectively.
The Money
Ten years at $2.5 billion comes out to $250 million per year, but that is considered a minimum payment. Under the terms of the agreement, once MLS streaming service subscriptions crosses a certain undisclosed threshold, Apple will share an undisclosed cut of the revenue with MLS. Between this deal and the expected completion of smaller linear TV deals, the league’s total media rights revenue should be close to the $300 million benchmark that they originally set in the beginning of the negotiations process. On a per club basis, including the upcoming 29th team in St. Louis and the expected addition of team 30 — most likely Las Vegas — and subtracting the estimated $2 million in production costs teams have typically spent, should result in approximately $7.5 million a year.
This new deal represents an enormous increase for the league. The last deal, while technically at $90 million, included about $25 million for the rights to the US men’s national team games, which were sold separately to Turner earlier this year. Going from $65 million to nearly $300 million represents an approximate 450% increase in income, and importantly enough for individual clubs to move from breaking even on production costs to a small profit.
MLS Productions
Starting with this new deal, MLS will take complete control of producing not just their games but also other content that will air on the MLS streaming app. Local broadcasts of games will cease, with no games appearing on any regional sports network. Games will be called by one team of commentators, as opposed to the current model of two sets — one for each team — of commentators calling each game. There is, however, an option in the MLS streaming service that will allow users to mute the commentators and instead listen to the local club radio on the game.
This move to the NFL model of TV production will mean that MLS will hire their own broadcast teams (10-14 according to The Athletic), producers, and directors, amongst other staffing needs. Since every game will have pregame, halftime, and post-game content, it is likely that MLS will create and build out a centralized studio. The plan is to also air games in 1080p, which is an upgrade to the current 720 and 1080i production of games. The creation of high level, in-house production capabilities is a significant undertaking for MLS and is projected to cost at least $60 million per season, not including the startup costs likely to be incurred in the first couple of years in the deal.
Content Changes
One of the biggest driving points of this agreement are the content changes MLS will go through. There will be a creation of a permanent whiparound show that will air each Saturday night that will likely follow the model of previously successful and well-received ventures on FS1 during Decision Day (the last day of the regular season) and on ESPN+ during the US Open Cup. Every game will have national pre- and post-game shows, with teams having the option to produce local pre- and post-game shows that would take place before and after the national versions. This will end the practice of other sports or events preceding MLS games bleeding into their scheduled programming, a common complaint for the league and viewers alike. In addition, there will be, for the first time, scheduling consistency for MLS games. Matches will take place on Saturday nights and weekday matches will take place on Wednesday nights, with few exceptions made for linear TV or stadium availability issues. According to MLS Deputy Commissioner and president of MLS Business Ventures Gary Stevenson there will be 63 different start day-start time combinations in MLS in 2022, a number that will be significantly reduced in this deal with Apple, moving the league closer to claiming a consistent block in the American sports schedule. Lastly, there will be a significant increase in storytelling through this deal with Apple. Although early reports indicate most, if not all, storytelling and non-gameday content will still be produced by MLS, Apple will figure to play a heavy role creatively and in the distribution of that storytelling content.
