As MLS and Apple entered the fourth season of their partnership earlier this year, it came with a big change. No longer did fans have to purchase MLS Season Pass for the annual price of $100 to watch the league. Now, anyone with a standard Apple TV subscription could watch MLS at no additional cost.
It was a radical adjustment to make in the middle of what was then a 10-year media rights agreement, but it has now been shrunk to seven years under the new terms. However, it was a mutual acknowledgment that the original deal, a first-of-its-kind arrangement for a major North American professional sports league, was not working for either side.
In the first three years of the Apple deal, MLS struggled to meaningfully grow its Season Pass subscription base, even with global icon Lionel Messi entering the league. The little viewership data that did trickle out about the league was almost all concerning. And while Year 3 did bring on some incremental improvements, adding standalone windows to the schedule and striking distribution deals to integrate MLS matches into channel guides, Apple and MLS knew it wasn’t enough to achieve the growth both thought possible.
During a recent conference hosted by Sports Business Journal, MLS commissioner Don Garber acknowledged the shortcomings of the original Apple deal, though he reiterated that he’s happy with the partnership overall. “In light of what we know today, we would do the same deal other than the subscription,” he told SBJ publisher Abe Madkour.
“Other than the subscription” is a pretty severe downplay by the MLS commissioner. The subscription was the model for the original deal, after all, and it failed. But it’s important to give credit for pivoting away from Season Pass once it became clear it wouldn’t be sustainable. And Garber, at least backhandedly, acknowledged it was a misstep by suggesting the league would do that part of the deal differently given what it knows today.
Early returns suggest the new approach by Apple and MLS is working. Opening weekend saw a 59% year-over-year increase in viewership, per the league. And with the World Cup coming up this summer and a switch to a more favorable summer-to-spring calendar on the horizon, MLS is building solid momentum for the future.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.