MIAMI (15 June 2022) —
Move over Ted Lasso. Major League Soccer has agreed a ten-year broadcast deal with Apple that is reportedly worth 2.5 billion dollars. The new broadcast rights agreement will run from the 2023 season.
The new agreement is comprehensive in scope: Apple TV will broadcast every single MLS match as well as the competition known as the Leagues Cup. It is also probable that MLS will continue to air some matches with linear partners such as ESPN and Univision, although those broadcasts will no longer be exclusive to those networks, and will be also available on Apple TV. ESPN has 34 games this season, and Univision has 32, and it is anticipated that those numbers will be slightly downsized.
The current broadcast rights agreement with ESPN, Univision and Fox expires at the conclusion of the current season. The current broadcast rights agreement with those three linear broadcasters pays a total of $90 million per season. It is believed that MLS retains $65 million per season, while the US Soccer Federation receives $25 million annually. The USSF, however, has a new 8-year deal in place with Turner Sports reported to be worth $25 million per year. The new MLS broadcast agreement represents a significant increase in broadcast rights revenue for the single-entity league. It stills weighs falls short of the $4 billion dollar broadcast rights proposal that MLS received from MP Silva & Co in 2017, which was quietly dismissed by the league on the grounds that the current contracts with those linear partners prevented the league from entertaining MP Silva’s offer. It should be noted that the Silva offer was predicated on the establishment of promotion and relegation in MLS, something many fans want but a subject the league is loath to consider.
In conjunction with the new Apple TV agreement, MLS is planning to restructure its fixtures, with all matches to be played on either Wednesday or Saturday nights, to the extent possible. Currently, the league scatters its matches across the weekend, with some weeks that include mid-week games.
Another significant change is that MLS games will no longer be shown on local TV stations. This means that anyone who wants to watch their local team will need to subscribe to an MLS-specific app that will exist within Apple TV in order to see their team play every week. This MLS app will be separate from Apple TV+ and will not require a subscription to the latter. Season ticket holders will have access to the MLS app at no additional charge. A selected number of games will be available to subscribers of Apple TV+ (without a subscription to the MLS app) and a few games will also be free for everyone. MLS plans to eliminate blackout restrictions on local teams’ homegames, a source of constant frustration for fans.
Other programming content is also part of the deal with Apple, including pregame, halftime and postgame shows as well as non-gameday programs.