Major League Soccer (MLS) agrees to 10-year, $2.5 billion TV deal with Apple; MLS games will no longer be on local TV

[FAH1223]

Major League Soccer has agreed to a new broadcast agreement with Apple that multiple industry sources pegged at 10 years, $2.5 billion. The sources were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the financial terms of the deal.



Apple TV+ will broadcast every single MLS and Leagues Cup match as part of the deal. Sources said that the league is leaving space in its broadcast schedule for linear partners, as well, and that ESPN and Univision are both expected to reach agreements to televise MLS matches in the near future. Sports Business Journal reported on Tuesday that the league remains in negotiations with Fox, as well. Any matches broadcast on ESPN, Fox, Univision or any other linear networks will also be shown on Apple TV+.



The league’s current media rights deal with ESPN, Univision and Fox is set to expire following this season.

Apple TV+ matches will not be shown on local television networks, meaning MLS fans will need to subscribe to the streaming service in order to watch their teams on a weekly basis. MLS games will live within a specific app in Apple TV+; MLS full-season ticket holders will be able to access the app at no additional charge.



Apple will also air a number of regular season matches with special branding akin to the treatment the company is giving its “Friday Night Baseball” MLB games. Thus far, those MLB games have been available to watch without the need for an Apple TV+ subscription. MLS announced that a limited number of matches will be available at no additional cost to Apple TV+ subscribers.



The sources added that MLS will produce and pay production costs for matches shown on Apple TV+. The sources said that there is a chance that the league will only staff one set of commentators for Apple TV+ matches, which would be a departure from each club having their own commentary team for all locally-televised matches in the current deal. The Apple TV+ broadcasts will also include pregame, halftime and postgame shows, as well as a significant amount of non-gameday programming.



Apple TV+ matches will not be subject to blackout restrictions, a change from the league’s current streaming deal with ESPN+.



The sources said that the ESPN and Univision families of networks will likely end up airing a slightly reduced number of games than they do in the current media rights agreement. ESPN is scheduled to air 34 regular season games across its channels this year; Univision is set to show 32 regular season contests.



ESPN, Univision and Fox pay a total of $90 million per season in the current agreement, of which sources have said $65 million is received by MLS. The remaining $25 million goes to the U.S. Soccer Federation, which had contracted with MLS-owned Soccer United Marketing (SUM) to sell broadcast rights to its matches. USSF split with SUM and sold its broadcast rights this spring to Turner Sports in an eight-year deal reportedly worth $25 million per year.

 

[Sohh_lifted]

Aint no one gonna watch this shyt. Nor do they now.

 

[FAH1223]

 

[Rekkapryde]

not bad

 

[MikelArteta]

250mill a year?

steal

 

[rightfultoefinger]

Good. Hopefully the players get a good cut. Looks to be almost 3x more per year.

 

[Jcotton1]

 

[concise]

Good job making it harder for people to watch the product, guys.

Looks like I'll be watching even less than I do now.

 

[Stress Welker]

Blocking the ability to watch the home team on local television sound absolutely insane to me.

 

[Morethan1]

Nba is gonna go to a streaming service eventually

 

[staticshock]

This is so stupid. Soccer already doesn’t have good numbers but now y’all want to make it harder for folks to watch?

 

[NSSVO]

I didn't know that they are taking them away from TV. Horrible decision.

 

[Guess Who]

This has the potential to fail monumentally for the league. You want MORE people to watch your burgeoning product more easily, not less, especially in a market in which their isn’t an existing demand. Sounds like they chased the money instead of doing what’s right for the league. Sad cuz the league was finally starting to become something and I wouldn’t be surprised if this kills it.

But if I’m being devil’s advocate, maybe Apple is planning for a future in which nobody has cable anymore. I don’t think that future is as close as people forecast, however.

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

I swear MLS get treated like a homeless ho. Went from being on TV to having its own service. Went from having its own service to ESPN+. Went from ESPN+ to TV. Now from TV to Apple TV.

WTF

 

[GoldenGlove]

They'll probably end up getting the games back on local channels during this deal...but first, they're going to lock in as many die-hard soccer fans into an Apple TV subscription as possible.

I bet Apple included Ted Lasso's success somewhere in their pitch too.