Report: ESPN Likely Out on Linear MLS Rights Due to Apple Streaming Deal
When Major League Soccer signed a deal with Apple TV+ to make that service the streaming home of every MLS match for the next 10 years, it was widely seen as a game-changing agreement. Never before had a major sports league chosen to move to a primarily streaming format, as the ad revenues and viewer numbers from linear TV were always compelling enough reasons to stick with that medium.
Indeed, MLS has not completely forsaken linear broadcasting, but it may have one less partner to work with going forward. New York Post sports business writer Andrew Marchand reported on the latest episode of the “Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast” that ESPN is unlikely to partner with MLS for linear broadcasting of matches, thanks to the league’s deal with Apple TV+. That means that for the next 10 years, linear TV viewers will likely only find MLS games on FOX and FS1.
“I think that the {MLS} linear deal is trending towards just being with FOX, and no ESPN,” Marchand said. “The issue has been because Apple is all-inclusive, they want all those games to have the Apple branding. And for ESPN, they have a streaming service. Do they want to promote Apple’s streaming service? And will {ESPN} even be allowed to put [matches] on their own streaming service? So I think that’s trending towards {MLS} having a deal with FOX and FS1 for MLS, and not with ESPN. I’m not saying it’s 100% done, but that’s where that’s going most likely.”
This issue is likely to crop up more often in the future as live sports make the slow but inevitable transition to streaming. So many media companies offer streaming services, and each one will want whichever league they’re negotiating with to stream its games exclusively on their platform. Sports leagues will resist this, and try to spread out their rights as widely as possible as they have done with linear broadcast deals in the past.
That’s probably a big reason why FOX and FS1 are still interested in linear rights to MLS games. The Fox Corporation does offer political/lifestyle streamer FOX Nation and the ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) platform Tubi, but FOX Nation is more of a niche service, while company executives have stated flatly that Tubi’s model isn't a good fit for live sports rights.
That means that FOX doesn’t have a direct competitor for Apple TV+, and doesn’t have to fret over promoting (directly or indirectly) another streaming service on matches that it broadcasts.
Sports streaming technology is improving with every passing year. Consumer willingness to adopt streaming-only sports has lagged behind the technology, but it will inevitably catch up. When it does, sports fans should expect more disputes like the schism between ESPN and Major League Soccer, as streaming services vie for exclusivity with their chosen sports.
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is a subscription video streaming service for $9.99 a month that includes high-quality original shows and movies including Best Picture winner “CODA,” popular sitcom “Ted Lasso,” and dramas like “The Morning Show” and “Severance.” Apple TV+ is also home to MLB baseball games on Friday nights and MLS Season Pass.