Report: MLS Season Pass Nearing 1 Million Subscribers, but Some Owners Are Frustrated by Apple’s Lack of Transparency
The theft of Lionel Messi from European soccer leagues to play in Major League Soccer was a huge coup for Inter Miami CF, which secured his rights in early June. Messi made his debut this past weekend, scoring the game-winning goal on a penalty kick in Leagues Cup play against Mexico’s Cruz Azul.
Apple and MLS officials likely couldn’t have been more thrilled with the outcome, which was seen by viewers in the United States exclusively on Apple TV’s streaming platform MLS Season Pass. A new report by Sports Business Journal's John Ourand and Alex Silverman describes how pleased both sides have been with their partnership in general so far, and where there is room for improvement in the relationship.
Apple and MLS executives met last week to discuss the progress of the 10-year broadcasting agreement through the first four months of the season. Both sides indicated publicly and privately that they were pleased with MLS Season Pass, as sources tell SBJ the service is now approaching 1 million subscribers, including MLS season ticket holders, who get the service for free. There’s optimism that the signing of Messi will help those numbers balloon even further, as well.
“It’s still early in the relationship, but so far, we couldn’t be more thrilled,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said according to SBJ.
But there have been a few bumps in the road, most notably Apple’s refusal to share its viewership data. Apple is notorious for not publicly sharing subscriber data or other metrics from its streamers, and multiple high-level team executives have described having to sign non-disclosure agreements to see any numbers at all from the tech company.
One club owner was especially frustrated when comparing the lack of transparency to last year when MLS games were shown regularly on linear TV and ratings were available freely. Still, by and large, MLS executives are happy with Apple, especially with how the company has integrated the league with its other services (offering MLS-themed playlists on Apple Music, for example).
“It’s truly a partnership,” Garber said. “It’s not a rights deal where it’s just about ‘we have these available windows, we’ll pay you to put your product on in those available windows, we’ll promote them to our audiences.’ It’s more about how can we be integrated within the entire Apple ecosystem and create a global offering for fans in a very easy and an accessible way.”
Representatives were also pleased with the speed at which Apple was able to pull together a multiview function for MLS Season Pass viewers, bringing it to market in around one month. If Apple can bring itself to more readily share its viewership data with MLS owners, there’s no telling how mutually beneficial the relationship could become.
It’s especially good news for club owners that MLS Season Pass is so successful thus far in its inaugural season. A report from late June indicates that once Apple passes a certain threshold of subscription income from the service, it has to share those revenues with the league. If it has not passed the threshold already, a midseason price drop will certainly help bring more users to the service.
MLS Season Pass
MLS Season Pass is a video streaming service that offers every match—including Leagues Cup and the entire Audi MLS Cup Playoffs—with no blackouts. It offers both English and Spanish announcers. MLS Season Pass also offers pre-match coverage, post-match analysis, highlights, player profiles, interviews, club content, match replays, live MLS NEXT Pro and MLS NEXT matches, and more.