Major League Soccer (MLS) is set to schedule its most attractive matchup from each round of fixtures in a new primetime Sunday evening slot. This move comes as part of the third season of MLS's ten-year, $2.5 billion global deal with Apple.
The new broadcast window, available to all Apple TV+ customers even without an MLS Season Pass subscription, will feature 'Sunday Night Soccer'. This marquee event will be bookended by dedicated pre and postgame studio programming. It also promises enhanced production values, including bespoke graphics in both English and Spanish.
This initiative is one among several changes for the third season of the partnership between MLS and tech giant Apple. While exact subscription numbers have not been made public yet, both parties express satisfaction over the performance of the MLS Season Pass.
New distribution deals
In an effort to expand their reach further, new distribution deals have been agreed upon with Comcast and DirecTV. DirecTV residential customers can now access MLS games via satellite while Comcast’s Xfinity pay-TV platform has integrated Season Pass into its user interface. Both platforms are offering a free trial period while T-Mobile provides its customers with a complimentary subscription. Additionally, Comcast will offer 'MLS 360' for free to all customers – marking it as the first time this whiparound show has been available without a subscription.
When asked if these agreements were due to insufficient exposure from MLS Season Pass, Seth Bacon - executive president of media at MLS - stated that it was simply an evolution in their streaming-first partnership strategy which is unique in sports broadcasting.
Seth Bacon, Executive President of media at MLS, said:
“It’s about fan growth, which drives everything. This isn’t a traditional media rights partnership – we’re running a business together. Every discussion about where we take MLS Season Pass as a product and try to use it as a megaphone to attract new fans is done in unison. We want to be able to aggregate audiences as much as we can. The entire industry is talking about the right way to do that.”
Commitment to traditional broadcast partners
While Apple holds global rights to every single game under this agreement, non-exclusive deals exist with Fox in the US and TSN in Canada serving as promotional tools for MLB Season Pass. Bacon reiterated MLS's commitment to its linear partners, stating that the league is always exploring new ways to optimize its linear window and may expand this model to other countries.
As part of the expanded partnership with IMG, MLS Productions has moved into a new 10,000 square foot facility at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. This facility will house studio shows and remote production capabilities. MLS also plans to offer 'Onside', a new docuseries produced by Box to Box. Furthermore, they are planning an array of social and digital content for first- and third-party platforms.
These developments mark an exciting time for both sports fans and sports betting enthusiasts alike as Major League Soccer continues its innovative approach towards broadcasting in partnership with Apple TV+.
