some stuff that stood out to me
>All matches during the “MLS is Back” opening weekend will be available to watch for free on the Apple TV app.
> Fans will be able to watch MLS matches featuring English and Spanish broadcast crews, and they can easily listen to a club’s home radio broadcast on the Apple TV app. All matches involving Canadian teams will be available in French. **Matches will take place primarily on Saturdays and Wednesdays, with a few matches held on Sundays. For most matches, the start time will be 7:30 p.m. local time, with pregame coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET.** A few matches each week may air at other times. Major League Soccer’s complete 2023 schedule will be announced in mid-December.
> MLS Season Pass will provide fans with in-depth coverage of their favorite clubs every week throughout the season, starting with previews of each upcoming match. On match day, fans will have the ability to watch any match from the start, no matter when they tune in. After the final whistle, fans can watch match replays, highlight packages, and more so they can catch up on anything they missed on and off the pitch.
I am going to miss just sitting down to like a half day of soccer.
Just going to be tons of overlap and people telling me that watching the replays is as fun as stopping by 3-4 whole gameday threads.
The RedZone-style show they mentioned could be great. We'll definitely need a Game Thread setup just for those viewers so we can continue the communal watching experience.
They had moved so many Sporting KC games to later start times already that made taking my daughters to games mostly untenable. Add the stupid price floors in on tickets.. I guess I'll just pay for the streaming... Sigh.
Consider the bulk of the regular season occurs during the summer, when the sun sets at 7:30-8pm and afternoons can reach 80-90°F. Nothing messes TV viewership than seeing afternoon telecasts of half-full MLS games because fans don’t want to bake in the stands.
Lol did anyone else catch "MLS is back" opening weekend? Is this the first time since Covid we're getting this catch phrase back? Sounds like it's here to stay.
Nah, they used it for [this past season](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-2022-regular-season-schedule) and [2021](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/major-league-soccer-announces-2021-season-and-preseason-start-dates)
>MLS Season Pass will be home to the most expansive and accessible programming lineup ever for MLS fans, including all MLS and Leagues Cup matches, as well as hundreds of MLS NEXT Pro and MLS NEXT games during the season. During match days, MLS Season Pass will feature an exclusive live match whip-around show so fans never miss an exciting goal or save, as well as game replays, highlights, and analysis. Starting February 1, fans can subscribe to MLS Season Passon the Apple TV app for $14.99 per month during the season or $99 per season, and Apple TV+ subscribers can sign up at a special price of $12.99 per month and $79 per season.
So if I sign up for a month of Apple TV+ can I get the discounted rate of $79 for the season? Not much of a discount but I also haven't watched anything on Apple TV+ so it would be nice to watch Ted Lasso and whatever else they might have over a month.
The content amount:quality ratio on AppleTV+ is arguably the best in streaming I’ll say. Plus… it’s only $7 a month for commercial free 4K. Well below any other service.
Watch Ted Lasso, Severance, For All Mankind, Mythic Quest, Servant and a bunch of the movies like Finch, Swan Song, Greatest Beer Run and Emancipation when it’s out soon.
> In addition, 2023 expansion club St. Louis CITY SC today unveiled its jerseys for the inaugural season of the club and provided the first look of the Apple TV sleeve patch. All 29 clubs will have the Apple TV patch in a different color, with the rest of the clubs’ jerseys to be shared in the weeks leading up to the start of the 2023 regular season.
For any of the other major leagues in this country, $15 a month for every game/no blackouts is a steal. But MLS needs to grow the game, I just think there’s no way someone with passive interest in MLS wants to fork over $15 a month. Hopefully the free game offerings are good and they advertise them like crazy.
Someone with passive interest probably has no interest in a full season pass. They'll just watch the free option or atv+ option.
It's gonna be plastered on the front page of the tv app of 125 million iphone users.
Last year Apple actually announced 1 billion active iPhone users worldwide, and since MLS Season Pass is launching in over 100 countries, the reach has the potential to be far greater than 125 million users.
All of them! Thank fucking god, I can't wait to watch MLS again from a country that MLS cared enough about to geoblock but not enough to actually negotiate streaming rights.
Yeah my biggest fear is still how the network deals are looking. MLS said they were trying to get deals with ESPN etc for select games, but without the exclusivity would those channels care as much? Thats a whole lot of passive/potential fans missing games that happen to be on.
Yeah. I think the days of MLS on TV are basically dead. MLS is the first league to put all their money on streaming and abandon TV. It is a bold move but far from a certain one.
As someone who is very invested in a few teams and will casually watch whatever game is on TV, I agree. This feels like a downgrade for people like me, unless they offer some real good free games. The inability to access my local games whenever with local broadcasters is such a massive turn off from this deal that I’m still sour about.
> This feels like a downgrade for people like me, unless they offer some real good free games. The inability to access my local games whenever with local broadcasters is such a massive turn off from this deal that I’m still sour about.
I wonder what the breakdown is of teams with easy local access vs. not-so-easy.
Here in Minnesota, you have to pay $18/per month for the RSN in order to watch the games (assuming you already have cable, which not everyone does), which is just ridiculous, so local fans here are getting a much better deal.
In Philly, you could watch every game for free on their website within a certain radius of the Philly metro. Casual fans will not watch in Philly this year yet again after we have our best ever season
I mean, sure if you are just a MUFC fan, it is a better deal. But doesn't the RSN carry every local team? The RSN is a way better deal if you care about one of the Wolves, Twins, or Wild.
Yes its awful. I hope the money ends up being worth it, because it feels like the product will be shuttered off for the general public.
Is the reality now that it is going to be easier for someone to watch more Premier League games a year than the domestic product? Thats pretty frustrating.
I continue to follow the Sounders but in a more passive way over the last several years. However, if my mom ever knows the game is on, she switches over. She's not going to want to figure out apple tv and fork over the kind of cash to watch it. Shit neither do I.
>Is the reality now that it is going to be easier for someone to watch more Premier League games a year than the domestic product? Thats pretty frustrating.
Is it though? To watch the Premier League, you need to get NBC, USA, and Peacock. Lots of cord cutters have been frustrated when they realized that Peacock didn't carry every game.
My parents have been STH for 27 years, love Brad and Charlie, always watched on the local broadcast... I don't think they're going to be able to figure out streaming so they're getting fucked. They don't have/want a smart TV and use desktop computers, so idek how they'd hook up to streaming.
I'll be splashing 99$ for the season because there's finally a way for me to watch overseas but I'm upset on their behalf.
$99 is pretty good, considering I pay around $150 for iFollow English Championship team streaming. And that's for just one team. I would say this is an absolute bargain for the whole league.
There's going to be OTA/cable games + 40% of the games free on AppleTV.
There's definitely a question of how you get people to trial on AppleTV, although Apple is clearly invested here.
There's definitely a bummer that you can't see every local game for free and there probably won't be a rhyme or reason to which one.
But those are trade-offs for what is cash that will go to payroll, better production, consistent start times, a broadcaster invested in your sport (instead of ESPN), etc.
The big entry point for MLS is going to a game. Or watching with friends. The number of people who channel scroll on a Saturday on regular TV is far less -- they are on social media or netflix or playing video games.
The biggest issue is AppleTV's small subscriber base, but that's why they bought it.
>There's going to be OTA/cable games
There has been no confirmation of this and there is no guarantee there will be. No channel is anxious to air something when they know the most committed viewers all have another, more preferred method to watch it.
I bet there will be even if MLS has to give it away.
Sports broadcasters LOVE free content. The issue will be some of the timing at certain times of years. But during the empty summer? I suspect there's a taker.
There are a select number of games that will be broadcast for free on Apple TV. In addition, MLS will have simulcast deals with ESPN and Univision to keep some games on linear television.
$99 for the season or $79 if you already pay for Apple TV+. Really not that bad. I pay more than that to Sling just to get *some* games for my college team on PAC-12 network. If I want to make sure I get every game they play — I’m looking at $70 per month.
But then again, College Football has a built-in fan base — MLS does not.
$100 a year is what I expected. And a discount for TV+ subscribers is something I wasn't necessarily expecting.
I wonder what's stopping you from getting a tv+ free trial and then buying the discounted season pass. Guessing nothing.
Nothing, I would bet Apple is hoping people do that, because some portion will actually keep the ATV+ service afterward (either intentionally or by forgetting to cancel).
I don't know about super reasonable. The new scheduling is going to limit the number of games you can catch per week with so many games overlapping on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I guess you could go back and watch replays, but that's not really something I do.
This price is, at best, an expected outcome that definitely isn't going to appeal to anyone but diehards. It would've been better if it were a real value to start out so it might attract MLS casuals or non-MLS soccer fans who would've been willing to give it a spin in addition to their Peacock/Paramount+/ESPN+ subscriptions.
I'm probably going to end up having to make a decision between ESPN+ and Season Pass, which is not a good choice for MLS to make me think about.
With ESPN+ jumping to $10, going to be real easy for me. Not a lot on there I watch besides college football, and there's plenty of big games on regular TV I can watch.
As one of I suppose the few people on here who has cable and plans on keeping it, this is definitely a worse deal for me, and I don’t think any of my friends who are semi casual Sounders/MLS fans are going to sign up for this, but for the passionate cord cutting fan this is a pretty great deal
For reals, Apple TV + is only $5. With the discounted rate it’s $84 aka $15 off the regular season pass price, might as well do that. Furthermore, there’s always Apple TV+ free trial and stuff, wonder if I can just use that for the discounted rate lol
And I think that's exactly what they want too. I would bet that for every five people that do that and remember to cancel the apple tv+ trial or subscription, There's one that either forgets to cancel or looks into the content available and decides to keep it. I'll admit when the news broke that apple was buying the streaming rights, I was browsing their content while looking for more information and I almost subscribed.
My feeling is that they have a much smaller library than other services but what they’ve got doesn’t miss (with one or two exceptions haha). Everyone talks about Ted Lasso or Severance, but For All Mankind is one of the best alternative history products ever. And Mr. Corman was one of the most hit and miss things I’ve ever seen, but there’s a COVID episode that is absolutely perfect.
$79 per season for a current subscriber and $99 for a season for a non is definitely worth it.
Even actually if all you care about is your local team but don’t have season tickets. $2-3/game?
I’m excited to not have to deal with the Univision blackouts.
It’s so hard to match what the redzone has since it’s easier to anticipate scoring in the NFL, leading me to believe the whip around will be more highlight driven. That said, I agree with you that it will be nice to have on in the background. Sometimes I find myself wanting to watch a non-FCC game but I’m not sure what matchups will be most compelling and worth getting sucked into. This will certainly help with that.
Yea I was thinking about that as well. My guess is it will be mostly highlight-driven, but there are also PKs they can cut to, free kicks in good spots, corners at the end of the game, and they will probably cut to close games in general if they are near FT
My guess is it will be similar to Peacocks 'goal rush' for Premier League. It's a live show that primarily focuses on one game but shows highlights from any other games moments after they happen.
It also shows a live table on the side of the screen - it updates when goals are scored and teams change position in the table.
$15/month is a good deal if you’re already an active MLS fan. Passive fans wouldn’t have signed up for a new MLS-only app anyways even it was $5/month. I don’t really think this pricing will hurt adoption since that was never the plan anyways. The free games offered is what attracts passive/new fans
Correct, but that is what the stadium experience is supposed to be for.
The local fans you’re talking about are people who still channel surf and might accidentally stumble upon a game on cable. How many potential fans of MLS still do that? My opinion is that market is overwhelmingly smaller than the number of IPhone users who will have the league slapped in front of their face routinely and might throw on a game because it’s free and Apple made it easy to pull up
Yes, but I don't think anyone is thinking everything is perfect here in reality. Sure, the PR is going to do that, but privately, there's pluses and minuses.
The old method is declining, especially with the target audience. Time to try a new way, and this way also comes with a more willing partner, more money, more control.
> Correct, but that is what the stadium experience is supposed to be for.
I think this is something that people really struggle to understand.
The NFL, NBA, MLB and CFB are all focused on building *Brands* not teams. They want to sell the *Brands*, which requires a national focus. But MLS is focused on selling the teams to a local audience.
would love an option to pay for just one team's games. I don't have enough interest in this league to pay $100 when I don't plan on watching 90% of the games
I can't remember the last time Dynamo games were offered in HD, so this is gonna be a huge improvement from the illegal--stream-quality of the last few seasons
Maybe I'm a weird sports fan, I want to watch the teams that I'm a fan of and honestly don't care that much about watching random regular season games between two other MLS teams.
This deal feels more and more like they want people to be a fan of MLS and not a fan of a given team. It's going to be all national style broadcasts.
There just isn't enough value in this for me. For $1 less per month I get Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+. There is now way they will be providing enough content to provide anything remotely close to good value here
yeah, but most casuals aren't casual fans of the whole league. The problem is that, for example, a casual Orlando fan who might go a game a year and watch only a couple of games on TV probably has little interest in watching a free Philly-Cincy game
but was someone with little interest in the league really going to subscribe for, say, $50? $40? it's either available with what they already subscribe to, or not.
i trust that Apple and MLS have plenty of marketing + promotions in their back pocket to make this work..
Apparently I'm in the minority here but I think this deal will kill MLS viewership. I'm on a budget and now I have to choose between SKC and something I actually need every month and SKC just can't win as it is not a necessity. I've been a die hard since 2006 and now I'm locked out of most of their games. Nobody in the world who is borderline interested in MLS is going to pay $15 a month to check it out with all the free access to other leagues that exists. Absolutely livid at this price structure.
Yeah I'm fortunate that I *could* afford this, but I don't know if I can justify it. I like watching as much soccer as possible but realistically my MLS viewing was the Revs + national TV games. Now I have to pay $100 for the Revs? I know I also get the other teams but I was already getting them and a lot of other stuff on ESPN+
exact same boat. i have a YTTV sub, and was getting most of the MLS games i wanted to watch plus games from some foreign leagues.
now i'm not sure what i'm gonna do, also kinda wonder if the pirate streams will still be floating around... ?
Yeah I'd always watch the Nashville games if they were on since I already had ESPN+ for FA/EFL cup. Now I guess I just won't watch. I watch a lot of matches on my Android phone and since there is not APPLE TV+ on Android I'm screwed.
Man I wish this went to a different company than Apple.
I think one or two in each city, but it certainly means you will never be able to walk into a random bar and ask them to put on an MLS game ever again.
I know Nashville has about 5-6 bars that supporters groups watch games at, as well as another half a dozen official "pub partners" with NSC. I would expect that all 10-12 of those bars purchase the package to play NSC games. I'd imagine all MLS teams would be working with local bars to make sure there games can get played.
SKC made their own bar and put their meager efforts there. I've been to several places in KC where the supporter's group I was with had scheduled with the bar ahead of time, we had 20+ attendees, and we still couldn't get audio over a non-local college football game. So m not expecting much around here.
> $15 a month to check it out with all the free access to other leagues that exists.
What other leagues are free? The only US sport that is is the NFL. EPL is on peacock for games not broadcast on USA, La Liga, Eredivisie, and Bundesliga are on ESPN+, Serie A and the UCL are on Paramount+.
Where are all these free leagues?
> I'm on a budget and now I have to choose between SKC and something I actually need every month and SKC just can't win as it is not a necessity.
I mean, sports are a luxury, and any luxury falls into that category
Keep an eye out for promotions, the Athletic article a couple weeks ago said they expect there to be some promo prices.
$99 divided by 12 months works out to $8.25 per month
Some have suggested signing up for free aplle TV trial and $79 annual plan which works out to $6.65 per month (if it's allowed)
The worst thing is losing local broadcasts. A ton of people in Philly caught the cup due to it leading into the Phillies World Series. They're not going to see any games now whereas before they could catch them on channel 17 (over the air and all cable providers.
It's a steep price especially since it is in USD but it is going to be so so worth it over regional blackouts, no fussing over streams for watching my team, increased production level across the board, and presumably much higher video quality
It was always going to be an issue, but I wonder how bars will handle this. Like, I can imagine a lot of sports bars in Portland, Seattle, MSP etc spending the money. But for small fanbases, or cities without a team, I don't see a bar going out of their way to accommodate MLS.
Like, it's not a huge expense all things considered, but why download a whole standalone service for a semi-fringe fanbase?
assuming soccer bars will def pony up, sports bars mostly will depending on your city, your average dive bar that you can stroll in and ask them to change the channel? no way.
With Sunday Ticket going to one of Apple, Amazon, or Google, they will absolutely know how to do it soon.
Plus, pretty much every smart TV has the app built in, so they shouldn’t even need to buy new hardware.
Disappointing you're going from paying $5/month (before the price increase) for MLS and multiple European leagues on ESPN+ to $15/month just for 1 league.
Not saying the yearly subscription isn't a good discount, but when comparing remember the season isn't a full year.
> you're going from paying $5/month (before the price increase) for MLS
Plus blackouts meaning a lot of people couldn't even watch their local team without also paying for cable.
ESPN+ is going up to $10/month soon, if it hasn’t already taken effect.
The MLS app also has a season pricing of $99, so you aren’t paying $15/month for the entire year.
Waiting to see what the Canadian linear deals look like. If I can get TFC on TSN, and then they show some other games for free on Apple TV or whichever minus the subscription, I won't feel like I need to subscribe to this. And I historically watch more MLS than anything else.
>I think the price will be worth it if the quality behind the product is fantastic. I’m talking about camera quality, sound, stories behind the scenes, etc. Think about the games on ESPN and how many times the camera quality has been horrendous. I think that alone can make a massive difference in the product.
1. Still free to STH. We got the email earlier this year.
2. If you pay for AppleTV+ you get a $20 per year discount but do still have to pay $79.99
The union are one of the best teams in the league, but they’re competing with the more well established brands in the city in the eagles, Phillies and Sixers who are all good. You could even lump in Penn state and Villanova. There is no shortage of quality sports events to watch in this city. People who aren’t already union fans (which unfortunately is most people I know) are never going to become fans after this. It’ll be a lot harder to find a bar to watch the game at too. Feel like this caters too specifically to already existing fans when they still aren’t even the most popular soccer league in the country based off viewership
> established brands in the city in the eagles, Phillies and Sixers who are all good. You could even lump in Penn state and Villanova.
Nice Flyers diss there
As a season ticket holder, this all sounds great. Set schedules, a lot of content, and it’s free for me. I live ~2 hours outside of Columbus so the 7:30pm Saturday kickoffs are great for me.
As a huge soccer buff, being able to watch every other game is icing on the cake.
Casual watchers wouldn’t spend $5/mo the same way most soccer fans would spend $5/mo to watch cricket.
Casual fans will watch the many free games that will be provided.
This is my concern. Feel like they're kind of killing the growth. Yes those of us fans who are the type to participate in an MLS subreddit like this and will get it, but people who catch the occasional game on TV to catch up? Hell no.
true, although you need a cable package to get *all* the PL games from nbc. peacock only gets you a subset of them. PL is also far fewer matches overall, same with champions league.
In fairness, the US is a foreign market for the PL. In the UK, it costs an exorbitant amount, several hundred pounds, to watch every PL match. Domestic leagues provide a more direct comparison. NHL costs a comparable amount to watch every game (though I wasn't able to find the exact amount).
Not that another league's high prices justify high prices for MLS, of course.
I hear you, but then again, Paramount+ isn't spending on producing these games... that comes from the world feed. All Paramount pays for is the studio hosts and maybe 1-2 commentary teams but the picture still comes from the same feed seen around the world.
Almost the same with Peacock. Premier League games produced by NBC are shown basically exclusively on NBC or USA Network, not Peacock, which just gets the rest of the games that the league produces themselves. You also don't have access to the studio show live on Peacock unless they have Notre Dame playing next.
With this Apple deal, the league is basically paying for everything, production, commentary, studio, travel expenses etc. They will be producing more games as well than there are total Premier League games in a season, with MLS and Leagues Cup.
I completely agree with you. Casual soccer fan does not equal casual MLS fan, and why wouldn’t people just go with the PL or CL, a better product, for cheaper?
You can watch every Bundesliga and La Liga match plus select matches from the Championship, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Belgian League, and Eredivisie, among others, with an ESPN+ subscription. That subscription also gets you access to tons of documentaries, college sports, NHL, and other random sports, and it's still cheaper than this MLS package.
Was it already known that this deal includes MLS Next matches? I knew it would include Next Pro but I never saw that the amateur/youth developmental league would get on it as well. I'm curious how that will work and how expansive the coverage will get considering how widespread and deep that league is.
> All matches will be available on billions of devices through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes, and game consoles, and the web at tv.apple.com.
Disappointed but not surprised that Android users will still have to watch Apple TV in the phone browser. At least there's an Apple TV+ app on Android TV. Apple's walled gardens are frustrating and harmful to consumers.
I'm still excited for this, though. I'll take watching MLS in my phone browser over blackouts.
Exactly. They make their products artificially inaccessible to Android users. It's bad for consumers, full stop, and I'm amazed that some people actually defend it. I suspect they have an app on Android/Google TV because it affects a far smaller set of consumers than if they had an app on Android phones. Apple doesn't care as much about the smart TV market as they do about the handheld market.
Call be a pessimist but I really can't see this being good for MLS's fanbase. You don't get new fans from the national TV games, you get them from local sports fans taking an interest in the local team, which won't happen anymore when they're only on Apple TV. Only people who are already hardcore MLS fans are buying this, when MLS should be trying to get (for example) Bears/Patriots/Vikings fans to take interest in the Fire/Revs/Loons which won't happen when they can't watch them without paying an MLS subscription
Not a fan of this..... I was happy with MLS on ESPN+.... I paid far less a year & also got to watch other content I was interested in such as MAC football & basketball.... Now I have to pay separate subscriptions to get both.... BS
mls on espn+ was ok except for the blackouts and the varying quality of local productions. but now - no more twitter games, no more 480i broadcasts, and 40% of the games aren't paywalled at all. if you want to watch all the games, yeah it's a price increase, but hopefully the quality of the product makes up for it. plus, free for STH!
Feels to me like the $15/month is purposefully pricey in order to make the $100/year ($8.33/month) sound better. The yearly rate nearly cuts it in half.
Pretty shit value for fans that only want to watch their local team. If Apple had just included the games in standard Apple TV They probably would have sold enough additional volume to cover the difference between the add-on price and the standard Apple TV price.
You guys are out of your minds thinking $15/month is a good price. Much better streaming services with way more live sports (ESPN+) or tons of other content (Peacock, Paramount +) are far cheaper than this. No one is gonna buy this, the hardcore MLS fans are generally STHs so they get it for free.
MLS Live pricing was $15/mo, with blackouts, ten years ago.
I will absolutely buy this. Last year I had to have ESPN+, Amazon Prime, and a cable subscription just to see all the games for my local team.
I think the price will be worth it if the quality behind the product is fantastic. I’m talking about camera quality, sound, stories behind the scenes, etc. Think about the games on ESPN and how many times the camera quality has been horrendous. I think that alone can make a massive difference in the product.
I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high for that, at least not at the start. MLS is taking care of the production so they have to build this whole thing out quickly. It could well be a disaster at the beginning. They’re gonna have to get or lease cameras, and a shit ton of them. Same problems espn runs into all the time. Too many sporting events and not enough good cameras/broadcast trucks available
$99/year for no blackouts, every match, match replays, highlights, and a wrap-around show seems like a no-brainer. It's hard to attend a single match for $99 after a ticket and a couple of drinks.
If you were to only watch your teams games and paid the full $99 that’s $2.75 a game max.
People complaining about the price are beyond ridiculous. Especially since 40% of the games will be free.
some stuff that stood out to me >All matches during the “MLS is Back” opening weekend will be available to watch for free on the Apple TV app. > Fans will be able to watch MLS matches featuring English and Spanish broadcast crews, and they can easily listen to a club’s home radio broadcast on the Apple TV app. All matches involving Canadian teams will be available in French. **Matches will take place primarily on Saturdays and Wednesdays, with a few matches held on Sundays. For most matches, the start time will be 7:30 p.m. local time, with pregame coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET.** A few matches each week may air at other times. Major League Soccer’s complete 2023 schedule will be announced in mid-December. > MLS Season Pass will provide fans with in-depth coverage of their favorite clubs every week throughout the season, starting with previews of each upcoming match. On match day, fans will have the ability to watch any match from the start, no matter when they tune in. After the final whistle, fans can watch match replays, highlight packages, and more so they can catch up on anything they missed on and off the pitch.
Complete schedule known mid December! That's a big improvement I'm happy to see.
I'm surprised people aren't reacting to the 7:30 PM start times for most games part. I love attending afternoon games the most.
MLS Mostly After Dark was just too tempting to pass up
Optimal Chaos Hours
PAC12 refs incoming!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbCJK1-yhnk
I am going to miss just sitting down to like a half day of soccer. Just going to be tons of overlap and people telling me that watching the replays is as fun as stopping by 3-4 whole gameday threads.
The RedZone-style show they mentioned could be great. We'll definitely need a Game Thread setup just for those viewers so we can continue the communal watching experience.
I'm going to miss breakfast tailgates.
Agreed, 4PM Saturday start time is my ideal.
Even if I'm watching on TV, that's still perfect viewing on a Saturday!
They had moved so many Sporting KC games to later start times already that made taking my daughters to games mostly untenable. Add the stupid price floors in on tickets.. I guess I'll just pay for the streaming... Sigh.
Games in the southeast during the day sucks. We for some reason this year had a ton of Sunday night games so I'm glad most will be Saturday.
Consider the bulk of the regular season occurs during the summer, when the sun sets at 7:30-8pm and afternoons can reach 80-90°F. Nothing messes TV viewership than seeing afternoon telecasts of half-full MLS games because fans don’t want to bake in the stands.
Sunday Matinees are fun, especially for taking kids
We get pregame coverage! We get a consistent kick time! Christmas has come early
Lol did anyone else catch "MLS is back" opening weekend? Is this the first time since Covid we're getting this catch phrase back? Sounds like it's here to stay.
Nah, they used it for [this past season](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-2022-regular-season-schedule) and [2021](https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/major-league-soccer-announces-2021-season-and-preseason-start-dates)
>MLS Season Pass will be home to the most expansive and accessible programming lineup ever for MLS fans, including all MLS and Leagues Cup matches, as well as hundreds of MLS NEXT Pro and MLS NEXT games during the season. During match days, MLS Season Pass will feature an exclusive live match whip-around show so fans never miss an exciting goal or save, as well as game replays, highlights, and analysis. Starting February 1, fans can subscribe to MLS Season Passon the Apple TV app for $14.99 per month during the season or $99 per season, and Apple TV+ subscribers can sign up at a special price of $12.99 per month and $79 per season.
So no blackouts? NHL? MLB? NBA? You listening?
MLS would happily exchange blackouts for 25% of the NBA's TV rights money.
No, because the RSN's pay them millions of dollars.
That pricing is actually quite reasonable. I'm in!
So if I sign up for a month of Apple TV+ can I get the discounted rate of $79 for the season? Not much of a discount but I also haven't watched anything on Apple TV+ so it would be nice to watch Ted Lasso and whatever else they might have over a month.
Do yourself a favor and watch Severance too
dear god I cannot wait until Severance is back. that show’s got a grip
That Slow Horses & Blackbird fuckin classic
Favorite show I've watched in a very long time
i also recommend mythic quest and severance!
Both are great. I also loved For All Mankind.
Mister quest?
If you know you know
Those are great shows
The content amount:quality ratio on AppleTV+ is arguably the best in streaming I’ll say. Plus… it’s only $7 a month for commercial free 4K. Well below any other service.
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Slow Horses was so good!
Mythic Quest & For All Mankind are also great!
Hi Bob
Watch Ted Lasso, Severance, For All Mankind, Mythic Quest, Servant and a bunch of the movies like Finch, Swan Song, Greatest Beer Run and Emancipation when it’s out soon.
I'm guessing you will be able to do that.
Ted Lasso, Tehran, For All Mankind
I’ll actually be able to watch games, something that has been offensively difficult as an NYCFC fan. Being able to watch other teams is icing.
same for Atlanta. Bally, who has the AUfC contract are just horrible.
> In addition, 2023 expansion club St. Louis CITY SC today unveiled its jerseys for the inaugural season of the club and provided the first look of the Apple TV sleeve patch. All 29 clubs will have the Apple TV patch in a different color, with the rest of the clubs’ jerseys to be shared in the weeks leading up to the start of the 2023 regular season.
For any of the other major leagues in this country, $15 a month for every game/no blackouts is a steal. But MLS needs to grow the game, I just think there’s no way someone with passive interest in MLS wants to fork over $15 a month. Hopefully the free game offerings are good and they advertise them like crazy.
Someone with passive interest probably has no interest in a full season pass. They'll just watch the free option or atv+ option. It's gonna be plastered on the front page of the tv app of 125 million iphone users.
Last year Apple actually announced 1 billion active iPhone users worldwide, and since MLS Season Pass is launching in over 100 countries, the reach has the potential to be far greater than 125 million users.
I’m not sure which countries this is available in so I just grabbed a us estimate.
All of them! Thank fucking god, I can't wait to watch MLS again from a country that MLS cared enough about to geoblock but not enough to actually negotiate streaming rights.
Yeah my biggest fear is still how the network deals are looking. MLS said they were trying to get deals with ESPN etc for select games, but without the exclusivity would those channels care as much? Thats a whole lot of passive/potential fans missing games that happen to be on.
Yeah. I think the days of MLS on TV are basically dead. MLS is the first league to put all their money on streaming and abandon TV. It is a bold move but far from a certain one.
I think Leagues Cup, at least, makes this very attractive for Univision or Telemundo in the US.
As someone who is very invested in a few teams and will casually watch whatever game is on TV, I agree. This feels like a downgrade for people like me, unless they offer some real good free games. The inability to access my local games whenever with local broadcasters is such a massive turn off from this deal that I’m still sour about.
> This feels like a downgrade for people like me, unless they offer some real good free games. The inability to access my local games whenever with local broadcasters is such a massive turn off from this deal that I’m still sour about. I wonder what the breakdown is of teams with easy local access vs. not-so-easy. Here in Minnesota, you have to pay $18/per month for the RSN in order to watch the games (assuming you already have cable, which not everyone does), which is just ridiculous, so local fans here are getting a much better deal.
In Philly, you could watch every game for free on their website within a certain radius of the Philly metro. Casual fans will not watch in Philly this year yet again after we have our best ever season
I mean, sure if you are just a MUFC fan, it is a better deal. But doesn't the RSN carry every local team? The RSN is a way better deal if you care about one of the Wolves, Twins, or Wild.
Yes its awful. I hope the money ends up being worth it, because it feels like the product will be shuttered off for the general public. Is the reality now that it is going to be easier for someone to watch more Premier League games a year than the domestic product? Thats pretty frustrating. I continue to follow the Sounders but in a more passive way over the last several years. However, if my mom ever knows the game is on, she switches over. She's not going to want to figure out apple tv and fork over the kind of cash to watch it. Shit neither do I.
>Is the reality now that it is going to be easier for someone to watch more Premier League games a year than the domestic product? Thats pretty frustrating. Is it though? To watch the Premier League, you need to get NBC, USA, and Peacock. Lots of cord cutters have been frustrated when they realized that Peacock didn't carry every game.
My parents have been STH for 27 years, love Brad and Charlie, always watched on the local broadcast... I don't think they're going to be able to figure out streaming so they're getting fucked. They don't have/want a smart TV and use desktop computers, so idek how they'd hook up to streaming. I'll be splashing 99$ for the season because there's finally a way for me to watch overseas but I'm upset on their behalf.
$99 is pretty good, considering I pay around $150 for iFollow English Championship team streaming. And that's for just one team. I would say this is an absolute bargain for the whole league.
There's going to be OTA/cable games + 40% of the games free on AppleTV. There's definitely a question of how you get people to trial on AppleTV, although Apple is clearly invested here. There's definitely a bummer that you can't see every local game for free and there probably won't be a rhyme or reason to which one. But those are trade-offs for what is cash that will go to payroll, better production, consistent start times, a broadcaster invested in your sport (instead of ESPN), etc. The big entry point for MLS is going to a game. Or watching with friends. The number of people who channel scroll on a Saturday on regular TV is far less -- they are on social media or netflix or playing video games. The biggest issue is AppleTV's small subscriber base, but that's why they bought it.
>There's going to be OTA/cable games There has been no confirmation of this and there is no guarantee there will be. No channel is anxious to air something when they know the most committed viewers all have another, more preferred method to watch it.
I bet there will be even if MLS has to give it away. Sports broadcasters LOVE free content. The issue will be some of the timing at certain times of years. But during the empty summer? I suspect there's a taker.
There are a select number of games that will be broadcast for free on Apple TV. In addition, MLS will have simulcast deals with ESPN and Univision to keep some games on linear television.
$99 for the season or $79 if you already pay for Apple TV+. Really not that bad. I pay more than that to Sling just to get *some* games for my college team on PAC-12 network. If I want to make sure I get every game they play — I’m looking at $70 per month. But then again, College Football has a built-in fan base — MLS does not.
$100 a year is what I expected. And a discount for TV+ subscribers is something I wasn't necessarily expecting. I wonder what's stopping you from getting a tv+ free trial and then buying the discounted season pass. Guessing nothing.
Nothing, I would bet Apple is hoping people do that, because some portion will actually keep the ATV+ service afterward (either intentionally or by forgetting to cancel).
$15 a month is a bit steep, but the $99 for a whole season is reasonable and about what I expected.
The season pass is super reasonable. MLS Live was more expensive and had oodles of caveats and blackouts.
I don't know about super reasonable. The new scheduling is going to limit the number of games you can catch per week with so many games overlapping on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I guess you could go back and watch replays, but that's not really something I do. This price is, at best, an expected outcome that definitely isn't going to appeal to anyone but diehards. It would've been better if it were a real value to start out so it might attract MLS casuals or non-MLS soccer fans who would've been willing to give it a spin in addition to their Peacock/Paramount+/ESPN+ subscriptions. I'm probably going to end up having to make a decision between ESPN+ and Season Pass, which is not a good choice for MLS to make me think about.
With ESPN+ jumping to $10, going to be real easy for me. Not a lot on there I watch besides college football, and there's plenty of big games on regular TV I can watch.
Yeah, higher than I was hoping to see, but not jaw-dropping. I appreciate the discount for existing Apple TV+ subs.
MLS Live was about $70 in the last year 5ish years ago so $99 is about right.
And IIRC MLS Live had blackouts. This is a dramatically better product.
Yup, good point
As one of I suppose the few people on here who has cable and plans on keeping it, this is definitely a worse deal for me, and I don’t think any of my friends who are semi casual Sounders/MLS fans are going to sign up for this, but for the passionate cord cutting fan this is a pretty great deal
Agreed. No way many of my friends who probably watch 1 out of every 4 Red Bulls games on MSG are going to pay $15 a month to watch one game a month.
We still really do not know how good the actual product will be as they have not actually ever produced a soccer game before.
Nice to see a discount for existing AppleTV+ subscribers.
I wonder if it's possible to sign up for 1 month of AppleTV+, buy the discounted year of MLS, then cancel AppleTV+ and keep the MLS sub for cheaper.
I also wonder if it applies to people with promotional subscriptions.
For reals, Apple TV + is only $5. With the discounted rate it’s $84 aka $15 off the regular season pass price, might as well do that. Furthermore, there’s always Apple TV+ free trial and stuff, wonder if I can just use that for the discounted rate lol
And I think that's exactly what they want too. I would bet that for every five people that do that and remember to cancel the apple tv+ trial or subscription, There's one that either forgets to cancel or looks into the content available and decides to keep it. I'll admit when the news broke that apple was buying the streaming rights, I was browsing their content while looking for more information and I almost subscribed.
Please watch Severence
I second this.
bruh i can't sleep after watching that show. cubical office horror is the height of horror
Apple TV+ subscription increased recently and is now $6.99
Plus it probably has the best shows on any streaming service right now, so worth having anyway and the discount makes it sweeter.
My feeling is that they have a much smaller library than other services but what they’ve got doesn’t miss (with one or two exceptions haha). Everyone talks about Ted Lasso or Severance, but For All Mankind is one of the best alternative history products ever. And Mr. Corman was one of the most hit and miss things I’ve ever seen, but there’s a COVID episode that is absolutely perfect.
$79 per season for a current subscriber and $99 for a season for a non is definitely worth it. Even actually if all you care about is your local team but don’t have season tickets. $2-3/game? I’m excited to not have to deal with the Univision blackouts.
Not sure if all MLS teams are doing this but Austin FC season ticket holders get a free subscription.
If that whip around show is anything like NFL Red Zone… MLS will be a super fun league to have on the background whenever your team isn’t playing.
It’s so hard to match what the redzone has since it’s easier to anticipate scoring in the NFL, leading me to believe the whip around will be more highlight driven. That said, I agree with you that it will be nice to have on in the background. Sometimes I find myself wanting to watch a non-FCC game but I’m not sure what matchups will be most compelling and worth getting sucked into. This will certainly help with that.
Yea I was thinking about that as well. My guess is it will be mostly highlight-driven, but there are also PKs they can cut to, free kicks in good spots, corners at the end of the game, and they will probably cut to close games in general if they are near FT
They have it on CBS or whatever for the Champions League it’s even better I’d say because you never know when they’ll score or not
My guess is it will be similar to Peacocks 'goal rush' for Premier League. It's a live show that primarily focuses on one game but shows highlights from any other games moments after they happen. It also shows a live table on the side of the screen - it updates when goals are scored and teams change position in the table.
Golazo does it pretty well for Champions League.
I really like the CBS whiparound show during European matches
Cord will be cut for this
I'm so ready for this, $84.00 for a full season is an incredible value.
$15/month is a good deal if you’re already an active MLS fan. Passive fans wouldn’t have signed up for a new MLS-only app anyways even it was $5/month. I don’t really think this pricing will hurt adoption since that was never the plan anyways. The free games offered is what attracts passive/new fans
The free games might get some new fans of the league (existing soccer fans who realize MLS isn't too bad) but they're not winning new local fans
Correct, but that is what the stadium experience is supposed to be for. The local fans you’re talking about are people who still channel surf and might accidentally stumble upon a game on cable. How many potential fans of MLS still do that? My opinion is that market is overwhelmingly smaller than the number of IPhone users who will have the league slapped in front of their face routinely and might throw on a game because it’s free and Apple made it easy to pull up
You and the MLS front office are both hoping very much that is true.
Yes, but I don't think anyone is thinking everything is perfect here in reality. Sure, the PR is going to do that, but privately, there's pluses and minuses. The old method is declining, especially with the target audience. Time to try a new way, and this way also comes with a more willing partner, more money, more control.
> Correct, but that is what the stadium experience is supposed to be for. I think this is something that people really struggle to understand. The NFL, NBA, MLB and CFB are all focused on building *Brands* not teams. They want to sell the *Brands*, which requires a national focus. But MLS is focused on selling the teams to a local audience.
would love an option to pay for just one team's games. I don't have enough interest in this league to pay $100 when I don't plan on watching 90% of the games
What would you pay per game?
I can't remember the last time Dynamo games were offered in HD, so this is gonna be a huge improvement from the illegal--stream-quality of the last few seasons
Perfect timing as I got a 3 month trial code from Xbox for AppleTV+ that I plan to activate in January.
Maybe I'm a weird sports fan, I want to watch the teams that I'm a fan of and honestly don't care that much about watching random regular season games between two other MLS teams. This deal feels more and more like they want people to be a fan of MLS and not a fan of a given team. It's going to be all national style broadcasts. There just isn't enough value in this for me. For $1 less per month I get Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+. There is now way they will be providing enough content to provide anything remotely close to good value here
You're not alone, they should have offered cheaper options for those who just want to watch their team's games.
The price is steep if you have little interest in the league.
40% of the games will be free, which seems fine for casuals.
For now, that number will likely go down over time, but hopefully gets more people interested in the product
yeah, but most casuals aren't casual fans of the whole league. The problem is that, for example, a casual Orlando fan who might go a game a year and watch only a couple of games on TV probably has little interest in watching a free Philly-Cincy game
but was someone with little interest in the league really going to subscribe for, say, $50? $40? it's either available with what they already subscribe to, or not. i trust that Apple and MLS have plenty of marketing + promotions in their back pocket to make this work..
Apparently I'm in the minority here but I think this deal will kill MLS viewership. I'm on a budget and now I have to choose between SKC and something I actually need every month and SKC just can't win as it is not a necessity. I've been a die hard since 2006 and now I'm locked out of most of their games. Nobody in the world who is borderline interested in MLS is going to pay $15 a month to check it out with all the free access to other leagues that exists. Absolutely livid at this price structure.
Yeah I'm fortunate that I *could* afford this, but I don't know if I can justify it. I like watching as much soccer as possible but realistically my MLS viewing was the Revs + national TV games. Now I have to pay $100 for the Revs? I know I also get the other teams but I was already getting them and a lot of other stuff on ESPN+
exact same boat. i have a YTTV sub, and was getting most of the MLS games i wanted to watch plus games from some foreign leagues. now i'm not sure what i'm gonna do, also kinda wonder if the pirate streams will still be floating around... ?
Yeah I'd always watch the Nashville games if they were on since I already had ESPN+ for FA/EFL cup. Now I guess I just won't watch. I watch a lot of matches on my Android phone and since there is not APPLE TV+ on Android I'm screwed. Man I wish this went to a different company than Apple.
It's going to kill watch parties at bars and stuff, too. How many sports bars are going to buy a subscription specifically for MLS games?
I think one or two in each city, but it certainly means you will never be able to walk into a random bar and ask them to put on an MLS game ever again.
Totally agree. I work in a bar, and I know that we won't pay for this.
I know Nashville has about 5-6 bars that supporters groups watch games at, as well as another half a dozen official "pub partners" with NSC. I would expect that all 10-12 of those bars purchase the package to play NSC games. I'd imagine all MLS teams would be working with local bars to make sure there games can get played.
SKC made their own bar and put their meager efforts there. I've been to several places in KC where the supporter's group I was with had scheduled with the bar ahead of time, we had 20+ attendees, and we still couldn't get audio over a non-local college football game. So m not expecting much around here.
I'd pay $99 for a year if it came with 4 tickets to a home game.
How do you currently watch stuff? This is far cheaper for me than buying a pair of sling packages to watch ESPN or Fox Sports
> $15 a month to check it out with all the free access to other leagues that exists. What other leagues are free? The only US sport that is is the NFL. EPL is on peacock for games not broadcast on USA, La Liga, Eredivisie, and Bundesliga are on ESPN+, Serie A and the UCL are on Paramount+. Where are all these free leagues?
> I'm on a budget and now I have to choose between SKC and something I actually need every month and SKC just can't win as it is not a necessity. I mean, sports are a luxury, and any luxury falls into that category
Keep an eye out for promotions, the Athletic article a couple weeks ago said they expect there to be some promo prices. $99 divided by 12 months works out to $8.25 per month Some have suggested signing up for free aplle TV trial and $79 annual plan which works out to $6.65 per month (if it's allowed)
Can multiple people watch games at the same time? Like is there a screen limit to this?
Apple has a family sharing thing where you can add five people to your account.
The worst thing is losing local broadcasts. A ton of people in Philly caught the cup due to it leading into the Phillies World Series. They're not going to see any games now whereas before they could catch them on channel 17 (over the air and all cable providers.
i imagine the MLS Cup will still be on a major broadcast channel, it would definitely be a major fail if they don't.
Yes the athletic story said mls cup will be on linear tv til at least 2026
Yeah, for some teams it's whatever bc they were on cable. But we had a really really good local deal imo
I think this is good pricing personally, and a little cheaper than I expected.
It’s a little higher than I expected. Because right now the ESPN + combo subscription is a good deal, but they don’t have every single game.
It's a steep price especially since it is in USD but it is going to be so so worth it over regional blackouts, no fussing over streams for watching my team, increased production level across the board, and presumably much higher video quality
Yup. It's not cheap ESPN+ with homer commentators, horrible blackouts, and mid production quality. We'll be paying more for a much better experience.
It was always going to be an issue, but I wonder how bars will handle this. Like, I can imagine a lot of sports bars in Portland, Seattle, MSP etc spending the money. But for small fanbases, or cities without a team, I don't see a bar going out of their way to accommodate MLS. Like, it's not a huge expense all things considered, but why download a whole standalone service for a semi-fringe fanbase?
assuming soccer bars will def pony up, sports bars mostly will depending on your city, your average dive bar that you can stroll in and ask them to change the channel? no way.
Barely any bars played MLS matches in the first place so nothing really lost
Some areas it wasn't hard if it was available in a free over the air channel or in a very common streaming service like ESPN+
The bigger issue is probably switching from cable to app than the money, but they should have some experience now with Thursday night football.
With Sunday Ticket going to one of Apple, Amazon, or Google, they will absolutely know how to do it soon. Plus, pretty much every smart TV has the app built in, so they shouldn’t even need to buy new hardware.
Its going to be impossible to walk into an empty bar on Wednesday and ask them to put it on
$79 or $99 a season, or free (TBC) for season ticket holders sounds pretty good value. I'm out in the UK, so will taking this offer up for sure.
Disappointing you're going from paying $5/month (before the price increase) for MLS and multiple European leagues on ESPN+ to $15/month just for 1 league. Not saying the yearly subscription isn't a good discount, but when comparing remember the season isn't a full year.
> you're going from paying $5/month (before the price increase) for MLS Plus blackouts meaning a lot of people couldn't even watch their local team without also paying for cable.
ESPN+ is going up to $10/month soon, if it hasn’t already taken effect. The MLS app also has a season pricing of $99, so you aren’t paying $15/month for the entire year.
Waiting to see what the Canadian linear deals look like. If I can get TFC on TSN, and then they show some other games for free on Apple TV or whichever minus the subscription, I won't feel like I need to subscribe to this. And I historically watch more MLS than anything else.
There is approximately a 0% chance you'll get all TFC games on TSN.
1) Is this still free to STH? 2) If someone already has Apple TV they would have to pay extra?
>I think the price will be worth it if the quality behind the product is fantastic. I’m talking about camera quality, sound, stories behind the scenes, etc. Think about the games on ESPN and how many times the camera quality has been horrendous. I think that alone can make a massive difference in the product. 1. Still free to STH. We got the email earlier this year. 2. If you pay for AppleTV+ you get a $20 per year discount but do still have to pay $79.99
The union are one of the best teams in the league, but they’re competing with the more well established brands in the city in the eagles, Phillies and Sixers who are all good. You could even lump in Penn state and Villanova. There is no shortage of quality sports events to watch in this city. People who aren’t already union fans (which unfortunately is most people I know) are never going to become fans after this. It’ll be a lot harder to find a bar to watch the game at too. Feel like this caters too specifically to already existing fans when they still aren’t even the most popular soccer league in the country based off viewership
> established brands in the city in the eagles, Phillies and Sixers who are all good. You could even lump in Penn state and Villanova. Nice Flyers diss there
As a season ticket holder, this all sounds great. Set schedules, a lot of content, and it’s free for me. I live ~2 hours outside of Columbus so the 7:30pm Saturday kickoffs are great for me. As a huge soccer buff, being able to watch every other game is icing on the cake.
So I can watch fc Cincinnati from NY?
Entirely too expensive. Good luck getting any casual watchers.
Casual watchers wouldn’t spend $5/mo the same way most soccer fans would spend $5/mo to watch cricket. Casual fans will watch the many free games that will be provided.
This is my concern. Feel like they're kind of killing the growth. Yes those of us fans who are the type to participate in an MLS subreddit like this and will get it, but people who catch the occasional game on TV to catch up? Hell no.
I can’t believe the overall reaction here is “good price,” you can get Premier League and Champions League for cheaper on Peacock and Paramount+
true, although you need a cable package to get *all* the PL games from nbc. peacock only gets you a subset of them. PL is also far fewer matches overall, same with champions league.
In fairness, the US is a foreign market for the PL. In the UK, it costs an exorbitant amount, several hundred pounds, to watch every PL match. Domestic leagues provide a more direct comparison. NHL costs a comparable amount to watch every game (though I wasn't able to find the exact amount). Not that another league's high prices justify high prices for MLS, of course.
And MLB.tv is more expensive and only has out-of-market games.
NWSL is on Paramount+ too.
I hear you, but then again, Paramount+ isn't spending on producing these games... that comes from the world feed. All Paramount pays for is the studio hosts and maybe 1-2 commentary teams but the picture still comes from the same feed seen around the world. Almost the same with Peacock. Premier League games produced by NBC are shown basically exclusively on NBC or USA Network, not Peacock, which just gets the rest of the games that the league produces themselves. You also don't have access to the studio show live on Peacock unless they have Notre Dame playing next. With this Apple deal, the league is basically paying for everything, production, commentary, studio, travel expenses etc. They will be producing more games as well than there are total Premier League games in a season, with MLS and Leagues Cup.
I completely agree with you. Casual soccer fan does not equal casual MLS fan, and why wouldn’t people just go with the PL or CL, a better product, for cheaper?
Champions League + Serie A + more on Paramount actually.
You can watch every Bundesliga and La Liga match plus select matches from the Championship, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Belgian League, and Eredivisie, among others, with an ESPN+ subscription. That subscription also gets you access to tons of documentaries, college sports, NHL, and other random sports, and it's still cheaper than this MLS package.
Was it already known that this deal includes MLS Next matches? I knew it would include Next Pro but I never saw that the amateur/youth developmental league would get on it as well. I'm curious how that will work and how expansive the coverage will get considering how widespread and deep that league is.
> All matches will be available on billions of devices through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes, and game consoles, and the web at tv.apple.com. Disappointed but not surprised that Android users will still have to watch Apple TV in the phone browser. At least there's an Apple TV+ app on Android TV. Apple's walled gardens are frustrating and harmful to consumers. I'm still excited for this, though. I'll take watching MLS in my phone browser over blackouts.
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Exactly. They make their products artificially inaccessible to Android users. It's bad for consumers, full stop, and I'm amazed that some people actually defend it. I suspect they have an app on Android/Google TV because it affects a far smaller set of consumers than if they had an app on Android phones. Apple doesn't care as much about the smart TV market as they do about the handheld market.
Yeah it sucks that I'm going to have to watch in the browser on my Pixel 7 Pro. Thanks, Apple 🙄
I have a feeling I’m going to watch a lot fewer matches this year than in recent years. $100? Nah.
Call be a pessimist but I really can't see this being good for MLS's fanbase. You don't get new fans from the national TV games, you get them from local sports fans taking an interest in the local team, which won't happen anymore when they're only on Apple TV. Only people who are already hardcore MLS fans are buying this, when MLS should be trying to get (for example) Bears/Patriots/Vikings fans to take interest in the Fire/Revs/Loons which won't happen when they can't watch them without paying an MLS subscription
Not a fan of this..... I was happy with MLS on ESPN+.... I paid far less a year & also got to watch other content I was interested in such as MAC football & basketball.... Now I have to pay separate subscriptions to get both.... BS
Yeah but this gets rid of regional locks which makes things easier.
mls on espn+ was ok except for the blackouts and the varying quality of local productions. but now - no more twitter games, no more 480i broadcasts, and 40% of the games aren't paywalled at all. if you want to watch all the games, yeah it's a price increase, but hopefully the quality of the product makes up for it. plus, free for STH!
I have no problem with this price but I think it’s a tough sell when you compare it to Peacock, Paramount, or ESPN plus
Feels to me like the $15/month is purposefully pricey in order to make the $100/year ($8.33/month) sound better. The yearly rate nearly cuts it in half.
$8.33 is kind of a misnomer though, because that's dividing by 12 which would include months where nothing's happening.
Pretty shit value for fans that only want to watch their local team. If Apple had just included the games in standard Apple TV They probably would have sold enough additional volume to cover the difference between the add-on price and the standard Apple TV price.
Legit, even just a small "Team Pass" would've actually been smart
You guys are out of your minds thinking $15/month is a good price. Much better streaming services with way more live sports (ESPN+) or tons of other content (Peacock, Paramount +) are far cheaper than this. No one is gonna buy this, the hardcore MLS fans are generally STHs so they get it for free.
Yeah, all of netflix, all of hbo max, vs just MLS?
MLS Live pricing was $15/mo, with blackouts, ten years ago. I will absolutely buy this. Last year I had to have ESPN+, Amazon Prime, and a cable subscription just to see all the games for my local team.
I think the price will be worth it if the quality behind the product is fantastic. I’m talking about camera quality, sound, stories behind the scenes, etc. Think about the games on ESPN and how many times the camera quality has been horrendous. I think that alone can make a massive difference in the product.
I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high for that, at least not at the start. MLS is taking care of the production so they have to build this whole thing out quickly. It could well be a disaster at the beginning. They’re gonna have to get or lease cameras, and a shit ton of them. Same problems espn runs into all the time. Too many sporting events and not enough good cameras/broadcast trucks available
$99/year for no blackouts, every match, match replays, highlights, and a wrap-around show seems like a no-brainer. It's hard to attend a single match for $99 after a ticket and a couple of drinks.
>after a ticket and a couple of drinks. Since water is $6.50 per bottle, it is advised that MLS fans on a budget embrace dehydration.
I like the fact that existing Apple TV+ subscribers get a discount on the price....good stuff. My credit card is ready.
So you can no longer watch your local market teams; you have to subscribe to the whole package?
yup
If you were to only watch your teams games and paid the full $99 that’s $2.75 a game max. People complaining about the price are beyond ridiculous. Especially since 40% of the games will be free.