Now Streaming...MLS

The MLS season starts this weekend.  You'd be forgiven for not knowing that in a normal year, but you're especially forgiven this year.  Because, chances are, you probably won't watch many MLS games this season even if you want to.  That's all thanks to the league's decision to sign on with Apple TV+ as its primary broadcast partner.

Each major league has dipped its feet into the streaming waters to varying degrees.  Thursday Night Football, of course, is on Amazon Prime, and the NHL has a bunch of ESPN+ exclusive games.  Major League Baseball, meanwhile, has two separate exclusive streaming deals with Apple TV+ and Peacock.  But MLS is the first to have the majority of its games only available on streaming.  And I'm curious to see how it'll work out.

Not every game is exclusive to Apple TV+.  MLS has a secondary TV deal with FOX, which will see 34 regular season and eight postseason games, as well as the MLS Cup (although, only until 2026) broadcast on linear television.  That's it, though.  Every other game will only be available on the MLS Season Pass subscription package, which is separate than Apple TV+.  MLS season ticket holders will receive free access to the package, but everybody else has to pay $99 for the season ($79 if you're already an Apple TV+ subscriber).

If you don't want to pay the $99 (in addition to a regular Apple TV+ subscription) or you want to watch your local team on whatever your local RSN is, though, you're out of luck.  MLS specifically told teams not to sell local broadcasting rights past the 2022 season because they were all being rolled into the Apple contract.  So, there are no more local broadcasts for any team.  You can either watch it on Apple (or FOX) or not at all.

MLS obviously sees some benefit in this.  Otherwise, they wouldn't have signed a 10-year deal with Apple.  Each team has its own dedicated page, but there won't be any blackouts, so fans can watch any game they want.  The league has also taken over production, which gives them complete control over the product.  It also gave them the opportunity to create a more-uniform schedule, with most games on Wednesday and Saturday nights.  (In the past, the schedule was based on TV windows as much as stadium availability.)

All games are being called on-site in both English and Spanish (games involving the three Canadian teams will also have a French-language broadcast).  And, since there are no local broadcasts anymore, a lot of the teams' broadcasters have signed on with Apple, which should bring a little continuity for viewers.  They've even announced that, while no team will have dedicated announcers, broadcasters will work only in specific areas, mainly to cut down on travel costs.  So, there'll at least be some consistency there, since broadcasters will see mainly the same teams and fans will hear mostly the same announcers.

League-specific content is now prominently displayed on the Apple TV app, and, in addition to all league games, there's an MLS 360 whip-around show with highlights and live look-ins.  None of this would be available if MLS hadn't gone to the centralized model, and it certainly wouldn't be available on another platform.  So, all of that is good for the league, too.

But I'm still left wondering whether this will end up being worthwhile.  With the World Cup coming to the United States in 2026, MLS should be doing everything it can to get people excited and expand the sport.  And I'm not sure limiting the availability of its product is the way to do that.

I understand that streaming isn't going anywhere and is the future, but I'm not sure how many people are big enough MLS fans that they'll pay $99 a season to watch it.  Especially since the fans who would, season ticket holders, are being given free access.  Soccer's growing in popularity, but it's still a niche sport.  And MLS is an even smaller niche within that niche.

This isn't the NFL with Amazon Prime or the Olympics with Peacock or even the NHL with ESPN+.  Even if you signed up for Amazon Prime just to watch Thursday Night Football, you've still got access to everything else on Amazon Prime.  Ditto with Peacock and ESPN+.  With MLS, though, you have to specifically seek it out, and that's all you get.  It doesn't include all of Apple TV+'s other content, which would make it significantly more valuable and might also make some fans more inclined to sign up.

And, let's face it, even though MLS is the domestic league, it's far less popular than the European leagues.  And the Premier League is far easier to watch. Games are on regular TV every week on either NBC or USA, and the rest are on Peacock.  The difference, though (and it's a big one), is that if you subscribe to Peacock just to watch the Premier League, you get everything else on there, too.  So, it's well worth the $50 annual rate for Peacock Plus (or even the $100 ad-free version).

Which, again, makes this all seem counterintuitive with the U.S. hosting the next World Cup.  They should be making it more accessible.  Not less!  That means have more games on regular TV, not just a limited selection.  I'm not saying don't have streaming.  That's a necessity these days.  But don't hide it behind a paywall!  (Evidently, they're exploring an option that will also see some games broadcast for free, similar to what they did with MLB, which is a very good idea.)

While I understand what MLS is trying to do here, I still think not showing games on linear TV in teams' home markets is a mistake.  That would be a very easy solution, too.  MLS still controls and produces all the content, and it's still available as part of the league package.  The only difference is it's also shown on the home team's RSN (which would also mean MLS collects 28 sets of rights fees).  Or, at the very least, they could offer team-only packages for, say $50 a season.

That would be the best of both worlds, actually.  They still have the league package on Apple TV, but also sell the rights to individual games to broadcast on regular TV (similar to what ESPN does with its extensive college basketball inventory and what the NFL does with Thursday night games, which they're required to make available in home markets).  That way fans can still watch just their team if they want without having to sign up for the full league package.  And, who knows?  Maybe that would even make them more inclined to subscribe to the whole thing.