Apple to Exclusively Stream All Major League Soccer Matches in 2023
Major League Soccer (MLS) is booting the traditional pay-TV bundle into the stands. Starting in 2023, every MLS club’s match will be available live–worldwide and without regional blackouts–exclusively through the the Apple TV app.
Apple and the league announced this 10-year agreement(Opens in a new window) on Tuesday, which will take the form of a new MLS streaming service(Opens in a new window) only available through Apple. Neither party revealed the subscription rate for access to the service, but both said that “a limited number of matches” will be available to stream at no charge, while season ticket holders will gain full access to the service for free.
It's not known how much Apple is paying for these rights, but the Sports Business Journal’s Alex Silverman and John Ourand, citing MLS executives, reported that(Opens in a new window) "Apple is paying a minimum guarantee that sources say is worth $250M per year."
This move represents a complete dumping of the TV channel-bundle business model and ends a few years of uncertainty for MLS, which hasn’t had the leverage of pro baseball or football at securing carriage for its matches.
In 2019, Washington’s D.C. United tried cutting its own cord by having the streaming platform FloSports carry its matches, but technical glitches(Opens in a new window) and such feature shortfalls as the absence of a Spanish-language channel annoyed supporters and led the club to scratch that deal at the end of the first season. This new MLS service should avoid that problem as it will include English and Spanish coverage, while matches involving Canadian teams will add a French feed.
The multiple mentions by Apple and MLS of the new service’s lack of any regional blackouts underscored
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