Explaining Major League Soccer's 10-year broadcast deal with Apple, starting in 2023
Major League Soccer has forged an unprecedented 10-year partnership with Apple to broadcast all MLS matches globally starting in 2023.
Apple TV will house MLS matches, Leagues Cup, development league MLS Next Pro and youth arm MLS Next on a new subscription-based streaming service available through the Apple TV app. The announced deal Tuesday makes MLS the first professional sports league to exclusively align with a digital media platform.
The Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday the partnership is worth $250 million per year, beginning in 2023. MLS Commissioner Don Garber elected to neither "confirm nor deny it," but said additional linear rights sales for matches have yet to be accounted for.
"This is a minimum guarantee. It's not a rights fee," Garber said of the non-traditional deal. "…So if we exceed the minimum guarantee, then we share in the upside in that guarantee. If we're able to sell our linear rights for what we hope and expect to sell them for, then we would even exceed our expectations."
The new media rights deal that's reportedly worth a minimum $2.5 billion over its lifetime dwarfs the current deal MLS has with ESPN, FOX and Univision, worth $90 million that began in 2015 and expires this year. For MLS and Apple, the deal centralizes its product spanning over two FIFA World Cups, but sacrifices a slew of traditional mainstays.
Here's what the media rights partnership between MLS and Apple means.
How MLS-Apple broadcasts will work
The MLS subscription channel on Apple TV will offer more than 900 matches across all MLS competitions without local blackouts. A select slate of matches will be aired on additional digital and linear platforms.
MLS Deputy Commissioner Gary Stevenson said the league will release a distribution grid as soon as September that will present several matches in front of the Apple paywall, Apple TV+ and linear TV – all of which will also be available on the app.
Season ticket holders will automatically receive a subscription to the MLS streaming service as part of their package.
MLS said the app's signup dates, subscription pricing, broadcast teams and production details will be announced "in the coming months."
Will MLS be aired on linear TV?
According to the Sports Business Journal and The Athletic, linear rights negotiations are ongoing with ESPN, Univision and FOX to televise MLS matches, which would be aired simultaneously on Apple TV+. MLS will do the same with its linear rights in Canada.
Additionally, all matches streamed on Apple TV+ will be produced centrally by MLS, a contrast to the current deal in which clubs produce matches locally.
What deal means for local broadcasts
Stevenson said MLS matches will not be aired on local television.
Clubs will be able to produce pre and post-match shows, though with MLS broadcasters. However, clubs will have the liberty over its local radio broadcasts.
MLS, Apple create strict kickoff times
Stevenson added that MLS will have had 63 different kickoff times by the end of 2022. But in 2023, matches will kick off almost simultaneously.
MLS matches will be played on Wednesday and Saturday evenings at 7 or 8 p.m. local time "unless there is a stadium availability issue or if we have a linear window that is outside of that window," Stevenson said.
The strict start times make room for a whip-around MLS show on the app, airing up to six hours each match day, also produced centrally by MLS.
For stories about Nashville SC or Soccer in Tennessee, contact Drake Hills at DHills@gannett.com. Follow Drake on Twitter at @LiveLifeDrake. Connect with Drake on Instagram at @drakehillssoccer and on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Explaining the 10-year Major League Soccer, Apple media rights deal
