Until suffering a season-ending knee injury last week in the Western Conference Final, Galaxy playmaker Riqui Puig was having a tremendous season.
That's how I heard it.
I saw Puig play just twice this year, once in the Galaxy's season-opening 1-1 draw against Inter Miami and a second time in his team's July 4 loss to LAFC in the Rose Bowl. Aside from brief highlight clips on social media, I never saw the former Barcelona prospect, not even when he assisted on the goal that sent the Galaxy to the MLS Cup final to be played Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park.
That was not a reflection of my interest.
Some of my friends will make fun of me for admitting this publicly, but I like Major League Soccer. I covered the league at my first job out of college and have been keeping up with it ever since. I take my kids to a couple of games a year. My 11-year-old son has Galaxy and LAFC hats, but no Dodgers or Lakers merchandise.
In the past, when I changed channels and was presented with the option of, say, college soccer or MLS, I typically watched MLS. But not this year.
While the MLS Cup final between the Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls will air on Fox and Fox Deportes, most games now take place exclusively behind a paywall, courtesy of the league's broadcast deal with Apple. MLS Season Pass subscriptions were reasonably priced: $79 for the entire season for Apple TV+ subscribers, $99 for non-subscribers, but you were already paying for DirecTV Stream, Netflix, Amazon Prime, PlayStation Plus, and who knows what else.
MLS became a casualty in my home, as well as many others, and the prospect of being out of sight and out of mind should be a concern for a league looking to expand its audience.
Which isn't to say the league made a mistake. This was a gamble that the MLS had to take.
Now, in the second year of a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with Apple, MLS has done what Major League Baseball is talking about doing, which is centralize its streaming rights and sell them to a digital platform. Regional sports networks have been decimated by cord cutting, making traditional economic models unsustainable.
The move to Apple not only increased the league's streaming revenue (previous deals with ESPN, Fox and Univision were collectively worth $90 million annually, according to multiple reports) but also introduced a measure of uniformity to the league.
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi is hugged by MLS commissioner Don Garber, center right, before a friendly match against New York City FC in November 2023.
(Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)
The quality of the broadcasts is better than on regional sports networks.
Viewers know where to watch the games and when, as each of them is on the Season Pass and most are scheduled to start at 7:30 pm local time, either Wednesday or Saturday.
“That's been driving our growth and driving our fan engagement,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said Friday in his annual state of the league address.
Apple and MLS declined to disclose the number of League Pass subscribers, but the league provided survey figures indicating that 94% of viewers offered positive or neutral reviews of League Pass. The average game viewing time is about 65 minutes for a 90-minute game, according to Garber.
In other words, the League Pass is highly appreciated by the people who have it.
The challenge now is to increase that audience. The launch of League Pass last year coincided with the arrival of Lionel Messi, which presumably sparked a wave of subscriptions. But the League cannot count on the emergence of the next Messi; There is only one of him.
MLS highlighted how much more its fans watch sports on streaming devices or recorded television than any other US sports league, as well as how 71% of its fans are under 45 years old. The league also noted how it effectively attracted more viewers when Apple streamed Inter Miami's first postseason game with a livestream of a “Messi Cam” on TikTok, indicating that there could be more collaborations with wide-ranging entities in the future. scope.
Garber mentioned that the Season Pass is available in other countries. The commissioner also took note of how Apple puts games in front of its paywall every week.
“What we really have is a communication problem,” Garber said. “This is new and we have to work with Apple, we have to work with our clubs and we have to work with our partners to get more exposure to what we think is a great product.”
The biggest benefit to the league could be Apple's interest in improving the product on the field. MLS insiders said Apple has not only encouraged teams to sign higher-profile players, but has also pressured the league to shift to a fall-to-spring schedule more common in other parts of the world, with the reasoning that doing so would simplify the purchasing process. and sell players.
The product on the field is what matters. The on-field product is the reason MLS continues to face spectator competition from foreign leagues. The on-field product is the reason the league has failed to convert all soccer fans into MLS fans. And ultimately, if casual viewers like me pay to watch the Galaxy or LAFC on a screen of some kind, the on-field product will be the reason.
