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MLS moving from MLS Live match streaming to new ESPN+ app

By Nathan Reynolds

The ESPN logo is displayed outside L.A. Live, which houses the ESPNZone, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010. Time Warner Cable Inc.'s negotiations to renew rights to ESPN may be held up on a demand by the sports channel's owner, Walt Disney Co., to be paid for a related website, people with knowledge of the talks have said. Photographer: Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The ESPN logo is displayed outside L.A. Live, which houses the ESPNZone, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010. Time Warner Cable Inc.'s negotiations to renew rights to ESPN may be held up on a demand by the sports channel's owner, Walt Disney Co., to be paid for a related website, people with knowledge of the talks have said. Photographer: Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg via Getty Images /
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The league announced that the MLS Live streaming service for out-of-market games is moving to the new ESPN+ app set to launch this spring.

With the season just weeks away, the league finally announced plans for their MLS Live streaming package. The stand-alone service is being rolled into the new ESPN+ streaming product that is set to launch later this spring. The move is great for both the fans and the league.

Improvement #1: Price.  First, and foremost, is the that the cost is going down. Last year MLS Live cost $79.99 to access all of the out-of-market MLS matches, excluding national TV broadcasts. ESPN+ will cost $4.99 (about $60 a year).

Improvement #2: More streaming options. While the MLS Live service has begun to incorporate more streaming devices there were still several left out (i.e. PS4). Moving to the ESPN platform opens up access to MLS matches on just about every streaming device out there. More ways to access the games means more viewers and more fans of the league.

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Improvement #3: Additional content. Not only will MLS Live be cheaper, but it will come packaged with live and on-demand action from college football and basketball, MLB, NHL, etc.

Bonus Improvement (Just for 2018): Free MLS matches! The ESPN+ app won’t launch until sometime later this spring. Thus until then, all matches that would normally be on MLS Live will air free from MLSsoccer.com and the official MLS App.

Now some have bemoaned the death of the condensed match from MLS Live, in which each game was summarized in a 20-minute package. However, MLS nor ESPN have confirmed the exact type of content, so it’s not a past feature just yet. In fact, it sounds more like the existing MLS Live system will be integrated into their app. So we might be getting the same features as last year, with added content, at a lower price.

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With all of those changes it’s hard not to see this is a big get for the league. MLS fans will have better and cheaper access to matches, and non-MLS fans who purchase the ESPN+ service will now have very easy access to sample the league.

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