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MLS and the Apple TV Deal: The good, the bad, and the ugly

By Caitlyn Chale

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - March 24: Official match balls of the MLS showing the MLS logo on the sideline before the New England Revolution Vs New York City FC regular season MLS game at Gillette Stadium on March 24, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - March 24: Official match balls of the MLS showing the MLS logo on the sideline before the New England Revolution Vs New York City FC regular season MLS game at Gillette Stadium on March 24, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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CARSON, CA – MAY 22: Efrain Alvarez #26 of Los Angeles Galaxy lines up a shot during the match against Houston Dynamo at the Dignity Health Sports Park on May 22, 2022 in Carson, California. Houston Dynamo won the match 3-0 (Photo by Shaun Clark/Getty Images) /

The MLS and Apple TV Deal: The Bad

While there are some good things about the MLS and Apple TV deal, there are bad things as well.  One might ask, what is so bad about a deal where fans can watch every single MLS match in one place?  Well, the answer is simple: the league is eliminating local broadcasts.

Notably, some MLS teams do not have strong local broadcast deals and/or coverage.  The Apple TV deal is great news for them.  Yet, there are teams that have great local broadcasts and/or coverage, and for those fans the deal is awful.

Across the United States and Canada, with the exception of the National Football League, fans love and their local coverage of their local teams.  It does not matter whether it is Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, or MLS – fans want to watch local coverage, especially because the focus is on the local team.

Meanwhile, commentators and analysts become part of households.  Not only do they offer knowledge about the local team, but they connect the fans to the players.  Sure, national TV commentators and analysts can offer the same, but only to an extent, and they have to focus on everyone rather than the singular team.

Without the local TV and local commentators, that connection is lost.  And now, these local commentators, analysts, producers, camera men and women, and more, will all lose their jobs at the end of the year.  This is because money talks, and Apple and MLS agreed to centralize the coverage of the league.

More riskily, this centralization of the matches on a streaming platform means that some people will never come across the local games by chance.  Fixtures will not be readily available for someone who is not a fan, but could possibly become one, if they were able to see their local teams play on local TV.  One might argue there will be some televised games, and then Apple will air some select fixtures for free, but that does not help MLS teams grow within their own market.  Plus, teams are not guaranteed to get those national TV spots.

So, how will this help the game grow fan wise?  Those who are not fans will not pay for a streaming service in order to watch MLS.   Additionally, putting everything on one streaming service will reduce the exposure to those who could possibly become fans.  Hence, that is why it is important to look at the ugly aspects of the deal: the monetary and fans costs.

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