MLS took everyone by surprise when it announced a 10-year deal with Apple to broadcast all of its games on Apple TV. The meetings will therefore no longer be broadcast on traditional television unless there are local agreements.
• Read also: CF Montreal: bye bye television!
The circuit becomes the first major North American league to make the complete transition to streaming, abandoning traditional television. Major League Baseball has an agreement with Apple since this season, but it does not cover all games.
All MLS television contracts expire at the end of the season, so now was a good time to negotiate a comprehensive deal.
The agreement is far superior to the sums currently collected by MLS. Under an agreement with ESPN and Fox Sports, the circuit has received US$75 million annually between 2015 and 2022. Univision pays US$15 million annually for the Spanish broadcast, while TSN and TVA Sports pay the same amount for the Canadian market.
Additional subscription
This means that it will take an additional subscription to watch the matches and local broadcasting is more than uncertain.
More than 900 matches will be offered, including those of MLS and the preparatory leagues MLS Next Pro and MLS Next.
For the moment, it is impossible to know how much the packages will cost to subscribe to the service. For Apple TV+, it costs $5.99 per month, but subscribers won’t get access to all games.
MLS commissioner Don Garber spoke of “an ideal partner to accelerate the growth of the circuit in the years to come”, during a videoconference.
In French
MLS intends to build studios to centralize game production.
“Most of our clubs produce their matches locally, but we think it will be more efficient to centralize everything,” said Gary Stevenson.
What we do know is that the games will be offered in three languages from the first year of the agreement. There will be English and Spanish, as well as French. But we do not yet know if it is Quebec descriptors and analysts who will be selected.
It was also specified that it would be possible to have the description of local radio stations.