Watching an NFL season these days means viewers must subscribe to various streaming services in addition to a pricey cable package. That's not the case with professional US soccer.
Major League Soccer (MLS) said its desire to avoid what has become a fragmented viewing landscape for sports fans is what led it to sign an exclusive 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement with Apple (AAPL) in 2022.
"We think that the deal we did set the bar at a different level for people to think about how you do a partnership with a media company," Seth Bacon, executive vice president of media for MLS, told Yahoo Finance in an interview. "We're completely ingrained in Apple ecosystem with everything that we do. It's a true partnership."
So far the partnership appears to be paying off as sign-ups surge and viewership numbers skyrocket.
Apple senior vice president of services Eddy Cue said at a conference in November that each of the biggest MLS games last season attracted more than a million viewers on the service, noting "no one expected that."
There's additional upside for Apple too. Matthew Ball, author of the bestselling book "The Metaverse" and former head of strategy at Amazon Studios, said in a new Stratechery podcast interview that Apple's MLS deal will likely amplify sales of the tech giant's new Vision Pro headset.
"There’s a pretty good chance that in a few weeks or at least a year when [Lionel] Messi takes a free kick, I’m going to get to be able to wander onto the field and stand right beside him at the box and watch or take the keeper’s position," he predicted. "And that I think is going to be remarkable and probably push this device in a way that we could never have imagined a year ago."
Apple's MLS deal 'completely different'
"When we started the process of reviewing our media rights at the end of 2017, we started to look down the road a little bit," Bacon said. "We started to see that the world was going to look very different [and] that streaming was going to play a big part in it."
The league strategically consolidated all of its media rights about three years before the negotiation window for the rights opened. The goal? Create "one big package" to offer potential domestic partners.
Bacon explained the league, which kicked off its 2024 season last week, wanted to offer something "completely different" in the way games were distributed. That captured Apple's attention as it allowed the tech giant to control how it presented and delivered the game.
Additionally, the exclusive nature of the decades-long deal provided Apple the flexibility to fully invest in new concepts in order to deliver a more consistent fan experience.
As for MLS, the league knew Apple had the global distribution capabilities and would be able to amplify the brand on a much larger scale.
Of course, it didn't hurt that Apple and MLS received a big boost from Argentine soccer legend Messi, who signed a historic MLS deal with Inter Miami in June.
Messi's deal instantly led to a surge in ticket sales, sports apparel, and, most importantly, sign-ups to Apple's streaming package MLS Season Pass.
Subscribers to the package "over-delivered on expectations" and have more than doubled since July, according to the league. Spanish language viewership has also surged, surpassing over 50% for Messi matches.
Analytics platform Antenna revealed that 110,000 users signed up for MLS Season Pass on the day of Messi's debut, representing a 280% increase from the number of sign-ups generated on the first day of the 2023 season. To note, Apple does not disclose subscriber figures.
The MLS partnership extends beyond just the live event games.
Earlier this year, MLS and Apple announced an all-access docuseries, produced in partnership with Box to Box Films, the filmmakers behind Netflix's "Formula 1: Drive to Survive."
Bacon said the docuseries is just the beginning given Apple's exposure to not only original content production but also music, podcasts, news, and fitness. The tech giant also just debuted a sports app that will provide users with real-time scores, betting lines, stats, and more.
"In the long haul, Apple is the place that we're pushing people," Bacon concluded. "There's a huge amount of incentive for us and for our fans to lean into Apple and help grow the sport."
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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