When Apple and MLS announced their 10-year streaming tie-up in 2022, there were two key financial components: a $250 million annual guarantee from Apple, plus the opportunity for MLS to get a share of additional revenue if the new Season Pass subscription product achieved a certain level of success. But starting next season, MLS Season Pass will no longer be sold as its own offering; instead, games will be available on the Apple TV service.
MLS action will now be more accessible to Apple TV’s existing audience, as well as those who might enter through larger bundles or offers tied to new devices. Apple SVP of services Eddy Cue recently said the company has “significantly more than” 40 or 45 million worldwide Apple TV subscribers, though specific numbers have not been shared.
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“I don’t even remember whose idea it was first,” MLS deputy commissioner Gary Stevenson said of the change. “We started talking about this in the spring about, ‘We have such a good product, why don’t we make it more available?’”
MLS games will join Friday night MLB games and every F1 race on a streaming service increasingly designed to appeal to sports fans. Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson told Sports Business Journal that the latest move, which was formally approved at a league meeting in Florida Thursday, would likely “double our viewership.”
But it could also limit teams’ financial upside. Tracking MLS-connected revenue becomes more complicated without a standalone service, though Apple’s guarantee could theoretically be altered to account for the change—or other measures like view time could be used to trigger additional payment. Stevenson declined to comment on MLS and Apple’s financial agreements.
“We are always thinking about how it’s better for us, how it’s better for them, and how it’s better for our fan,” he said. “It’s refreshing, because it’s not like, ‘This is the way it’s going to be for eight years or 10 years.’ …. It’s constant discussion.”
One change to the agreement will ensure that full-season ticket holders get a free Apple TV subscription next year, after previously receiving free MLS Season Pass access.
An Apple TV annual subscription costs $99/year, the same as Season Pass. Apple recently rebranded Apple TV+ as Apple TV.
According to reporting by ESPN, as of the beginning of this year, MLS Season Pass had not yet hit the agreed-upon subscriptions threshold to trigger revenue sharing, which league leadership once thought it would clear. “I’m highly, highly confident we’ll get into that revenue share,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in 2023.
