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Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

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Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#91

Post by interestica »

Petersipoi wrote: post #56
jayknight wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MLB next, please. I don't have cable, which means I just don't watch baseball right now. I would 100% sign up for MLB.tv if I could watch my two favorite teams play.

Yep. Fortunately I don't live in the same state as my baseball team anymore. So I watch just about all their games through MLB.tv. Would be so frustrating if I lived near my team though.

For the Blue Jays, the blackout applies to the entire country. And there are certain geographic badluck regions in the US where one can get blacked out from several teams despite not being close to them. Especially when it's a national broadcast [1]

Also, the marketing at MLB used to be really bad a few years ago -- it seemed to be deliberately targeting home team fans and leaving out the fact that they would not be able to watch their home team.

[1] https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/2021...

"Currently, six MLB teams are blacked out all across Iowa: the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers. Those teams are not available to watch with an MLB.tv subscription or when they are often aired on national broadcasts. Some of those clubs are not available on Iowa’s main cable packages either."

"Additionally, some parts of Iowa are more than 500 miles from several of those blacked-out MLB teams."

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#92

Post by piffey »

throwaway12245 wrote: post #43
avgDev wrote: post #26

This is probably one of the best decision by any TV provider. MLS is going to blow up in the coming years. There is a lot of talk about US national team being very competitive in 2026 World Cup. MLS has produced stars already, like Alphonso Davies. Once the hype gets higher and more money start being spent on soccer in the US, it will become a power house.

U.S. Soccer is a joke : that goes for international and MLS. Top U.S. club is ranked 122 in the world : https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/soccer-predictions/glob... U.S. got beat by some central american club and did not qualify for world cup last time. MLS is a rigged league. Purported local "ownership" is a ruse. MLS management decides who wins championship. Real U.S. soccer fans follow top European leagues and…

I'd consider myself a "real" soccer fan in the U.S. I watch and support my local club, attend USL games when I travel to cities with teams in the US, and any time I'm internationally traveling I always attend a local match whether that's EPL West Ham/Crystal Palace, Union Berlin/St. Pauli in Bundesliga II, or FK Zalgiris/Kaunus in Lithuania -- yes I've been to all of those.

The loyalty is to the game and the beauty that can flash no matter the league play. I sat down to watch a couple minutes of Sunday league last month, kid scored a banger off the post with good team buildup, was fun to watch if slower than watching Real Madrid/Liverpool the week before. This tiering is silly and entertainment can be found wherever you look -- hell people watch college sports religiously and the quality difference is massive from their pro equivalents.

That said, MLS grows in quality every year, exponentially over the last 5. If that growth continues and develops young players, coupled with 320million person pool of potential athletes, MLS will be awash with money to grow itself. Even if it just reaches Championship level play that's a wonderfully entertaining level of football.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#93

Post by bombcar »

dionidium wrote: post #76

I stream my hometown's hockey and baseball games, because I don't have a choice (I no longer live in the region), but it's a second-rate experience for one fundamental reason: buffering delays. I routinely get messages in my group chat that are a reaction to something that hasn't yet happened on my screen. The group chat makes for fun communal viewing, so I don't want to leave it, but these messages undermine the exp…

The buffering has always been a problem, I remember my friend would come running into the room because he'd heard on live radio what was about to happen on the screen we were watching.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#94

Post by clairity »

dgritsko wrote: post #24

I'm really curious as to what Apple's broader strategy is with live sports, since that's typically been one of the last big reasons to keep a cable subscription. However, given that Apple TV Plus is going to have at least some MLB games[1] and is rumored to possibly be the new home for the NFL Sunday Ticket[2], they could be seeking to make it the must-have subscription for fans of live sports. https://www.apple.com/…

it's likely a loss leader strategy to get subscription numbers up. the long term goal is to replace cable... with cable-like appletv+. they're not expanding the pie, but rather fighting to capture existing pie, particularly against netflix & amazon, who they see as more direct competitors than traditional media companies. apple likes lives sports because there's no fan base to build up, and they get to just be a distributor (similar to music) rather than a content creator (which is a harder and riskier business). they don't like giving up editorial control, but they need the subscriber base.

frankly, i'm not a fan of this strategy as there's no synergy between the computing and content businesses, but apple has fallen for the relentless march to grow at all costs, and sees content as low-hanging fruit for them (again, i disagree with this assessment).

apple home, car, glasses, etc. make much more sense, but those are too slow growing for both professional and unprofessional investors alike.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#95

Post by PaulHoule »

JamesSwift wrote: post #66
avgDev wrote: post #26

This is probably one of the best decision by any TV provider. MLS is going to blow up in the coming years. There is a lot of talk about US national team being very competitive in 2026 World Cup. MLS has produced stars already, like Alphonso Davies. Once the hype gets higher and more money start being spent on soccer in the US, it will become a power house.

I just dont see MLS "blowing up". Will it be more popular than today? Possibly, though I feel like its been given several chances to catch on and never has. Will it challenge NFL / NBA popularity in any way? IMO, absolutely not.

Engagement with MLS is somewhere close to zero.

Back when I was involved in coaching youth soccer I found the other coaches had never heard of the New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, L.A. Galaxy, etc.

These folks were fans of man united but had no interest at all in US soccer.

Who knows? Maybe not having lockouts will mean that if some team starts playing well people will be able to watch it. MLS definitely needs something to happen to get people interested but it seems to me they should relegate the whole league.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#96

Post by scarface74 »

clairity wrote: post #94
dgritsko wrote: post #24

I'm really curious as to what Apple's broader strategy is with live sports, since that's typically been one of the last big reasons to keep a cable subscription. However, given that Apple TV Plus is going to have at least some MLB games[1] and is rumored to possibly be the new home for the NFL Sunday Ticket[2], they could be seeking to make it the must-have subscription for fans of live sports. https://www.apple.com/…

it's likely a loss leader strategy to get subscription numbers up. the long term goal is to replace cable... with cable-like appletv+. they're not expanding the pie, but rather fighting to capture existing pie, particularly against netflix & amazon, who they see as more direct competitors than traditional media companies. apple likes lives sports because there's no fan base to build up, and they get to just be a dist…

Apple isn’t paying for rights to MLS to be part of AppleTV+. The exclusive deal is for the MLS to have their own “channel” that you subscribe to separately that you can only buy through the AppleTV app.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#97

Post by bgorman »

ericmay wrote: post #61

This is a great move for Apple. The game-changer for them, IMO, is to buy the rights to broadcast Pac-12 and Big-10 football (and ideally all sports). I am an avid college football fan. Trying to find games to watch is a pain without some sort of lame ass subscription somewhere. I already pay for Apple TV + because it's bundled with other services that I use. With the incoming threat of ESPN + Disney + SEC fracturing…

Even if Apple just carried all Pac-12 network football games, that would really move the needle. The Pac-12 network is pretty much impossible to get through traditional cable providers outside of the west coast.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#98

Post by al_borland »

porcoda wrote: post #17

Finally! I don't care if it's apple or someone else, but the "no blackouts" thing is big. Nothing drives me more crazy than being unable to stream a game because I happen to live in the same geographic region as the team home field. This would finally motivate me to cancel the cable TV subscription - the only sport I watch is soccer, and the only reason I keep the cable TV is so I can dig out the remote whenever the…

I always thought that was silly. Games sell out, that doesn’t mean local fans still don’t want to watch.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#99

Post by bitsoda »

This is such an intelligent move, and one I've been secretly hoping Apple would make: get the streaming rights to a league that's "up and coming" and very popular with a younger demographic for what I assume is a bargain compared to most other top leagues. Sure, it's not the NFL or NBA, but it's a great addition nonetheless. This is an insta-subscribe for me.

Re: Apple and MLS to present all MLS matches for 10 years, beginning in 2023

#100

Post by JamesSwift »

PaulHoule wrote: post #95
JamesSwift wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just dont see MLS "blowing up". Will it be more popular than today? Possibly, though I feel like its been given several chances to catch on and never has. Will it challenge NFL / NBA popularity in any way? IMO, absolutely not.

Engagement with MLS is somewhere close to zero. Back when I was involved in coaching youth soccer I found the other coaches had never heard of the New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, L.A. Galaxy, etc. These folks were fans of man united but had no interest at all in US soccer. Who knows? Maybe not having lockouts will mean that if some team starts playing well people will be able to watch it. MLS definitely n…

I'm near Orlando and it was a big deal when Orlando City came to town. That excitement has mostly subsided outside of Orlando proper and people are generally back to the Magic / NCAAF / NFL now.
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