But just making his matches available to the world won’t be enough, either.Īpple executives have regularly harped on the global nature of their MLS rights-every game, available everywhere. The path to that destination does not include leveraging every potential dollar out of Messi’s appearances this year (and it’s not like Tim Cook needs the money). “I don’t want to get in here to be the fourth or fifth or whatever biggest league in the United States. “I believe MLS over this 10-year period is going to be huge,” Apple SVP of services Eddy Cue told Sportico before this season. Still, he added, the benefits of the Messi deal will be more apparent in overall franchise values and the league’s long-term growth, rather than short-term revenue bumps. “In the old days, when everything was more or less on traditional linear networks, there was probably less of an opportunity to directly monetize it.” “They may be in a better position to monetize this through Apple,” said Ed Desser, who helped the NBA expand its media footprint internationally and has since advised more than 60 leagues and teams as president of Desser Media. And now the setup will be critical in maximizing that addition, given the scheduling flexibility, marketing might, direct financial upside and consumption data that comes with it. In that sense, the modern (if not futuristic) rights agreement allowed MLS to make a unique acquisition. MLS’s Apple deal reportedly played a part in helping the league land Messi, who could see direct monetary benefits from the expected increase in Season Pass subscribers. Will Messi’s debut game sit behind MLS Season Pass’ $15/month subscription paywall? Will Fox get to carry that match as part of its 15-game regular season package? Will Miami’s game times be moved to solo timeslots rather than MLS’ usual Saturday evening home? Apple could go even further, simulcasting that broadcast on a free platform like YouTube, as it has already experimented with using other MLS programming.
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