2023 MLS Thread

[Boss-Hog]

Well.... that's the issue. Willing to pony up for a few months of Apple TV so wife gets Morning Show, and we can watch Masters of Air and Lasso.

Thought it came w MLS (as Peacock does for EPL), and that made it worth considering keeping longer. But sorry, just not going to pony up $100 for minor league soccer -- even if it has Messi.

Not a matter of "affording" it -- just can't pay for everything all the time, especially what would be 5th (or 6th or 7th) tier viewing importance for me

I can definitely relate to that. It probably doesn't make a difference, but I paid $20 less for the season long package last year by virtue of being an Apple TV subscriber at the time.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Well.... that's the issue. Willing to pony up for a few months of Apple TV so wife gets Morning Show, and we can watch Masters of Air and Lasso.

Thought it came w MLS (as Peacock does for EPL), and that made it worth considering keeping longer. But sorry, just not going to pony up $100 for minor league soccer -- even if it has Messi.

Not a matter of "affording" it -- just can't pay for everything all the time, especially what would be 5th (or 6th or 7th) tier viewing importance for me

I mean if it’s your 7th tier or viewing importance then they aren’t really targeting you anyway right? It’s a great model if you follow a team and get access to everything in one spot. There are still games on network and cable TV for more casual fans like yourself.

[M2]

I mean if it’s your 7th tier or viewing importance then they aren’t really targeting you anyway right? It’s a great model if you follow a team and get access to everything in one spot. There are still games on network and cable TV for more casual fans like yourself.

I'm a partial season ticket holder for an MLS team for more than a decade and I'm not buying the package.

If MLS came with an Apple TV sub, like the Prem comes with Peacock and the UCL comes with Paramount+, I'd probably do it because of everything I'd get with the whole package, but I'm really not looking for an endless number of subscriptions. And I suspect the average game viewership in 2023 was way down from the 343K it averaged in 2022. We won't know for sure because sub services only put out the numbers when they've got a happy story to tell. My working view of it is I'd rather spend to see extra games like CONCACAF Champions Cup than for the TV package. It works out to ~2 games. I'm consciously choosing to spend for more live events over the TV package, and I don't think they want me making that choice. I suspect my viewership would be worth something to them in ad value.

So, if they're not getting me, who are they getting?

[BlackPete Ibold]

I mean if it’s your 7th tier or viewing importance then they aren’t really targeting you anyway right? It’s a great model if you follow a team and get access to everything in one spot. There are still games on network and cable TV for more casual fans like yourself.

Fair enough. Just figure they need more eyeballs, and would be cool if they had some extra MLS benefit for regular Apple TV subscribers.

And I get that if you are local to Cincy then MLS might be a bigger deal since you have a team. Down here in the Raleigh area, not quite as much.

In terms of viewership, here is where I am sports wise:

MLB, College Basketball, NBA, NHL, NFL, College Football, EPL..... then maybe MLS (and PGA tour on Sunday). Only so many dollars and hours to devote to fandom!