Major League Soccer’s decade-long, $2.5bn-plus (€2.3bn) global streaming rights contract with Apple may end up being one of sport’s greatest-ever media deals, commissioner Don Garber has claimed.
MLS is coming to the end of the second year of its 10-season exclusive deal with the tech giant, with the start of the contract coinciding with the arrival at Inter Miami of Lionel Messi, which has given the league global exposure.
Apple pays MLS at least $250m per year until 2032, perhaps not the biggest fee for its global rights that MLS could have secured for such a long-term deal, given its rising reputation and the fact the 2026 Fifa World Cup in North America is expected to be the catalyst for further growth.
Indeed, some market commentators suggested MLS had left money on the table when it came to partnering with Apple, but Garber insisted the reward is there for the league, given there is an additional minimum guarantee built into the contract. Once that is hit, MLS makes 50 cents on every dollar.
Neither Apple nor MLS has ever divulged the exact number of subscribers to MLS Season Pass, but SportBusiness understands the minimum guarantee has yet to be hit.
Garber, however, is bullish that the “tough decision” MLS made in June 2022 to strike an exclusive deal with a streaming company will pay dividends, given the fast-changing nature of the media rights world.
He told SportBusiness on the sidelines of The Summit, part of Leaders Week London, yesterday (Wednesday): “If this works, we share in the revenue. So, if we’re sharing the revenue we’re making a lot of money. I’m happy for it [the contract] to go on forever because what are you looking for from a media partner? Revenue, support from a marketing and promotion perspective and insights and data, which for MLS is super important and there is no bigger data insights company in the world than Apple.
“All aspects of it combine to drive what we see as future value. I’m betting that we’re going to sell millions and millions and millions of subscriptions. If that happens, this will be economically an incredible deal for Major League Soccer.”
Earlier on the main stage, Garber had highlighted the current problems in the United States with the regional sports networks, where a number of major league baseball, basketball and ice hockey teams have had to turn to alternative, direct-to-consumer offerings after the collapse of local TV deals.
He said: “Everything we do is about disruption… We saw early a move to streaming, particularly with a weakness in local media. We’re seeing that now in the NBA, NHL. We took all those [local] rights back and went to a global streamer in Apple. We made a tough decision to be in a better position… We have players from 80 countries in MLS and Apple is around the world.”
Garber continued: “We wanted a relationship with someone who would lean into us as a partnership. With Apple, we absolutely have that. Ticketmaster recently announced that it will be the first to use Apple’s new Wallet ticket. And the first ever game for that? This Saturday for LAFC’s home game.
“There are hundreds and hundreds of people working on MLS, driving subscriptions, promoting the league around the Apple Vision Pro. So there’s marketing behind all of this.
“And there are millions of subs. If that continues to grow, we are very much in the revenue share deal and it may end up being one of the best deals in sport’s history.”