Tuesday's announcement of a 10-year deal between Apple TV and Major League Soccer — worth at least $2.5 billion, per reports — felt historic on a number of levels.
Set to start next year and run through 2032, the agreement will make every MLS game available through the Apple TV app, with no blackout restrictions, for a yet-to-be-announced fee.
We've seen leagues dabble in sub-packages of games on streaming devices — Amazon streams Thursday NFL games and Apple TV has some MLB rights, for example — this MLS deal is the first to take a major sport and move it entirely onto a streaming platform. I talked about the revolutionary nature of this on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
What does it mean for the league and its fans? What questions remain unanswered? Let's dig into the good, the bad and the unknown.
GOOD
- On balance, this seems like a win for MLS. It starts with the financial impact of the new deal.
The Athletic reported that Major League Soccer's current media rights deals on ESPN, Fox and Univision paid the league about $90 million per season.
The new deal with Apple reportedly will guarantee the league at least $250 million a year, with the possibility of more if a certain subscription threshold is reached.
That will put millions of dollars into the pockets of teams and will boost player salaries since the salary cap is tied to media revenue.