I assume this is something MLS wanted out of the deal and Apple conceded. It makes the season tickets even more valuable for every team in the league. Do you really think Apple demanded a subscription give-away?
> Do you really think Apple demanded a subscription give-away?
I don’t, but it’s really not the most outlandish idea. It gives every season ticket holder a reason to either buy an Apple TV or, maybe more importantly, start using the Apple TV app on their existing devices.
Imagine you’re an Orlando City fan who’s happy with Hulu and never really cared to open the Apple TV app on your Samsung TV. Now that you’re using Apple TV to watch matches, though, you’ve started to come across some of those other shows you’ve heard people talk about.
Ted Lasso seems pretty cool, maybe you’ll sign up for Apple TV+ and give it a try…
But season ticket holders as a group are probably the ones most likely to pay for a season of MLS. Why not let them pay and get exposed to Ted Lasso on their own dime?
I'm not assuming Apple demanded it, I'm just wondering aloud why Apple conceded.
This deal is 8x the 2022 MLS TV deal annually, and the current deal doesn't have anything like this. It seems insane to me to imagine MLS telling Apple "8x our current deal and you have to give it to our biggest fans for free."
Fair enough. But MLS viewership has risen since the last deal. Before this announcement, it was speculated MLS was looking for a $300M/year deal. So it doesn't seem so insane to me.
This blog post is an announcement for a wide audience. In the proposal[1], which gives detail on motivations and implementation, there is an "Acknowledgements & Prior Art" section that mentions Akka, Orleans, Erlang, and Elixir.
