October 18 – Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioner, Don Garber in London speaking at The Summit, Leaders Week this week, hyped up the 10-year, $2.5 billion-plus agreement with Apple that is about to conclude its second season.
Garber, who recently celebrated his silver anniversary (25 years) as the commissioner of the league, said the partnership could be “one of the greatest deals in sports history”.
One of the reasons Garber is so bullish on the deal was the arrival of the world’s greatest player, Lionel Messi to Inter Miami. Although the Argentine arrived after the contract with Apple had been signed, leading experts to speculate that Garber left money on the table, the commish isn’t fazed.
“The Apple deal for us is quite simple. We weren’t getting enough in terms of exposure, schedule, and promotion from the linear networks, because we’re not just competing against the other leagues. We’re competing against every single football league that is selling their rights in the United States. We wanted to have a relationship with a company, and Apple’s arguably the largest, most innovative, and most important company in technology in the world and would lean into us in a way where it would be a partnership.”
With streaming becoming the ‘de facto’ replacement for traditional modes of viewing, namely, terrestrial, cable and satellite, the bet on Apple has allowed the league to broadcast every game without any local blackouts.
While the $300 million a year pales in comparison to the English Premier League’s, $8.6 billion deal (domestic and international markets) for the 2025-2029 cyvle, Garber believes that there are additional benefits saying: “So the $300 million (per year) isn’t a rights fee, it’s a guarantee. And if our subscriptions continue to grow, we share 50% of that upside. In their ecosystem, hundreds of people are working on the MLS relationship, and the goal is to drive subscriptions, drive the revenue that comes from subscriptions, and utilize their technology.”
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1732659425labto1732659425ofdlr1732659425owedi1732659425sni@o1732659425fni1732659425