Carlos Vela, a Mexican who played for Real Sociedad, during a preseason game with Los Angeles FC. Kelvin Kuo (USA TODAY Sports)
The United States Soccer League is screen hungry. Major League Soccer (MLS), known for squashing football’s final years from legends like David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Villa and more recently Gareth Bale and Giorgio Chiellini, has no explosive stars in the 2023 season to bid the field. The most attractive newcomer this year is Apple. The Cupertino-based tech company has become the world’s premier showcase for the country’s fastest-growing sport since this Saturday, the start of the campaign.
The rain ruined the great start of season one, which Tim Cook’s company will take to more than 100 countries with the Season Pass, available on Apple TV. This Saturday’s big game was the Los Angeles classic, known as El Tráfico, between the current champions, Los Angeles Fútbol Club (LAFC) and Galaxy, the most prestigious team in MLS with five titles. The game was to be played at the Rose Bowl, the legendary Pasadena Stadium that hosted the 1994 World Cup final between Brazil and Italy (and where neither team plays). The game was set to break the league’s attendance record, which is 27 years old and reached 10 million spectators in stadiums for the first time last year. But a freak winter storm has forced a change of plans. Traffic is played on July 4th, a public holiday. The record will have to wait.
Apple’s entry into MLS made an impact long before the ball rolled. “Previously the games were played at different times because we were playing when we had windows with our television partners,” explains Camilo Durana, vice president of properties and events at MLS. The agreement, struck last year, represents $2,500 million for the league over the next 10 years. It has brought some consistency to the schedules across the 29 franchises. As of 2023, 93% of games will take place on Saturdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. (there are three different times in the US). All of this can be seen anywhere in the world as they don’t have the blockade known as blackout used by leagues like the NBA or the MLB, the baseball league.
From New York, where the MLS is based, they say it follows the example of the NFL, the American football league, to create rituals and habits. It also represents an effort for the teams who want to be part of this streaming showcase. The company on the block that has promised fans matches in 1080 resolution and Dolby 5.1 sound, all for $14.99 a month (or $99 for the season). The studio where the new programs will be produced will also be in Manhattan.
“It’s a long way because MLS makes $250 million a year, more than the $90 million that broadcasters paid for rights, but a lot of that spending will go to production. The league is creating a television network,” says Herculez Gómez, a former American player who is now a presenter at ESPN, a chain that decided this year to stop broadcasting the games in the United States, as Fox will do, the 34 games will be broadcast.
Apple is adding soccer to its product offering. The American sports press believe the tech giant is responsible for the league’s latest twist. The playoffs will be held with a new format this year. The eliminators previously opted for a single party. Now 18 teams advance who need to win the best of three games. This mod adds more streaming content to the Season Pass in the final stages. Another novelty from New York stands out, the League Cup, a miniature tournament in which the 29 teams from the United States will face off against the 18 teams from Mexico’s first division. “Between July and August there will be 77 new games that will be part of the Season Pass. We’re creating a much more attractive product,” says Durana.
Those might not be the only surprises. Commissioner Don Garber has promised to announce before the end of the year the 30th MLS team to add a new franchise for seven straight years. This year, St. Louis SC in Missouri is a team that has dedicated a stadium for 22,500 people but has a demand of 60,000 people who want the season ticket. It is believed that Las Vegas in Nevada or San Diego (that would be the fourth team from California) could be next.
Gómez, who played for teams from Mexico and the United States between 2002 and 2017, underscores the silence maintained by the MLS footballers’ association, which includes players from 82 countries and 30 who have taken part in the World Cup. “The calendar is full and I think they don’t take into account the health of the players,” he says. Some coaches were also recently annoyed that the changes to the playoff format that had been made public on Tuesday after days of speculation had not been reported.
Many agree that MLS needs a facelift to sell the product that will be in millions of iPhone-holding hands. The league has tried to shake off its glory as a golden retirement destination with tales of young players like that of Paraguayan Miguel Almirón, who Atlanta signed for $8m from Argentina’s Lanús. Today he is Newcastle’s top scorer. The other story is that of Mexican-American defender Julián Araujo, who left the galaxy for Barcelona B under Rafa Márquez.
But the future of MLS could lie with former Barça shirt wearers. Phil Neville, David Beckham’s manager at Inter Miami, admitted to The Times this week that they are interested in signing Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets. “Football in this region of the world is still something exotic to the rest of the world. The Apple deal is missing a star. What Beckham was back then,” says Gómez.
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