Until he was undergoing a knee injury at the end of the season last week in the Western Conference final, Galaxy carefree Riqui Puig Had a great season.
So I heard.
I watched Puig only played twice this year, once in the 1-1 draw of the Galaxy season with Inter Miami and a second time in the July 4 defeat of his team against Lafc to Rose Bowl. Apart from short clips on social networks, I have never seen the old hope of Barcelona, not even when he helped the goal that sent the Galaxy at the MLS Cup final It will be played on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park.
It was not a reflection of my interest.
Some of my friends will make fun of me to admit it publicly, but I like Major League Soccer. I covered the league during my first job outside the university and I have followed it with casualness since. I take my children to a few games per year. My 11 year old son has galaxy and Laftc Hats but no Riders Or Lakers goods.
When I travel the channels in the past, if it was presented with the choice of, let's say, university football or MLS, I generally looked at MLS. But not this year.
While the final MLS CUP between the Galaxy and New York Red Bulls Will be shown on Fox and Fox Deportes, the majority of matches are now exclusively behind a payment wall, gracity of the league broadcasting agreement with Apple. The subscriptions to the MLS season season were at a reasonable price – $ 79 for the whole season for Apple TV +subscribers, $ 99 for the uninvined – but I was already paying for Directv Stream, Netflix, Amazon Prime, PlayStation Plus and who knows what else.
The MLS has become a victim in my house, as well as in many others, and the possibility of being out of sight and out of mind should be a concern for a league that seeks to extend its audience.
Which does not mean that the league has made a mistake. It was a bet MLS had to take.
Now in the second year of a 10-year and 2.5 billion dollar agreement with Apple, MLS has done what Major League Baseball talks about doing, which consists in centralizing its diffusion rights and selling them to a digital platform. Regional sports networks have been decimated by the cord cut, which makes traditional economic models unsustainable.
The move to Apple not only increased the dissemination of the league – the previous agreements with ESPN, Fox and Indivision were worth $ 90 million combined per year, in several reports – but also introduced a uniformity measure in the League.
Inter Miami striker Lionel Messi, is embraced by the MLS commissioner, Don Garber, to the right of the center, before a friendly match against the New York City FC in November 2023.
(Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)
The quality of emissions is better than that under regional sports networks.
Viewers know where to watch the matches and when, as each of them is on the season pass and most of them should start at 7:30 p.m. Local time, Wednesday or Saturday.
“This fueled our growth and at the origin of our fans commitments,” said MLS commissioner, Don Garber, on Friday during his annual speech on the state of the league.
Apple and MLS refused to reveal the number of subscribers to the Pass League, but the league provided survey figures which indicated that 94% of viewers offered positive or neutral exams of the Pass League. The average vision time of a match is around 65 minutes for a 90 -minute match, according to Garber.
In other words, passing the league is highly appreciated – by the people who have it.
The challenge is now to increase this audience. The launch of League Pass last year coincided with the arrival of Lionel Messi, who probably resulted in a wave of subscriptions. But the League cannot count on the appearance of the next Messi; There is only one of him.
MLS underlined how her fans are looking at sports on streaming devices or recorded television than any other American sports league, as well as 71% of her fans are under 45. The League also indicated how it has indeed attracted more viewers to Apple from Inter Miami Tiktok with additional collaborations with hiking entities with a large camera.
Garber mentioned how Pass season is available in other countries. The commissioner also noted how Apple places the games every week in front of his paid wall.
“What we have, really, is a communication problem,” said Garber. “It's new, and we have to work with Apple, we have to work with our clubs and we have to work with our partners to get more exhibition to what we think is an excellent product.”
The biggest advantage for the League could be Apple's acquired interest in improving the product in the field. The MLS initiates said that Apple had not only encouraged the teams to sign more publicized players, but also prompted the league to go to an autumn calendar to the more common spring in other parts of the world, because of what it would simplify the process of buying and selling players.
The product in the field is what matters. The product in the field is the reason why MLS continues to deal with competition for viewers of leagues abroad. The product in the field is the reason why the league has failed to convert each football fan with a fan of MLS. And ultimately, if occasional viewers like me were to pay to watch the galaxy or the LAFC on a screen in a kind, the product in the field will be why.
