Soccer is taking over America — proving that Apple has scored the biggest victory in the sports streaming war with its $2.5 billion MLS deal
On Independence Day, 82,110 screaming fans flocked to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, surpassing Super Bowl LVII’s viewership of 67,827 just months earlier. What’s even more shocking is that the record-breaking attendance was seen in just one regular-season Major League Soccer (MLS) game, as soccer’s popularity rises at the expense of traditional American sports.
Last year, the 2022 FIFA World Cup final drew 26 million U.S. viewers on linear television – more than the NBA Finals (13 million), the World Series (12 million), the PGA Finals (10 million) and the Stanley Cup (5 million). and even the Winter Olympics (12 million). In fact, a mere World Cup group stage game, USA versus England, was watched by around 15 million American viewers.
While football ratings skyrocketed, linear television in general plummeted, leaving sports TV channels in a bind, no longer able to count, and folding. It’s such a mess that the Phoenix Suns are giving away free antennas to fans for local games. Even Disney is buying its coveted but struggling ESPN cable television network.
Today, the future of sports belongs to streamers – and the sports streaming wars are heating up as Apple, Amazon, YouTube and Peacock compete to create the next ESPN. To speed up the process, some analysts believe Apple should simply acquire ESPN and pivot its many leagues to streaming. Others believe Apple can build it on its own, like they are doing with the MLS deal, and by adding more leagues like the Pac-12 Conference, which is in a tough spot.
Old leagues, new streamers
Traditional sports have failed to attract viewers, subscribers and advertisers to new digital streamers. It’s no surprise that older, more senior leagues are catching on with streamers’ younger audiences.
| Property | Avg. Age of television viewers in 2016 | Change since 2006 |
| PGA Tour | 64 | +5 |
| ATP | 61 | +5 |
| NASCAR | 58 | +9 |
| MLB | 57 | +4 |
| WTA | 55 | -8th |
| NFL | 50 | +4 |
| NHL | 49 | +7 |
| N.B.A | 42 | +2 |
| MLS | 40 | +1 |
Source: Magna Global
“Thursday Night Football” failed on Amazon, with average viewership 28-41% lower than when it aired on traditional linear television. Apple’s MLB games on Friday night were a huge success. And YouTube TV acquired the NFL’s Sunday Ticket for $2 billion – but revealed it had problems by not disclosing subscriber numbers.
The legacy leagues’ woes probably won’t stop the tech titans from acquiring more of them — but Big Tech should take a digital look at the most popular sports. This wave of new sports, from esports and robo sports to trick shots and parkour, are the sports of the future, garnering billions of views from Gen Z men.
Apple scores with the MLS
In a major move that looks to the digital future, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Eddy Cue, SVP of Services, secured exclusive rights to MLS. It is the only traditional sports league that attracts the same audience as streamers, including Gen Z men. In fact, it has the youngest audience of any legacy league.
As part of Apple’s 10-year, $2.5 billion global deal with MLS, the tech giant has launched an MLS Season Pass in the Apple TV app. Apple TV Commissioner Don Graber describes it as “a game changer” that will stream all games live and uninterrupted on Apple devices in over 100 countries.
In a landmark deal, Apple has negotiated an unprecedented revenue-sharing agreement with soccer superstar Lionel Messi. This spurred him to join Inter Miami CF, which further fueled the soccer boom in the United States
“We are delighted to give fans the opportunity to see the greatest footballer of all time,” said Cue. And Messi has taken the MLS by storm. His US debut was sold out, with Kim Kardashian, LeBron James and Tom Brady among those in attendance.
As he walked onto the field, the cheers from the crowd were shocking. As the game ended 1-1 in overtime, Messi took a penalty that flew over the wall and scored the winning goal, ushering in a new era of American soccer.
The soccer star’s arrival in America sparked Messimania. The games were sold out, ticket prices for the opening game reached $110,000, attendance records were broken, and the team’s social media following exploded from 3 million to 26 million followers. Even more dramatic, Messi led the team from last place to victory in the League Cup final.
No other athlete in the world attracts such a high-profile audience as he does. Prince Harry, Leo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez, Tyga and Owen Wilson went to his game against LA. Other celebrities like Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey and Will Ferrell went a step further and purchased MLS team franchises.
The paradox of US soccer success
Even before the Messi effect, the MLS was the third most attended sports league in the USA. Despite soccer’s success, MLS rights are the cheapest of all legacy leagues, even as other leagues experience historically low attendance and ratings.
In 2022, MLS regular season games averaged 343,000 television viewers, almost as many as an NHL game. The 2022 MLS Finals had more viewers than the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals. Amazingly, three of the four lowest-rated Stanley Cup Finals took place in the last four years – yet NHL rights are valued twice as much as MLS rights .
Over the past 15 years, baseball viewership fell 30% — and average game viewership fell from 2.4 million in 2020 to 1.5 million just three years later. Additionally, the last three World Series have been the lowest in history. Still, MLB’s rights fees are nearly five times higher than MLS’s.
Other leagues also have problems. The NBA’s average viewership over the last four years reached an all-time low. Three of the last four NBA Finals have been among the worst, including the lowest 2020 Finals ever. The final round of the 2023 PGA Championship was the lowest scoring in nearly two decades, and the last six Nascar Daytona 500s were the six lowest scoring ever.
The NFL is the only traditional sports league to survive this dramatic decline. For decades, professional football has been the largest sports audience, with an average of 16 million television viewers during the regular season. And the 2023 Super Bowl scored a ratings touchdown with 113 million viewers, the largest Super Bowl audience in six years. These huge numbers are the reason for the NFL’s impressive TV and digital media rights deals worth over $100 billion.
As aging sports enter their final stages with aging demographics, the playing field of the future will look very different than it has in the past. The clock is ticking for most of the old leagues. Meanwhile, alongside the NFL, next-gen sports and MLS will also be among the most popular sports of the next decade.
It’s no wonder that as David Beckham (inter Miami CF co-owner) fought back tears of joy in Messi’s first post-match interview, he said: “It’s such a moment for this country and for this league.” It was too an important moment for Apple, which has achieved great success with its investment in the beautiful game that is about to conquer America.
Aden Ikram is a former strategy and business development manager for WME (owner of IMG, WWE and UFC) and founder of next-gen sports leagues FMF, BattleCon and more. He’s a long-time LAFC fan, but secretly wants Messi and Inter Miami to make a breakthrough.
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