MLS Behind a Paywall

Major League Soccer is the most successful soccer league in the history of the United States. Founded in 1996 as a direct result of the US hosting the 1994 World Cup, MLS has stuck around quite well and has become well established as the first division in the American soccer league system. In recent years it has gained lots of popularity due to newly introduced expansion teams and big name players coming to the league, but it is going to suffer at the hands of a foolish, money-hungry decision by the league: to put almost of all the games behind a paywall.

This offseason, the league announced that it would be partnering with AppleTV. Their deal specified that AppleTV had the rights to all but 1 or 2 matches a week (Fox Sports has the rights to those), and that MLS fans would have to pay $14.99 a month to view these games. Previously, 2 to 3 games would be televised on Fox Sports and the rest would be behind an ESPN+ paywall that was much cheaper and included a ton of other sports, tv series, and special access documentaries. I bought it and it was 100% worth it.

This switch might be great for some particular fans, but for the average MLS fan who just got into soccer this is going to deter them. These are the fans that the league needs to be worried about. Rather than focusing on a short term profit from this streaming service, the league should be focusing on the long term profit from the fans it was finally starting to gain. I hope the league executives take a step back and realize the damage that could be done by their decision.

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