Because of Messi, Apple increases TV copyright fee for MLS

According to Spanish newspaper Marca , the number of MLS Season Pass subscribers on Apple.com skyrocketed, reaching 110,000 on the day Inter Miami announced the deal with Messi in July 2023. Then, within just one month, it increased by another 300,000 subscribers.

This growth immediately led to a new deal, when Apple increased the television copyright payment to MLS – the American professional soccer league, up to 250 million USD/year for a period of 10 years (until 2033). The total value of this deal is up to more than 2.5 billion USD, nearly 3 times the amount paid previously, about 100 million USD/year.

Despite the increase in TV rights costs, Apple has benefited greatly from its subscribers. The number of subscribers to the MLS Season Pass (live MLS matches) is still increasing every day, while it has also increased to more than 2 million people, according to a revelation by the Sports Business Journal (USA) in February 2024.

In the most recent event, when Messi played for the first time in the MLS Cup playoffs, Inter Miami beat Atlanta United 2-1 at Chase Stadium on October 26. Apple TV broadcast the match live for free to markets in several major cities in the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Korea, Japan and Mexico, attracting a record number of viewers. In an announcement, Apple confirmed that this was the most-watched sporting event ever on the technology giant’s television platform.

In addition, in an exclusive broadcast of “Messi Cam” on the social network TikTok, the accounts of MLS and Inter Miami, attracted more than 150,000 concurrent viewers. This is TikTok’s first soccer broadcast focusing on a single player.

Also according to Marca : “This is a new trend aimed at users of the “Gen Z” generation, who watch sporting events that will be far from traditional experiences and just ordinary spectators. These are factors such as the interaction of the main character, experiencing a match from a personal perspective with the participation of star players, closeness and the ability to converge… “.

MLS is about to catch up with 1 of the top 4 sports leagues in the US in terms of revenue

Marca reported that, through a recent analysis by the IEG organization (USA), MLS’s estimated revenue in 2024 will reach 680 million USD. This figure is about to catch up with the revenue of the NHL (North American Ice Hockey Championship), about 750 million USD. If this growth continues, with the huge impact that Messi is still having as it is now, MLS could enter the group of top leagues in the US in the not too distant future.

Up to now, in the US and North America, the leagues including NHL (hockey), NFL (football), MLB (baseball) and NBA (basketball) are the 4 biggest leagues that always attract viewers. However, from 2023 until now when Messi came to the US, the growth momentum of MLS (football) has helped this league to join the top 4 leagues, when it can knock NHL out of the list thanks to the current continuous revenue growth.

In early October, MLS announced that the league had broken another record: for the first time, more than 11 million spectators attended regular-season games, surpassing the 2023 season, which had 10.9 million spectators.

“These figures are directly related to the presence of Messi, who brings an average of 23,240 spectators to MLS matches. Incidentally, this record was also set thanks to an Inter Miami match, when 72,610 paying fans came to Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, to watch a football match against Sporting Kansas City from the same city. What does this say? Soccer in the United States has begun to compete with rugby, the number 1 sport in the United States,” Marca expressed.

The record number of spectators in an MLS match with Messi present above, is also likely to be broken, if in the next match when Inter Miami comes to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to meet Atlanta United again at 6:00 on November 3 in the second match of the first round of the MLS Cup play-off, there will be more than 75,000 people coming to watch.

Due to Messi’s great appeal and the key nature of the match, the Mercedes-Benz stadium organizers increased the capacity to a maximum of more than 75,000 seats, in order to meet the wishes of the fans.