‘Stay the course’: do MLS’s anemic ratings in the Apple TV era matter?
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It’s certainly strange that MLS apparently struggles to outdo pickleball in the broadcast TV ratings. But with a North American World Cup looming, there’s no reason for panic. There are a number of good-news stories that MLS is eager to bring to a wider public as attendances rise and sponsorship revenues fatten. Broadcast ratings are not one of them.
![[Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami were shockingly knocked out by Atlanta United on 9 November, a month before the final.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c9060154a4ac68653d50c87cad727221331d3795/0_0_3000_2000/master/3000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
This month’s MLS Cup final between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls, two venerable clubs in the nation’s biggest media markets, was watched by an average of 468,000 viewers on Fox and Fox Deportes – a drop of nearly half from the audience of 890,000 on those channels in 2023. The title-clinching game of October’s MLB World Series, meanwhile – another LA-NY clash, as the Dodgers beat the Yankees – drew an average of 18.6m people on Fox.
![[This month’s MLS Cup final between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls was watched by an average of 468,000 viewers on Fox and Fox Deportes, a drop of nearly half from the audience of 890,000 on those channels in 2023.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7a514413953d232cc436231cf0f7bc0182789d2f/0_0_3500_2333/master/3500.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
That modest figure doesn’t tell the whole story for MLS, as the Galaxy’s 2-1 win was also available via Apple platforms as part of the eye-catching $2.5bn, 10-year deal the league struck with the tech giant. That near-exclusive arrangement to cover every game began last season and was hailed as a milestone in sports streaming: it centralized previously local rights, standardized kick-off times and gave a generous boost to the coffers of a league that struggles to attract TV viewers despite skyrocketing expansion fees as it enlarges its collection of clubs.
But how many people are watching the subscription package? Well, MLS commissioner Don Garber could tell you. But then he’d have to kill you. Apple doesn’t make ratings public for its Apple TV+ and MLS Season Pass services, so divining the viewership for matches, even the championship game, is a matter of guesswork and interpreting the crumbs that occasionally get dropped.
