Folks interested in watching postseason MLS action will no longer need an MLS Season Pass subscription on Apple TV to do so.
According to a report by Alex Silverman in Sports Business Journal, MLS and Apple are dropping the requirement of being a Season Pass subscriber to watch this season’s playoff matches. Fans who would like to watch the playoffs will simply need a standard Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+) subscription throughout the entirety of the postseason.
MLS and Apple have made numerous efforts to make their games more accessible for fans this season. For example, its new Sunday Night Soccer package has similarly been made available in front of the Season Pass paywall throughout the season. However, the league and its streaming partner continue to face criticism for overall inaccessibility, as the vast majority of matches still remain locked behind Season Pass, and few sports fans are launching Apple TV on any given night, given its limited live sports portfolio.
Removing the Season Pass requirement for the postseason shows that MLS and Apple are making a concerted effort to reach a wider audience during the most important matches of the season.
As has been the case throughout the MLS-Apple deal, Fox Sports will continue to air a select number of playoff matches on linear television, including the MLS Cup on Fox’s broadcast network.
Last year, the little data that was publicly reported painted a rather grim picture for the league, with few viewers seemingly watching the MLS Cup on either Apple TV or Fox’s linear feed. Based on the initiatives taken by the league this season, last year seems to have served as a wake-up call.
In July, MLS commissioner Don Garber touted the league had increased viewership by 50% year-over-year, perhaps as a result of increased accessibility. However, there was a fair amount of ambiguity as to what exactly Garber was claiming at the time.
Ambiguities aside, the league was comfortable enough to reveal some limited viewership data, something it had not done in the past, meaning there’s likely a belief within MLS that viewership is headed in the right direction. Allowing all Apple TV subscribers to watch this year’s playoff games should only help in that regard.
