RSL Games have new TV stations this season — could be important for other sports too

True Salt Lake fans can once again hear the familiar voice of color analyst Bryan Dunseth on TV. Maybe he just hasn’t broken set pieces or called his headers in the snapdowns in all his RSL games.

Major League Soccer has added Dunseth to its on-air talent roster as the league consolidates all of the team’s broadcasts onto a single platform, Apple TV. For RSL fans, this means the end of the familiar combination of his Dunseth and play-by-play David James, and the end of watching his RSL matches for free for all.

But it could portend bigger news for sports watchers in general, not just football fans, but jazz fans, Utes fans, and more. In fact, the deal with Apple may give us some hints about the future of watching sports on TV.

Let’s dig in.

New MLS contract

Here’s some background: In 2019, MLS instructed clubs not to sign local TV deals after the 2022 season. This allows him to combine all of his local and national broadcasting and streaming rights into one big package. That means RSL’s local TV broadcasting deal with KMYU (KUTV’s sister station) and his streaming deal with KSL also had to be terminated by then.

These deals were pretty good for RSL fans. KMYU was broadcast on most cable and satellite packages and was also broadcast over the air for free. On the streaming side, RSL fans could watch the game for free on his KSL.com. But it also had some limitations. When the games were broadcast on national television, they could not air locally. Production values ​​also left something to be desired at times. For example, according to The Athletic, most MLS local broadcasts saw him use 7-8 cameras per game, but Apple plans to use 12 cameras for every game. am.

And, of course, this is the important part. For the RSL and the league, the money made fell somewhere between pittance and zero.

By signing a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with Apple, America’s fifth-largest professional sports league has become the first company to push all local and national content on its streaming platform. All MLS games are now in one place, and there is never a complete blackout. Apple also owns the rights to the League Cup, MLS Next, MLS Next Pro Games, and the league’s All-Star Game.

Additionally, 34 selected MLS games will air on Fox or Fox Sports 1.

MLS produces all broadcasts in-house and employs “at least” 12 English and 12 Spanish teams to announce play-by-play voices and color commentators in both languages. (The French team will also comment on the Canadian team’s matches.) There will be studio coverage of each match: pre-match, halftime, post-match and a Saturday night whiparound show showing highlights from every match. . (Think NFL Red Zone.) Fans can always jump in and start from scratch or live action.

However, not all commentators are necessarily local commentators. Instead, the league makes him one English broadcast pair in every match between the two teams. The league is initially expected to mix and match play-by-play announcers and color commentators fairly freely. Forty-nine broadcasters in various roles have been announced by the league, with a third hiring scheduled between now and the start of the league’s season.

A sneak peek at what’s new this week. Beyond gaming coverage, Apple also creates other MLS and RSL specific content. At launch, his RSL page on the Apple TV app will include interviews with Justen Glad and Nick Rimando, notable past highlight goals, and archived classic RSL games dating back to 2019. All games from this season are available to watch or rewatch instantly. Even after the game ends.

Thanks to the deal, all MLS games this season will begin at 7:30 local time on Saturdays and select Wednesdays, with some exceptions. His RSL home game at America First Field means kickoff at 7:30 p.m. MT. The season will start on February 25th with all teams. The RSL’s first match will take place in Vancouver at 8:30 PM MT. At every game, the coach is given his iPad to use, much like an NFL coach uses his Microsoft Surface tablet. His MLS jersey this year also features his Apple logo on the sleeve.

Basically, they’re trying to make every local MLS broadcast feel like a national TV game. There are pros and cons to that approach.

Profit for clubs, cost for fans

One strength, in particular, is that the club makes more money. Overall, one estimate said each club would need to make about $7.5 million a year from television contracts. Add that to the $6 million a year the team is making from its America First Field sponsorship, and those revenue streams alone are enough to cover the RSL’s entire 2022 player salary. According to data, the player’s annual salary was his $10.5 million.

Add in all of RSL’s other sources of income (ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, etc.) and it’s clear that the club makes a good amount of money. Fans should therefore expect the front office to act on the new budget. This includes spending more, such as his team-record $3.1 million spent on winger Carlos Andres Gomez this offseason.

Of course, all MLS teams can get the same boost, so expect all teams to be more active in the international transfer market. The RSL will need to improve over their competitors if they are to surpass the bottom of the playoffs of the last decade and instead compete for the MLS trophy.

However, all this comes at a price for fans. To watch all MLS games this season, including the RSL, a fan will have to pay Apple $99 a year, or $14.99 a month, for his pass during the MLS season. Sign-up begins Wednesday.

However, there are some discounts and ways for fans to cut the overall cost.Those who already have an Apple TV+ package can get a discount of $79 a season, or $12.99 a month. Through Apple’s Family Sharing system, he can share the burden of one MLS season pass account among six people.

Plus, the Apple TV app will show six free MLS games each week outside of the MLS Season Pass paywall. That’s about 40% of the league’s schedule.

RSL season ticket holders who have linked their accounts with our new ticket servicer, SeatGeek, and paid at least $100 for a season ticket will also get free access to the MLS season pass. The email will be sent to those people on Wednesday, according to the club.

is this the future?

All in all, it’s an attention-grabbing model. NBA, MLB and NHL executives are all watching what happens with MLS and Apple TV deals. Especially given the news of the impending bankruptcy of Bally Sports, a regional sports network that owns the local broadcast rights of 16 NBA, 14 MLB, and 12 NHL teams.

Its bankruptcy calls into question the regional sports fees owed to the club. In particular, the rights deal between Bally Sports and the team could be terminated or suspended during bankruptcy, with Bally having to pay $2 billion in rights payments this year, but He has only $585 million in cash on hand. My math degree tells me…it’s not going to cut it.

“Beyond this restructuring, we see the potential for a rewrite of the entire regional sports business,” Davis Hebert, a senior telecoms analyst at debt research firm Creditsights, told Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, MLB is reportedly considering returning local broadcasting rights. The NBA and NHL’s plans haven’t gotten much press, but one has to wonder if they’re thinking the same thing. It makes some sense to bring local rights into the negotiation of national rights.

Basically, imagine a better version of the NBA League Pass product. For fans, there are no local power outages. For many, it’s a dream come true.

Meanwhile, the Jazz are currently making plans for local broadcasts beyond the 2023-24 season. Their current deal with AT&T SportsNet pays them about $25 million per season, but if the Jazz want to open up their broadcasts to more fans, Barry’s bankruptcy and general cord cutting could cost them just how much. at risk.

If Apple can turn a profit despite its $2.5 billion investment, interest in making similar products for more popular American sports will grow. We are betting on both the future of our people and football in the United States.

Is Apple’s model the new future of watching sports in America? We’ll see.

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