MLS and Apple miss chance to tell MLS Season Pass success story

What does it say about MLS when you have nothing new or positive to say in a press briefing about MLS Season Pass other than announcing details about a production deal that was announced ten months ago?

That happened in today’s MLS and Apple briefing to the media, held in Miami, Florida. With reporters from around the country gathered on-site to interview executives, players, and coaches, it was an opportunity lost. After all, Apple and MLS could have, for the first time, shared viewing numbers for any individual game from 2023. Or they could have shared an update on the number of MLS Season Pass subscribers. Instead, we got a retread of old news, packaged to look like new.

Don’t be misled by today’s news about MLS chasing the success of the Drive to Survive effect. Ten months ago, in March 2023, MLS Commissioner Don Garber told The Athletic about the same partnership deal with Box To Box Productions (producers of the Netflix series Drive to Survive about F1) to produce a documentary series about MLS for Apple TV+.

Garber, at the time, explained it as “Every team has the opportunity to do their own ‘Drive to Survive,’ and have the largest technology and the most innovative consumer-facing company in the world provide the platform for that … This is going to be a test for our teams. But I can assure you that the teams that are really, really good will create very innovative, exciting, globally interesting content, and that will drive subscribers.”

Ten months later, Box to Box Productions is finally ready to start filming.

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Is MLS Season Pass a success story?

Today’s press briefing did allow producers Paul Martin and Steve Rankin to share their excitement about taking on the eight-part yet-as-untitled project. Despite this, the new MLS 2024 docuseries is not available to MLS fans on MLS Season Pass. Instead, just like Messi Meets America and Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend, they’re exclusive to Apple TV+.

For MLS fans, that’ll mean they’ll need to cough up $9.99/month extra to subscribe to Apple TV+ in addition to the already $99 per year that they’re paying for MLS Season Pass.

It’s 41 days until the 2024 season of Major League Soccer begins. MLS spokespeople say that more details about MLS Season Pass will be announced in the upcoming weeks. We hope that it’ll give MLS and Apple another opportunity to share details about the MLS Season Pass success story at that time.