> As someone who spends a lot of time working with technology and did his stint in tech support, I have a certain natural recalcitrance to turning to the company itself for help. I presumed that I would be made to run through a litany of time-wasting tests to establish what I had already concluded. But without much in the way of recourse, I resolved to give it a shot and fired up a chat session.
And here is why I love apple. I can either spend all the time attempting to investigate and fix the solution in a way the author did, or I can simply pick up the phone and let Apple do it for me.
If the NHL looked toward Apple during the next cycle, I would be ecstatic as long as they kept the local broadcasting crews. No blackouts, added content, and significantly higher streaming quality.
Sometimes I feel as if I need 10 different subscriptions to watch a single NHL season.
The United States has an estimated 57 million Spanish speakers, about 42 million being their native language - that's more than both Spain and Argentina. I'm unsure of how growth in Spanish broadcasting suggests it's not from within the United States.
You also currently have the Leagues Cup being broadcast on AppleTV which is a one month tournament of every LigaMX (Mexico) and MLS (USA) club with a $40-million prize pool.
My uneducated guess is that it's a mix of Leagues Cup, global superstars signing with MLS clubs, young stars such as Thiego Almada in Atlanta who just won a World Cup, and MLS beginning to overtake LigaMX in quality that is drawing more and more viewers recently - many of which are likely Spanish speaking.
I'd point toward tonight's quarter-final elimination match against LAFC and Monterrey as an example that is likely to draw a ton of Spanish commentary views.
I imagine smaller pubs in Italy couldn't care less about whether they are allowed to show MLS matches or not. If the HDMI cord works, it works.
Just an honest thought as I've heard it from now two different individuals at two different pubs.
EDIT: Just did some digging and it appears that MLS Season Pass is made available at over 300,000 restaurants and pubs in the United States alone through Direct TV.
You underestimate the reach of Messi. I lived in Italy for a large part of my adult life and had messages from friends there commenting on the Inter Miami replay which was being broadcast in a pub they were at. I don't personally believe the NBA comparison works well as you have global stars playing in leagues around the world - not just isolated to the premier league. A simple example is Mbappe is in France, Halland in England, Vinicius in Spain, and the heavy ballon d'or favorite in America.
The Inter Miami Instagram account went from under a million followers to one of the most followed accounts in American sports - beating every NFL, NHL, and MLB team.
I also think you underestimate how many people from the United States follow MLS. For example, Atlanta Uniteds 2022 average attendance was the second highest average attendance across sports in North and Central America. The 2022 numbers would put it at 8th highest average attendance in the premier league. The recent LA Galaxy vs LAFC match had an attendance of over 82k fans. For comparison, the 2018 Arsenal vs Spurs match at Wembly was played in front of 83k.
Also, MLS sees the heaviest growth around the World Cup time period. Over the next four years you have massive tournaments being played in the United States from the 2023 Copa America to the World Cup.
As a long time MLS supporter (late 90's), I agree with you, however, every other aspect of the deal has been a significant improvement over the mix of ESPN+, FS1, ect.
Not having blackouts, greatly improved streaming quality, single subscription, the pre- and post-match shows, global audience, added content, etc have taken the league to another level - to a point where we are even seeing the changes at one of the lowest payrolled clubs in the league in Colorado. Additionally, Apple played a big role in Messi signing with an MLS club. (Side note: found this in his Instagram bio being followed by 482 million people..
apple.co/mlsmessi)
The main complaints I have seen are the commentary as well as lack of Android application. Other than those two items, people seem to be thrilled with the service so far.