An Apple (TV) a day...

MLS starts down a new TV road, but is it the right move?

Photo by James Yarema on Unsplash

We’ve known about the Apple TV deal with MLS for a while now, but more details have been revealed over the past few weeks. Today the league and Apple jointly announced the on air analysis talent that will be on our smart TVs next season.

It was a fairly well known and skilled (if all American on the English side — more on that later) group that will likely not offend anyone. They are:

• Kyndra de St. Aubin Previously on FOX, She has covered Minnesota United for five seasons, as well as having covered two Women’s world Cups.. 

• Maurice Edu Long-time TFC fans will remember the former Red, who went on to play for 12 seasons before going into broadcasting. He’s covered Atlanta United most recently.  

• Lori Lindsey A member of the 2011 US Women’s World Cup team and a soccer analyst for ESPN and CBS Sports. She has also worked as a sideline reporter for Nashville.

• Danielle Slaton A silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and bronze at the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup as a member of the US Women’s National Team. She has been a television game analyst for the last 13 years.. 

• Taylor Twellman few will need an introduction, but likely the best soccer analyst working on the North American scene. He could play a little too. Twellman scored 101 MLS goals in a career that was cut short by concussion. He remains a tireless advocate for player safety as an analyst.

• Marcelo Balboa , a former US National Team defender and member of the US National Soccer Hall of Fame. He has been broadcasting MLS since 2002, most recently for the Colorado Rapids.  

• Sébastien Le Toux will be part of the French-language team, so Canadian fans will see him a lot. He played 11 seasons in MLS and has was part of the Union’s TV team for the last four years.  

• Sacha Kljestan just retired, the 13 season veteran of MLS will provide insight into the current players. He was part of FOX’s coverage of the 2022 World Cup.

• Bradley Wright-Phillips The sixth all-time goal scoring leader in MLS history. BWP is making his broadcasting debut as a studio analyst on the whip-around show.

• Diego Valeri the 2017 MLS MVP and 2015 MLS Cup MVP and the all-time leading scorer in Portland Timbers history. He will make his broadcasting debut as part of the Spanish language broadcasts.

As stated, it’s hard to complain too much about the selections. It’s a diverse mix of people in all the ways that will matter. With Twellman they have arguably the best MLS voice in broadcasting. So, the talent is there to make it work.

The one complaint this Canadian is going to have is that there are no English Canadian talent listed among the analysists unveiled today. TVA’s Frederic Lord will be doing French play-by-play and was the only Canadian listed among the hires today.

From speaking to a couple people much closer to the US TV situation, I’ve been reassured that MLS and apple are still looking to add talent before the season starts. Hiring someone with insight into the Canadian player pool and who knows the issues that are important to Canadians should be the biggest priority for MLS when looking to add more voices.

That said, I have confidence that the broadcasts will be well done.

The question everyone is having is whether anyone will be watching. Make no mistake, this is a significant risk for MLS to go down the OTT (Over The Top — streaming, basically) only path. Outside of a TSN game of the week the only way that you will be able to watch MLS games next year up here is if you subscribe to the package, which will be about $20 CAN a month.

Yes, season ticket holders will get the pass free and there will be free games made available, but there is a significant gatekeeping aspect happening here. Is MLS in a position where it can afford to be out of sight, out of mind?

I have concerns. It’s already hard enough to convince European-focused fans to pay attention to MLS. Put it behind an OTT paywall and you might as well forget about it. These games will not be found on the TVs at the Medicine Hat Boston Pizza on a sleepy Saturday afternoon any more. I can’t help but wish they still would be.

That said, for the already-engaged fan there’s a lot to like here. Specifically here in Canada we can finally watch replays of the other two Canadian MLS games without having to wait the idiotic (sorry, it was) 72-hour blackout period. That’s going to make my work here a hell of a lot easier and should be great for anyone that wants to follow all three teams. It’s not cheap, but if Canadian soccer is your passion, and you also have a OneSoccer subscription, you can watch 7 professional games a week (three MLS and four CanPL) most weeks, all summer, for about $30.

You should probably go outside occasionally too though. Wear sunscreen.

Starting February 1, fans can subscribe to MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app for $14.99 USD per month during the season or $99 USD per season, and Apple TV+ subscribers can sign up at a special price of $12.99 USD per month and $79 USD per season. A subscription to MLS Season Pass will be included with each full-season ticket account. Through Family Sharing, up to six family members can share the subscription using their own Apple ID and password.

Stoppage Time: (To keep this to only one post a day in your inbox, I will occasionally include some shorter news bits that weren’t big enough to be the main topic of the day)

League1 Ontario side Guelph United merged with fellow League1 Ontario club Guelph Union this week.

It may seem a bit weird that there were two L1O teams operating in Guelph (because it was a little weird, to be honest), but there was somewhat reasonable explanation. United operated a men’s team. Union was a women’s team. Now they will work as a unified club to try and draw the most they can out of the market.

Too often in Ontario (and Canada) little turf wars break out that end up hurting everyone. I’m not here to say that would have happened in Guelph, but it just doesn’t make sense for two teams at the L1O level to be both chasing limited resources at the same time. This is a move that will strengthen both.

This is a good thing.

All competitive women’s teams will continue to be named Guelph Union, with the hope that a Women’s Reserve Division team will also take to the field in the upcoming season.

Instrumental in the deal was Keith Mason, the general manager of Guelph United who will now, in addition, take on the same role for Guelph Union. He is tasked with adding to the staff and player rosters to ensure the city remains competitive in both Premier Divisions.

Mason said: “It’s an exciting time for Guelph. To have the two premium, semi-professional soccer teams under one umbrella is going to be fantastic for our community.

“Uniting of the two makes us a complete club; we can offer the same sort of quality and services to the women’s side as the men’s side and help players reach that next level, whether that's getting into L1O or beyond.”

Over the last few seasons, smaller centres outside the GTA have moved into L1O and had a positive impact on the league — a league that has become incredibly important to the Canadian pyramid.

Let’s hope we see more clubs working together to get clubs in L1O

Notes from MLS and League1 Ontario included in this article

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