MLS Season Pass survey results: Your thoughts on the service’s first season

This MLS season was always bound to be historic. It’s the first year of a landmark ten-figure media rights deal between MLS and Apple, which could last as long as 2032 if the tech giant doesn’t activate a potential opt-out clause. The primary result of that partnership is the MLS Season Pass streaming service, which has brought broadcast operations for every league game (plus Leagues Cup and playoffs) under one roof.

Two weeks ago, we asked readers to answer some questions about their Season Pass viewer experience. In total, 4,294 people took the survey with more than half continuing past the initial sections to go deeper into their experience.

In past years, we could gauge interest in the league through broadcast viewing figures from national broadcast partners. However, the reality of the streaming era is that such numbers are seldom made publicly available. This survey helps to give a sample assessment of the first-year venture, at least among over 4,000 sports fans who pay for the service and/or a subscription sports website like The Athletic.

While Lionel Messi’s signing has brought plenty of new interest in MLS over the last several weeks, this survey’s results are more indicative of long-term fans’ first impressions of Season Pass: What it does well, what it doesn’t, and where it should go in the future.

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A spokesperson for MLS and Apple declined to make a representative available for reaction to the findings of this survey.

Here’s what viewers had to say.

If the price is right

First, the headliner: of the total responses to whether or not they expect to renew, a whopping 58.8% said they would come back for 2024 “without hesitation.” A mere 2.1% of survey-takers say they “do not plan to subscribe in 2024;” 11.7% would at a discounted rate, while the other 11.9% were on the fence.

MLS Season Pass launched at $99 for the full season, with a $14.99-per-month option. Existing Apple TV subscribers could add Season Pass for $79, or $12.99 per month. People with season ticket packages for any MLS team received a full-season access code for no additional charge.

As the season reached its midpoint in June, those price points were slashed to $49 and $39, respectively. In mid-September, it was again cut to $29 for non-Apple TV subscribers ahead of the season’s fourth quarter – just after the arrival of World Cup winner Messi.

Only 7.7% of respondents felt it didn’t live up to their expectations for the price point. 47.5% felt it was worth the subscription price without questioning its value, while 35.1% had gotten access through their season ticket package or a promotion like T-Mobile’s perk program.

Messi’s impact

By and large, this survey’s respondents were around before Messi’s signing. Only 4.4% of survey takers said they subscribed to Season Pass after Miami landed Messi, while another 3.7% began watching after the price was cut in June. The remaining 91.9% of respondents had been aboard from the season’s early days.

While Messi’s first games with Inter Miami have dominated coverage of the league, a large majority of respondents (68.2%) felt their viewing habits went unchanged after his arrival.

How do you watch MLS games?

In past years, MLS had a vastly varied slate of kickoff times, with little schedule consistency from week to week. With the Apple deal, the league tried to add greater uniformity, with only occasional matches drifting from a 7:30 p.m. local kickoff time.

According to our survey, fans are very conflicted about this change.

Of the 2,354 who answered, 42.3% of respondents said they found the 7:30 p.m. slot to be frustrating due to the lack of variety in kickoff times. Those who got in touch in the short-answer section of this survey or in replies on X (formally Twitter) said that while the old format could be disorienting as days and timeslots varied week-to-week, the lack of day games made it difficult to regularly attend if conflicts arose. Those with children said 7:30 p.m. local kickoffs often pushed their kids’ bedtimes and caused them to attend fewer games than they had in the past.

Simultaneous kickoffs have other knock-on effects. 40.2% of respondents found it difficult to keep up with the rest of their team’s conference rivals – particularly relevant for the Eastern Conference, where all but two of the 15 teams are located in the Eastern time zone.

In all, 42.7% of respondents said they would watch more MLS games “with regularity” if kickoff times were more staggered, while another 36.8% said they would watch more “on occasion.” The other 20.5% said they would likely keep their current viewing cadence even if the schedule was less congested.

This season has also served as the launchpad for the expanded Leagues Cup, a continental competition between MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX. The month-long cup contest meant further congestion of the MLS regular season slate, with many weeks seeing teams play on Wednesday between weekend fixtures. This season, MLS played a full 14-game slate on seven Wednesday nights. Most of these midweek matchdays happened after the Leagues Cup finished.

It does not appear that viewers have been as eager to tune in halfway through the workweek. Of the 3,295 respondents, 54.7% said they regularly watch two or more MLS matches on Saturday and Sunday, with only 4.5% occasionally watching on the weekends. When tabulating the “occasional” option as 0.25 games a week, 2-3 as 2.5, and 4+ as 4, these results average out to 1.88 games viewed per respondent on a weekend.

As we get to the middle of the week, things change. Using the same crude conversion as above, the results average out to 1.004 games viewed per viewer on a Wednesday.

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Match coverage

Survey takers broadly agreed that production quality has increased, particularly in terms of broadcast visuals. Ahead of the season, MLS promised more camera angles, 1080p video, Dolby 5.1 audio and enhanced data and graphics in live match coverage. Respondents generally thought visual elements were “significantly better” compared to last year, with another 22.9% calling them “somewhat better” than what we saw in past seasons.

Although MLS Season Pass broadcasts do not incorporate a sideline reporter, it hasn’t seemed to bother viewers. The majority of respondents said they either hadn’t noticed their absence or were “ambivalent” to sideline reporters during soccer broadcasts.

That leaves broadcasts with two voices: the play-by-play announcer and the color commentator. While many pairings are well-established at this stage of the season, others are shuffled around depending on availability.

Provided a list of the 19 most commonly deployed play-by-play voices, fans deemed Adrian Healey to be their favorite in a fairly balanced contest. Healey was the main voice of ESPN’s MLS coverage from 2011 to 2018 before becoming the voice of Austin FC for the club’s first two seasons. The other seven commentators to garner at least 5% of the vote all worked on local, club-specific broadcasts before the Apple deal: Kevin Egan (Atlanta), Callum Williams (Kansas City and Minnesota), Max Bretos (LAFC), Jake Zivin (Portland), Keith Costigan (Seattle), Steve Cangialosi (New York Red Bulls) and Chris Wittyngham (Miami).

The competition was less balanced when it came to color commentators, with headline analyst and former ESPN pundit Taylor Twellman commanding 28.6% of the vote. Fellow former United States international Maurice Edu was next, while a quartet of former team-specific analysts rounded out the pack with at least 5% of votes: Danny Higginbotham (Philadelphia), Kyndra de St. Aubin (Minnesota), Brian Dunseth (Real Salt Lake) and Lloyd Sam (Charlotte).

Few readers attested to viewing games in either Spanish or French, with just 126 taking the section provided for non-English viewers.

Team-specific

As local broadcasts were done away with in lieu of the national approach, will commentators display the same expertise on the teams they’re discussing?

In our survey, 11 different teams had at least 150 people check their box as a team they “support/follow closest,” with a significant portion of this group following at least two MLS teams. Altogether, 47.9% of respondents felt that the commentators calling their team’s game were “always” or “mostly” informed and up-to-date about their team, 13.8% said few, if any, commentators seemed to know their stuff when it came to their favorite club.

No team’s fans felt better understood by commentators than Inter Miami, with a whopping 32.5% feeling those calling their games were always informed. Defending MLS Cup champion Los Angeles FC was next with 22.9%, while 2022 runners-up Philadelphia Union (16.1%), the New York Red Bulls (15.7%), and Atlanta United (15.4%) rounded out the top five.

Conversely, the first two teams to be eliminated from playoff contention also harbor the fan bases which feel least served by match commentary. Specifically, 39.1% of Toronto FC fans felt that those handling the call seldom knew about their team, outpacing the Colorado Rapids’ 31.5%.

Perhaps fans of those teams and others who feel underserved should tap into Season Pass’ option to switch the audio feed to the local radio simulcast. No team’s fans seem to utilize that feature more than the LA Galaxy, with 36.3% of respondents “always” or “often” tuning in to hear club original Joe Tutino carry on with his calls. Fellow founding clubs New England (35.2%) and D.C. United (34.5%) frequently switch to hear from Brad Feldman and Dave Johnson, respectively.

MLS 360

No piece of Season Pass-specific media has been pushed harder than MLS 360. Akin to NFL RedZone or CBS Sports’ Golazo Show, MLS 360 isn’t quite a pure whip-around show, but rather a studio show that gives live reactions to ongoing matches across the league. It also interviews players and coaches after the final whistle and has breakout debate segments before sending viewers to MLS Wrap-Up for their nightcap.

29% of respondents stated that they watched MLS 360 at the start of the season but no longer do, while 46.5% still watch the whip-around show “regularly or on occasion.” Of the respondents who answered questions specifically about the new program, 4.8% deemed it to be their preferred way to watch the league, while 38.3% said they watched it if their favorite team wasn’t playing. The other 57% only tune in infrequently.

In news sure to please fans of the 2010s-era New York Red Bulls, viewers have taken well to Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips.

One important note for context: This survey went live on Sept. 18, a week after The Athletic reported that Kyle had been suspended by the league for a month after making “improper and inaccurate” comments about the investigation into former New England Revolution manager Bruce Arena.

Though respondents had plenty of suggestions for improvements to MLS 360, It’s a credit to the current format that 71.7% believe the current cast capably keeps up with the rapid pace of action when multiple games are in progress.

64.6% of respondents felt the show would benefit from staggering kickoff times, which would allow for the studio hosts to bounce around games at different phases of their runtime and keep momentum. 51.4% of respondents wanted there to be fewer or no commercials involved, while 45.3% wanted there to be fewer studio segments to give more time to the matches in progress.

Most write-in suggestions were baked into other answers, but a few stood apart. Some mentioned the poor quality of subtitles, which often get players’ names horribly wrong (to provide one example which has persisted all season: FC Dallas and U.S. international striker Jesús Ferreira is often called J. Zeus For Era).

Many also cited frustration with the show spoiling goals before the highlight roles with a “goal alert” tag, robbing cut-aways of any suspense. Some fans bemoaned the how often the broadcast lingers on replays even after play resumes.

As for the platform’s non-match content, MLS Wrap-Up was the clear frontrunner, with 1,903 of 3,149 respondents saying they view the league’s recap show at least occasionally. Extratime, the long-running podcast which has been a staple of the league’s in-house coverage for over a decade, was next, although they had the highest number of respondents call it a “staple of their consumption” with 213 diehards. Instant Replay, MLS Review, and the league’s Player Profiles were the other pieces of media that garnered views from at least a thousand respondents.

In total, 80.8% of 3,238 respondents said they were satisfied with the amount of non-match media available on MLS Season Pass.

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Stoppage time

As we wind this exercise down, 46.9% of respondents felt that their team’s coverage was not impacted following Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami. 33% claimed it seemed to take attention and/or expertise away from their favorite team, while 17.8% felt it helped enhance their interest in the rest of the league. The fact that nearly half of viewers haven’t noticed a change suggests the “other” 28 MLS teams are still adequately discussed.

The platform also houses live broadcasts of MLS Next Pro games, allowing fans to watch rising academy prospects and other players who could feature for the first team in future seasons. 63.9% of respondents said they don’t watch MLS Next Pro matches using Season Pass. 30.1% claimed to on occasion, with the other 5.9% doing so with regularity.

To close the survey, 3,058 respondents gave their summarizing reflection on Season Pass’ first year. Only 27.2% stated their preference for the local approach from 2022 and beforehand. 24% viewed Season Pass as an unqualified “significant” improvement; 24.5% specified that it was better in terms of visuals but not the commentary, while 24.3% said they miss other elements of previous coverage formats.

There are bound to be changes made ahead of next season — Apple releases a new operating system for its phones every year, after all. All that’s left now is to let the season play out and await further revamps and modifications to the streaming service ahead of 2024.

Total responses per section

(Photo: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports)