MLS, Apple Ready to Cash In on Messi’s First Playoffs

Lionel Messi’s postseason debut is putting Major League Soccer’s intricate media-rights deal in the spotlight.

Inter Miami hosts Atlanta United on Friday night to kick off the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs. The game will be free to stream on Apple TV, which is in the second season of a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with MLS. So will every other Game 1 of the eight best-of-three series in Round 1 (six of them will be simulcast on FS1), as part of a push to gain more viewers.

Typically, games are available only behind the MLS Season Pass paywall, but Apple will sometimes make big matches free. The streamer doesn’t release traditional TV ratings, but it reportedly surpassed 2 million subscribers last season.

The MLS Cup final in December will be simulcast on Fox, and so will other select matches throughout the playoffs. But as evidenced by the strategy for Round 1, Apple may want to use Messi and Inter Miami—should they advance—to draw as many fans as possible straight to its streaming service.

Messi Mania

Beyond the traditional match coverage, a “Messi Cam” will follow the superstar and be livestreamed on the TikTok accounts of MLS and Inter Miami. It will mark the first time TikTok has streamed an entire live soccer match with a single-player focus. (In February, Peacock had a “Caitlin Clark Cam” for an Iowa game.)

Atlanta United, which advanced out of the single-elimination wild-card round Monday night, will get to host Inter Miami in Game 2 next weekend. In September, nearly 68,000 fans turned out to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to watch Messi, who played only the final third of the game.

Inter Miami is the betting favorite to win the championship, and Apple lead soccer analyst Taylor Twellman thinks Messi is taking the opportunity more seriously than some of his former international counterparts.

“[When] other European global stars came into this league, they always said something about Major League Soccer with a smirk,” Twellman said on a preview call with reporters. 

But Messi has acknowledged the goal at hand, despite Inter Miami already winning the Supporters’ Shield after finishing the regular season with the most points. “He’s different,” Twellman said. “It’s all about winning. It’s only about winning.”

Gaining Steam

The playoffs begin after another landmark regular season for MLS. The league’s final attendance tally was 11.4 million, up from 10.9 million in 2023, and another new record alongside the 23,234 per game average.

MLS also reported the league office and clubs each raked in 13% more revenue from sponsorships than they did a year ago.