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OT: St. Louis City SC Reveals Jersey


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23 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Since its almost here, did we ever figure out the apple tv subscription?  If I have basic Apple tv, will I get our games. Or do I need to upgrade my package?

You will, I believe, get 3 games with the regular Apple TV package, 2 on FS1 and one on regular broadcast Fox.  All others will require you to upgrade.

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On 2/10/2023 at 4:05 PM, brianstl said:

I don't get the people that can't figure out how to get Bally's.  It is pretty simple.  I get it through DirecTV with HBO Max thrown in and the rest of basic cable for just over $60 a month.  Just haggle with them and threaten to cancel your service or not sign up for the service.  It is just like SiriusXM. Why is anyone paying more than $5 a month for it?  You can get everything on SiriusXM for $5 a month if you are willing to haggle with them.  

I don’t get the people who can’t figure out how to get MLS Season Pass. It’s pretty simple. It’s free this season for T-Mobile customers. (T-Mobile has a 25% market share, offers weekly Tuesday deals, and is often less expensive than competitors Verizon and AT&T.) No haggle necessary.

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1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said:

Does anyone besides the league and those shilling for the league think this helps grow the game?

It is completely short sighted and idiotic.  The walling in of media behind a paywall is exactly how boxing went from one of the most popular sports in the country to almost a fringe sport.  The franchise home debut, which should be the most important marketing opportunity for City SC isn't going to be easily available for 99% of the people of the region.  If a league still searching for their footing after 30 years wanted to flirt with suicide, this is how you would do it.  It isn't City SC's fault, but it will hurt them.  

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I hope that TMobile keeps the free MLBTV too.  Pretty good deal if I get both.

 

As to whether or not this benefits MLS being on AppleTV then behind a pay wall.......does anyone flip through TVchannels anymore? If you do is it on Cable?  I might look at Sling.  As for those that do are they the demographics that will be MLS fans? Probably not. 

If Apple can do something like NETFLIX F1 Drive to Survive did for F1 in the US. Which is to tell compelling stories to bring in an audience then it'll be a success.  If not MLS got $100mil.

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5 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I hope that TMobile keeps the free MLBTV too.  Pretty good deal if I get both.

 

As to whether or not this benefits MLS being on AppleTV then behind a pay wall.......does anyone flip through TVchannels anymore? If you do is it on Cable?  I might look at Sling.  As for those that do are they the demographics that will be MLS fans? Probably not. 

If Apple can do something like NETFLIX F1 Drive to Survive did for F1 in the US. Which is to tell compelling stories to bring in an audience then it'll be a success.  If not MLS got $100mil.

For those that don't know, MLB.TV which T-Mobile has included for free in the past, has blackouts. Apple/MLS will have zero blackouts. 

MLS made a 450% money increase with its Apple deal. 

Apple plus and ESPN plus, which previously carried MLS games, have a similar 25 million subscriber base range. ESPN plus has doubled its price in the past 3 years, to try to make up for those that have ESPN plus as part of a Hulu/Disney bundle at a lower price.

DirecTV for example, lost 500k subscribers in Q3 2022, and about half of its subscribers over the past decade. And DirecTV no longer has exclusive righrs to NFL Sunday Ticket which is popular with its customers.

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7 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I hope that TMobile keeps the free MLBTV too.  Pretty good deal if I get both.

 

As to whether or not this benefits MLS being on AppleTV then behind a pay wall.......does anyone flip through TVchannels anymore? If you do is it on Cable?  I might look at Sling.  As for those that do are they the demographics that will be MLS fans? Probably not. 

If Apple can do something like NETFLIX F1 Drive to Survive did for F1 in the US. Which is to tell compelling stories to bring in an audience then it'll be a success.  If not MLS got $100mil.

 

8 minutes ago, brianstl said:

It is completely short sighted and idiotic.  The walling in of media behind a paywall is exactly how boxing went from one of the most popular sports in the country to almost a fringe sport.  The franchise home debut, which should be the most important marketing opportunity for City SC isn't going to be easily available for 99% of the people of the region.  If a league still searching for their footing after 30 years wanted to flirt with suicide, this is how you would do it.  It isn't City SC's fault, but it will hurt them.  

It's interesting because I'm not necessarily against the paywall deal. I love what NHL has done with ESPN+. What NHL and ESPN are doing right is making NHL available to all ESPN+ subscribers, not an additional fee.

I also can't believe they couldn't come to some agreement to allow local affiliates to carry the in-market matches.

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11 minutes ago, courtside said:

I don’t get the people who can’t figure out how to get MLS Season Pass. It’s pretty simple. It’s free this season for T-Mobile customers. (T-Mobile has a 25% market share, offers weekly Tuesday deals, and is often less expensive than competitors Verizon and AT&T.) No haggle necessary.

First, normal people already knew how to get Bally's. It has always been and still is available on cable and the country's largest satellite provider.  That is how anyone older than ten first consumed the product.  That is why it amazes you can't figure out how to get Bally's.  If it is a product you really want, it is easy for a person that has a functioning brain and is mentally stable to figure it out. 

Second, the problem for the MLS isn't that people can't figure it out.  The problem is that not enough people will care about figuring out how to watch their product.  I know how to watch their product this year.  I don't care enough about their product to make the changes to services I already have or add the expenses necessary without those changes to consume their product on TV.

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11 minutes ago, courtside said:

For those that don't know, MLB.TV which T-Mobile has included for free in the past, has blackouts. Apple/MLS will have zero blackouts. 

MLS made a 450% money increase with its Apple deal. 

Apple plus and ESPN plus, which previously carried MLS games, have a similar 25 million subscriber base range. ESPN plus has doubled its price in the past 3 years, to try to make up for those that have ESPN plus as part of a Hulu/Disney bundle at a lower price.

DirecTV for example, lost 500k subscribers in Q3 2022, and about half of its subscribers over the past decade. And DirecTV no longer has exclusive righrs to NFL Sunday Ticket which is popular with its customers.

The previous MLS media deal had extensive local media packages that this deal does not have.  The fact that the Apple deal has no blackouts isn't a plus of the deal.  It is just a nod to the fact that their are no local media rights in this deal.

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12 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

 

It's interesting because I'm not necessarily against the paywall deal. I love what NHL has done with ESPN+. What NHL and ESPN are doing right is making NHL available to all ESPN+ subscribers, not an additional fee.

I also can't believe they couldn't come to some agreement to allow local affiliates to carry the in-market matches.

The NHL still has local media rights. That gives most fans what they most want to watch and allows teams to market their product to their regional market.  

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5 minutes ago, brianstl said:

First, normal people already knew how to get Bally's. It has always been and still is available on cable and the country's largest satellite provider.  That is how anyone older than ten first consumed the product.  That is why it amazes you can't figure out how to get Bally's.  If it is a product you really want, it is easy for a person that has a functioning brain and is mentally stable to figure it out. 

Second, the problem for the MLS isn't that people can't figure it out.  The problem is that not enough people will care about figuring out how to watch their product.  I know how to watch their product this year.  I don't care enough about their product to make the changes to services I already have or add the expenses necessary without those changes to consume their product on TV.

You are very consistently seeing many things only through the narrow lens of yourself. 

Don’t have Ballys? You aren’t normal. You don’t have a functioning brain. You aren’t mentally stable.

Don’t have Apple MLS Season Pass? It’s too difficult to figure out, people don’t care, it’s too expensive.

What if I told you there was a time when people didn’t have cable, and people had to get up and change the channel at the tv? 

Other streaming options are much less expensive than DirecTV. Other streaming options include unlimited recording, multiple location, and multiple device viewing. T-Mobile is less expensive than AT&T. I thought you were a wheeler dealer?

For someone who says he doesn’t care, you sure seem to be posting quite a bit about it telling people you don’t care. 

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Yeah they should work out the local media rights.  But I rarely watch local media.  Total Soccer Show Podcast hypothesized that this will make it hard to get an MLS game on in a Sports Bar unless that bar is a special MLS team bar.   How many viewers/ exposure is lost by that problem?

I think it came down to this was the best deal money wise far and away that was offered to MLS but it may not be the best for exposure.  So is it good in the long run? 50/50

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Just now, courtside said:

You are very consistently seeing many things only through the narrow lens of yourself. 

Don’t have Ballys? You aren’t normal. You don’t have a functioning brain. You aren’t mentally stable.

Don’t have Apple MLS Season Pass? It’s too difficult to figure out, people don’t care, it’s too expensive.

What if I told you there was a time when people didn’t have cable, and people had to get up and change the channel at the tv? 

Other streaming options are much less expensive than DirecTV. Other streaming options include unlimited recording, multiple location, and multiple device viewing. T-Mobile is less expensive than AT&T. I thought you were a wheeler dealer?

For someone who says he doesn’t care, you sure seem to be posting quite a bit about it telling people you don’t care. 

You wheel and deal when you care about getting the product.  I don't care enough to put in the effort get the product.  The MLS's history of media ratings across all delivery platforms shows most people don't care enough about getting the product to do what they need to consume the product.

 

I get why MLS decided to take the short term financial gains of this deal.  I just believe it is turning into an awful deal when it comes to the long term growth and future financial stability of the majority of the league's franchises.  It will never come close to even the current popularity of The Premier League in this country if people the vast majority of people in this country can't sample their product easily.  Soccer's popularity will continue to grow in this country, but not enough people are going to have a reason to care about the second rate league in their own country.

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3 minutes ago, brianstl said:

You wheel and deal when you care about getting the product.  I don't care enough to put in the effort get the product.  The MLS's history of media ratings across all delivery platforms shows most people don't care enough about getting the product to do what they need to consume the product.

 

I get why MLS decided to take the short term financial gains of this deal.  I just believe it is turning into an awful deal when it comes to the long term growth and future financial stability of the majority of the league's franchises.  It will never come close to even the current popularity of The Premier League in this country if people the vast majority of people in this country can't sample their product easily.  Soccer's popularity will continue to grow in this country, but not enough people are going to have a reason to care about the second rate league in their own country.

Not sure I agree with the above. I think it could approach EPL popularity.  Arguably in Austin it is more popular.   You may see this in STL too.  EPL is on streaming that requires payment. I think some games are also on Cable TV too.  

I do worry the deal won't help bring in more fans.  It could hinder it.  My idea about an F1 Drive to Survive type show was taken from TSS podcast mentioned above.  People want compelling stories that can bring in an audience if AppleTV does something like that it could work.  Think about Hardknocks or HBO247 for the big boxing matches.  I loved the 247 for Paqiuao fights even my wife got into it. 

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12 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

Not sure I agree with the above. I think it could approach EPL popularity.  Arguably in Austin it is more popular.   You may see this in STL too.  EPL is on streaming that requires payment. I think some games are also on Cable TV too.  

I do worry the deal won't help bring in more fans.  It could hinder it.  My idea about an F1 Drive to Survive type show was taken from TSS podcast mentioned above.  People want compelling stories that can bring in an audience if AppleTV does something like that it could work.  Think about Hardknocks or HBO247 for the big boxing matches.  I loved the 247 for Paqiuao fights even my wife got into it. 

The EPL currently almost doubles the MLS national average TV ratings in the US.  The EPL's TV ratings grew over 20% while the MLS's grew at 11%.

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59 minutes ago, brianstl said:

You wheel and deal when you care about getting the product.  I don't care enough to put in the effort get the product.  The MLS's history of media ratings across all delivery platforms shows most people don't care enough about getting the product to do what they need to consume the product.

 

I get why MLS decided to take the short term financial gains of this deal.  I just believe it is turning into an awful deal when it comes to the long term growth and future financial stability of the majority of the league's franchises.  It will never come close to even the current popularity of The Premier League in this country if people the vast majority of people in this country can't sample their product easily.  Soccer's popularity will continue to grow in this country, but not enough people are going to have a reason to care about the second rate league in their own country.

A growing number of people don’t care enough to pay more to get Ballys.  And Ballys direct to consumer app is $20 a month. 

MLS had its best regular season ratings in 15 years last season. It was the most watched final in 25 years. As mentioned, Apple plus and ESPN plus both had 25 million subscribers this past year. Apple is paying 450% more for the product. 

Why are you comparing MLS to Premier League? That’s apples to oranges. 

And you are saying on the one hand, that MLS will not grow its audience by moving to Apple. At the same time, you are saying that MLS hasn't grown its audience enough on ESPN. You can't have it both ways. Also people habe to pay extra for some of those Premier League games on Peacock or Champions League games on Paramount plus etc...

 

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The idea of subscribing directly to a league and their partner to watch one sport will seem odd to most traditional STL sports fans.......until the Cardinals dump the bankrupt BSMW and go direct to consumers with a streaming, no-blackouts package next season. And when they do it will probably be for more than $99 per season.

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Getting an MLS franchise is great for STL

However with that said, the MLS has a long way to go to compete on the world stage with American talent.  At present any high profile foreign players in the MLS have been few and far between.

Since 1990 the USMNT has a World Cup record of 6 wins, 16 losses and 8 draws; hardly a stellar performance.  Yes in time it will get better but it's not like the rest of the world is sitting around waiting for the US to catch up.

When an under-sized country like Croatia (under 4 million in population) can play an oversized role in the World Cup (3rd place in 1998, 2nd place 2018, 3rd place in 2022), the USMNT has been a joke.

Christian Pulisic (US born with dual US and Croatian citizenship) is touted as one of the USMNT stars,  He would not make the Croatian national team much less play................

For now the MLS is about 6th tier in global soccer.............so it's great to have STLCity but let's be realistic about where it is in the pecking order.

 

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8 minutes ago, 73Billiken said:

Getting an MLS franchise is great for STL

However with that said, the MLS has a long way to go to compete on the world stage with American talent.  At present any high profile foreign players in the MLS have been few and far between.

Since 1990 the USMNT has a World Cup record of 6 wins, 16 losses and 8 draws; hardly a stellar performance.  Yes in time it will get better but it's not like the rest of the world is sitting around waiting for the US to catch up.

When an under-sized country like Croatia (under 4 million in population) can play an oversized role in the World Cup (3rd place in 1998, 2nd place 2018, 3rd place in 2022), the USMNT has been a joke.

Christian Pulisic (US born with dual US and Croatian citizenship) is touted as one of the USMNT stars,  He would not make the Croatian national team much less play................

For now the MLS is about 6th tier in global soccer.............so it's great to have STLCity but let's be realistic about where it is in the pecking order.

 

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