MLS Season Pass nearing 1M subs prior to Messi bump, team execs frustrated with Apple’s lack of transparency

Football superstar Lionel Messi is expected to kickstart Major League Soccer interest for Apple, but how were the numbers looking prior to Messi’s debut?

Unsurprisingly, Apple has a tight seal on any real data for its MLS Season Pass subscription service. The company is in its first year of a decadelong deal that gives it exclusive streaming rights to the US men’s soccer league.

Citing industry sources, Sports Business Journal reports that MLS Season Pass is “approaching 1 million subscribers, a number that includes season-ticket holders who are provided access as part of their purchase.”

Putting the nearly 1 million subscribers number in context is additional reporting from SBJ:

In early June, those same sources had the MLS Season Pass subscriber base at 700,000, which league executives believe shows good growth, and they expect that number to balloon even further once Messi starts playing.

Prior to the season start, Apple allowed T-Mobile to give away a year of MLS Season Pass to its customers in the US. Apple’s MLS Season Pass is an international offering, however.

Something else could explain the bump prior to the marketing onslaught that has occurred around Messi joining Miami. Apple cut the price in half for MLS Season Pass halfway through the season.

Apple SVP of services Eddy Cue said MLS Season Pass numbers for subscribers and viewership were “much better than forecasted” at the time.

It wouldn’t be an Apple video service without frustration over who has access to those numbers.

Privately, team executives are reportedly peeved by Apple’s emphasis on numbers for views, subscribers, and advertising so early on in the 10-year partnership.

As it relates to advertisers, team executives are also dealing with typical Apple control over who exactly is subscribing to MLS Season Pass. That’s because MLS teams are unable to tout their own audience sizes for local sponsors.

SBJ notes that each team previously enjoyed “viewership statistics down to the quarter-hour for their local and national games.”

The trade-off, it seems, is less granular transparency in exchange for having a partner in Apple who is committed to growing the audience for Major League Soccer globally.