Aside from the PGA/LIV Golf merger, another sports news story that dominated the headlines was the decision of soccer icon Lionel Messi to join Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
Messi will become the biggest name to suit up in MLS, and on WEEI on Thursday, host Andy Gresh believes league media partner Apple will stand to gain the most out of Messi mania.
Apple and MLS agreed to a 10-year media rights deal worth $2.5 billion ahead of the 2023 season, making the tech giant’s streaming platform the home for the vast majority of league contests.
Apple was also long considered a frontrunner to land the NFL Sunday Ticket package before bowing out late in the process. Google and YouTube ultimately ended up with the package.
But Gresh pointed out that there is a good number of MLS franchise owners that also own NFL teams.
Atlanta Falcons owner Arther Blank owns Atlanta United, Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper owns Charlotte FC, the Haslam family owns the Cleveland Browns and the Columbus Crew, Robert Kraft is the New England Patriots owner and also owns the New England Revolution, the Kroenke family owns the LA Rams and the Colorado Rapids, and the Hunt family, which runs the Kansas City Chiefs, also owns FC Dallas.
“If you look at the ownership group of the MLS, there is a lot of NFL crosspollination there,” Gresh said. “Now this Messi deal is really based on Apple TV, because you can stream it anywhere. It’s all over the place. It’s worldwide distribution for your product.”
“Those NFL owners in that MLS room, they’re watching what’s going on with all this digital stuff,” he later added.
The discussion over the NFL looking at the feasibility of expanding into Europe came up, and Gresh felt like Apple could play a role in helping football fans in America and across the world experience a full day of action.
“Whether it’s a 9 o’clock eastern kick that porks the west coasters or the other way around, either way you’re trying to make it the worldwide game,” he said. “You’ve got to have that big platform distribution. This is where I think MLS might be doing some dirty work for those NFL owners and kind of priming the pump to make the digital pot that much bigger, so that if you want to have a team in London or Barcelona you can get these different European ownership groups in there.”
