Apple is making Lionel Messi's first MLS playoff free to watch worldwide

If it weren't a metaphor from another sport, you could say that Apple is using extensive press in its promotion and streaming of the MLS Cup playoffs that begin this weekend, starting with the Superstar soccer game Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF on Friday night took on unlikely upstart Atlanta United FC.

The first game with Messi in the lead role, the eight-time winner of the Ballon d'Or As the world's best soccer player, it will be available free to all viewers in more than 100 countries, whether through Apple's Season Pass subscription package, Apple.com, the Apple TV+ streaming service, Apple-made devices such as iPhones and Mac computers or on other platforms, the Internet of “billions” of smart TVs, gaming consoles and other devices, said Emeka Ofodile, who leads global sports marketing for Apple. The company will even show the game in its flagship stores in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and six other countries.

“We want this to be the most widely watched game in MLS history,” Ofodile said during an online briefing with MLS executives Wednesday morning. “We want to bring this to as many fans as possible.”

The big push also includes a deal with TikTok to broadcast a special livestream of a camera that will track Messi's every move on the pitch during the game in Atlanta. This will be broadcast live on the MLS and Inter Miami TikTok accounts, Ofodile said.

It's the latest result of Apple's unique 360-degree video rights deal, signed with MLS in 2022, which essentially covers all games, everywhere, always. That 10-year, $2.5 billion contract became significantly more valuable when Messi moved to David Beckham's then five-year-old Miami franchise midway through the 2023 season.

And while Apple didn't reveal subscription numbers (execs didn't answer questions from the media at Wednesday's briefing), it's clear that something is driving the league's growing popularity.

“MLS is heading into the playoffs in another record-breaking year,” said Nelson Rodriguez, MLS vice president of competition. “Eleven million people came to the stadiums, a record. The average attendance per game was 23,000, also a record.”

Twenty clubs averaged more than 20,000 fans per game, with 213 games selling out, Rodriguez said. That's a small fraction of the 100,000 fans who attend a typical SEC or Big 10 football game, but then again, MLS teams play 34 regular-season games, not 12 or 13.

The league is also making a name for itself as an attack-first circuit, compared to the defensive weaknesses common in some top leagues around the world.

“I’ll make a prediction…goals, goals and more goals,” Rodriguez said. The teams with the most of the league's top scorers made it into this year's playoffs, including 14 players who reached double digits in goals and assists. And yes, the average points per game that year, 3.15, was another league record.

After two play-in games this week, including tonight's game between Vancouver and Portland, 16 teams will participate in the tournament. In the first round, the games are played in best-of-three mode. In the event of a draw, the shootouts will take place immediately after regular time. Subsequent rounds will be decided in a single game, culminating in the MLS Cup Championship game on December 7th.

Apple will make all first-round games for all teams available for free via the Season Pass in the Apple TV app. Additionally, several full games will be broadcast each weekend on Fox's FS1 Sports Network, including seven games this weekend.

There are many storylines for fans.

In the Western Conference, LAFC finished as the top seed on the final day of the regular season, just ahead of their 110 Freeway rival, the Los Angeles Galaxy. Miami, which won the Supporters' Shield trophy for the most points of the season, faces Atlanta United, the team its manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino previously coached as an expansion team for the 2018 MLS Cup.

On-air announcers Taylor Twellman, Jake Zivin and Kaylyn Kyle also attended the meeting and selected their candidates for the most likely Cup winners.

“Any matchup in the first round is intriguing,” Twellman said. “Colorado with their style of play and (Denver’s) height might surprise (first-round opponent Galaxy). The Galaxy allow a lot of goals with their style of play.”

In general, Twellman said he expects the Western Conference to have “less, for lack of a better word, chalk,” meaning less likely to be dominated by the favorites in every matchup.

Zivin agreed: “The West is wide open.”

Zivin and Kyle both picked Inter Miami as the likely cup winners. Twellman chose the Columbus Crew, who finished second in the Eastern Conference and will face Red Bull New York in Round 1. The Crew, one of the original 10 MLS teams, has won three MLS Cups, including last year.