Soccer is also the most popular sport in the world, and the highest growing sport in America. Curious to see numbers for a non-soccer contract and how it might compare.
Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)
- Thread starter ISUcyclones11
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Not only that, he’s excruciatingly difficult to listen to.
I don’t think it is ironic at all. In the regular season most CBB games get numbers that suggest it’s mostly fans of the two teams and probably conference mates. Sure, ISU vs KU on ESPN is going to get casual viewers, but nothing like most CFB.
CBB can be heavy streaming because you are probably going to get much of the same viewership, so might as well capitalize on monetizing subscriptions.
Most regular season CFB can draw more casual interest, and thus has a lot more viewership downside by shifting to streaming.
I found this while perusing the internets. Looks like Apple has over 1M subs for the MLS package, there is an agreement to broadcast high-profile games, and the Messi debut drew 1.75M on Univision, which is the second largest non-championship broadcast for MLS.
Report: Apple secures 1m MLS Season Pass subscribers as Messi sets TV record - SportsPro
The tech giant and the league are happy with the performance of their TV deal so far.
www.sportspromedia.com
I never understood why people thought the MLS deal was so bullish for the PAC. The revenue is $8.6 m per team per season. Not sure if there are broadcasting expenses MLS or the clubs incur that puts a dent in that either. Having a new player in sports media is definitely a positive, but I think the few in the media thinking Apple was going to provide a windfall for any conference was a stretch.
The PAC12 is having a hard time marketing themselves in their own backyard, much less globally.
And that's for a HELL of a lot more games / inventory. I think I did the math in this thread... about 600 pages ago.
Because he's right 1%. In realignment chatter that's really good.
And as much as people want to **** on it the MLS is soccer and the season takes up a huge blank space around the rest of the world in terms of their leagues. A lot of Gooners I keep in touch with in the UK all have an MLS team now. Soccer is all they want to watch. If there wasn’t an MLS game on TV in the summer they would be down at some local field watching a pick-up game. Ibra, and now Messi, were huge gets for worldwide reach.
People still post Greg Swaim tweets every single day. Some folks just don't ever learn.
Apple buying into MLS is a calculated risk, but a good buy low, sell high kind of risk. Global reach with the #1 global sport during a dead time in the rest of the world's major leagues.
Not sure how the PAC 12 would fit in that sort of model....
I don't follow soccer at all, let alone MLS. But I think this is going to pay off for Apple.
As someone pointed out earlier, they have already surpassed 1M season passes, which I believe is $50/season. Obviously that is only about 1/5 of what they spent for the rights, but that doesn't take into account ads, and I imagine the trajectory was expected to be a shortfall for the first 3-5 years of the contract, then start being profitable on the last half of the deal.
And I would expect MLS can keep getting enough stars now and then to keep the interest up.
I think you nailed the difference between football in the US and soccer globally.
In the US we get general sports assumptions totally wrong. On the one hand we think the MLS won't be successful in Europe because they have much better leagues. Yes, but the timing works and the global/European appetite for the sport is enough that Apple can make this pay off.
In the US people think "people can't get enough football." Totally wrong. People are fanatical about the NFL, and big-time college football is a huge draw. The rest has very little interest and attempts at other leagues fail. We're seeing just how much appetite for college football inventory there is now with the PAC.
People also for some reason think Overtime Elite or the G-League is going to drain college basketball interest. First, once there's a steady state there are only so many roster spots that would-be college freshmen can take. Second, the only way for those leagues to be major players vs. CBB in a pay to play, I mean, NIL world is if people actually watched and made G League or Overtime Elite valuable media products. People don't watch or care, so they are worthless, and unless the NBA or investors want to pump money to prop up those leagues, they'll be irrelevant, and they won't be able to draw so much CBB talent that people will really care. Sorry, but the typical college basketball fan doesn't give two ***** that Scoot Henderson or the Thompsons weren't in college basketball for a year.
The NBA was doing it last year as well. It’s gotten really good and I only noticed when you see a baseline view, the ads weren’t on the court like they were in the overhead view. Otherwise they look like they are painted on the court.
That kind of stuff doesn’t bother me as long as it is subtle. Once they start having big adds or even moving ads on the court, that’ll be an issue. And someone will keep pushing until they find that line that consumers resist.
It was a bigger risk for the MLS than Apple. If it doesn’t take off, it’s not really a big deal for Apple. They have plenty of money and it doesn’t affect their core business. But it may kill the momentum that the MLS has in the US and set the league back.
Oddly enough, the two likely losers in this, OSU and WSU, have some of the best fan support in the conference. Really not fair in that way.
How Colorado Lost $70 Million By Leaving the Big 12
It has been 12 years since the Colorado Buffaloes left the Big 12 for the Pac-12. And while the phrase “Go West, young man”, was often associated with chasing the American dream and escaping poverty for a better tomorrow, it has has been anything but that for the CU. In a new study done by […]
www.heartlandcollegesports.com
With so many one & done players drafted in the NBA 1st round, I gotta believe once the NBA allows HS hoops players to be drafted , we will see 20-30 elite HS/Prep School kids make that jump each year.
Money won't be an issue between NBA/G League salary and product money- because elite HS players want to live the NBA dream. And the NBA development path will be as good or better than college.
But that's OK because college sports is more about the name on the front of the jersey. We may no longer see kids like Omaha or Tyrese Hunter play college hoops, but that's OK. We'll still get to watch kids like Georges, Monte, Naz and Tyrese Halliburton.
WSU season ticket sales surpass 2018 total, closing in on record
WSU is 378 away from all-time season ticket sales record
247sports.com
From a few years ago, but I doubt they are over 20,000 season tickets.
Capacity of their stadium is 32,952.