Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami controls the ball during the second half of the match against St. Louis City at Chase Stadium on June 1, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Megan Briggs | Getty Images
Major League Soccer has partnered with German digital media platform OneFootball to deliver highlights, stats and other content to a global audience. As part of the deal, OneFootball will have access to highlights of hundreds of MLS matches each season.
MLS will also take a stake in OneFootball, joining a long list of financial investors and European soccer club shareholders, including Real Madrid, Including FC Barcelona and Manchester City. The terms of the investment were not disclosed.
The deal comes as MLS continues to look for ways to expand its audience and capitalize on the recent surge in popularity since superstar Lionel Messi joined the American league a year ago.
“As we think about ways we can attract new fans, new attention, and engage consumers more, we are always looking for creative and innovative partners to collaborate with,” said Seth Bacon, executive vice president of media at MLS. “OneFootball certainly ticks those boxes, and has huge reach and a very creative way of approaching both the market and the way they cover football.”
Since joining Inter Miami, Messi has boosted attendance and audiences in MLS, and sponsorship revenues have increased, league data shows. That continues even though Messi missed part of this season due to injury.
According to league data, global social media engagement has also increased significantly for the MLS, especially on YouTube and TikTok.
OneFootball, which is available to fans as a mobile app, TV streaming app and website, will offer the new content internationally, as well as through its co-branded partnership and content hub with Yahoo Sports in the US.
MLS's deal with OneFootball is not exclusive, so MLS content will still be found on other sources.
For OneFootball, adding MLS made sense as the U.S. has become one of the fastest growing markets for soccer, said OneFootball CEO Patrick Fischer.
“In the US, with the arrival of Messi, the game has changed in terms of participation, in terms of awareness and in terms of fan interest,” Fischer said. “It's a completely different story. And looking ahead, there will be the FIFA World Cup [in 2026].”
Apple Partnership
New York City FC forward Valentín Castellanos (11) passes the ball forward against Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Chara (21) during the MLS Cup final between the Portland Timbers and New York City FC on December 11, 2021 at Providence Park in Portland , Ore.
Brian Murphy | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
MLS, which was founded in the US in the 1990s, still lags behind other more prominent and mature professional sports leagues in the country, such as the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, in viewership and ticket prices.
The league recently set itself apart from those peers when it signed a media rights deal Apple. While the NFL, NBA and other leagues have various media rights partners in the US and worldwide, MLS has signed an exclusive global deal with Apple.
The MLS Season Pass on Apple TV is available as a separate subscription alongside the tech giant's Apple TV+ streaming service. All MLS games are available on the monthly service, although some are also broadcast on traditional broadcasters.
Since the $2.5 billion 10-year deal with Apple kicked off last season, MLS ratings have been hard to come by. Apple does not release reviews. However, Apple executives have said publicly that viewership has grown, especially since Messi's arrival. At a conference last November, an Apple TV executive reportedly said that some of last season's biggest games drew more than a million viewers.
MLS often explores ways in which it can generate subscriptions for its Apple TV platform.
“We are continually looking at different opportunities and different distribution platforms that we believe can increase the reach and exposure of the league, our players and our clubs,” Bacon said.
OneFootball's Fischer said the company's partners and investors also benefit from the data coming out of the platform.
“We know this guy follows Messi on OneFootball, so we give him the highlights, the updates and the whole system. Then we work very strategically with the clubs in terms of lead generation, customer data and things like that,” he said. Fisherman. “While social media platforms do not share relevant data with the content creator.”