What to expect from MLS in 2023 — and beyond
What to expect from MLS in 2023 — and beyond
Real Salt Lake's 2023 season kicks off Saturday at Vancouver, but eyes are already on the 2024 season, because expansion never sleeps.
SALT LAKE CITY — The offseason is over, and the 2023 regular season in Major League Soccer starts now.
OK, so officially, the league kicks off Saturday with a full round of games, including Real Salt Lake’s season opener at Vancouver Whitecaps FC — all available for free on the Apple TV app.
But all eyes are on the future, because expansion never sleeps.
So before we get to this year, let’s take a quick look at some comments MLS commissioner Don Garber said about next year (and possibly beyond) leading up to Saturday’s kickoff.
Vegas, Baby
Garber expressed hope Wednesday that MLS’s 30th team — a milestone for any league, but especially for MLS — would be finalized and announced by the end of the year, he said Wednesday during a league kickoff event that introduced new television studios built with Apple TV in New York City.
MLS has nearly tripled in size since 2004, from a 10-team league to the arrival of St. Louis City as team No. 29, which starts play Saturday at Austin. But there’s also no guarantee that the league stops at 30, either.
"We do need more teams. The 30th team will come at some point soon. Hopefully, we'd like to get that announced by the end of the year," Garber told the Associated Press. "We say we're going to stop at 30 but the other major leagues are larger than that. I never say never in Major League Soccer. There are many other markets that are opportunities for us.
“I think San Diego and Las Vegas are the most likely opportunities for 30."
Garber has long held Las Vegas and San Diego as his top two candidates for expansion, dating back to his State of the League address prior to MLS Cup in November. Sin City already has a prospective ownership group that includes Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, co-owners of Aston Villa, as well as Edens’ ownership stake in the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
But San Diego’s emergence surprised some in media circles, after Garber mentioned he is a “big believer” in the rising city in Southern California famously backed by Landon Donovan and USL Championship side San Diego Loyal.
Other potential expansion candidates include Detroit; Phoenix, Sacramento, California; and Tampa, Florida, the 65-year-old commissioner since 1999 added.
But Garber called Vegas, as well as San Diego, a “priority market” in the league’s current discussions.
“We’re also engaged in discussions with investors in San Diego about possibilities there,” he said. “I love the market, it is a gateway city to Mexico, and iwth our increased programming and increasingly closer relationship with Liga MX, San Diego is a priority market.”
Apple TV deal
Garber’s comments were made from the league’s sparkling new 6,000-square foot television studio in the Spanish Harlem area of Manhattan that will host broadcasts for Apple TV under terms of a new 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with the tech giant.
The deal — which includes a limited carve-out of over-the-air broadcasts on FOX and FS1 in English, TelevisaUnivision in Spanish (for Leagues Cup matches), and TSN and RDS in Canada — will stream every MLS match to fans without blackouts through MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.
It also calls for a significant investment by the league to produce supplemental content around each game, including a preshow “MLS Countdown,” postgame “MLS Wrap-Up” and live whip-around “MLS 360” on match days, which are billed around a strict 7:30 p.m. local time kickoff on Saturdays (with some Wednesdays).
The decade-long deal comes as Apple has begun moving into the live sports space, owning contracts for Friday night games with Major League Baseball and reportedly being in conversations with the Pac-12 to broadcast at least a portion of their college football contests beginning in 2024, according to the New York Post.
"It would be unfair to say we were prescient and anticipated a dramatic change in what's happening with at least one company, but we knew that the market was moving from local to more of a direct-to-consumer offering," Garber said. "There was such a lack of consistency on the quality of our broadcasts because of the changing dynamic that was happening in the local level. And that was happening for five years. So I'm glad that we're in the position we're in."
Playoff expansion
Speaking of expansion and Apple TV (thought not formally, but … well, we know understand how things work), the league finally announced its plans for an expanded version of the MLS Cup Playoffs beginning with the 2023 season.
Under the new playoff structure, 62% of Major League Soccer teams would qualify for the playoffs, with teams 1-7 in each conference advancing to the first round and teams 8-9 playing a one-off “wild card” play-in match, with the winner advancing to face the No. 1 seed in both the East and the West.
Compare that to 14 of 32 playoff teams in the NFL, 12 of 30 in Major League Baseball, 16 of 30 in the NBA, and 16 of 32 in the NHL.
That’s where things get new.
MLS will use a mix of two-leg and single-elimination rounds under the new structure, with best-of-three first round — the kind last used by MLS in 2002. Teams must win 2-of-3 legs in that round, with no leg decided by a draw. The postseason will then revert back to a knockout competition for the final eight.
Garber insists the new postseason were not a requirement from Apple, which has long sought more inventory for its streaming deal. But the regardless of the season, the maximum number of playoff games would increase to 33, up from 13 only a year ago.
"We have been working on trying to find the right format for a really long time,” Garber said. “We are playing here in North America and know the importance of playoffs to drive energy in the latter part of the season. We wanted more games. ... If this works, we'll have it forever. If it doesn't work, we'll continue to evolve it."
Adidas, Audi all-in
The league also (somewhat quietly) renewed its partnership with apparel line Adidas to be the each club’s official kit and apparel provider, and also re-upped Audi as the league’s automotive sponsor with naming rights to the MLS Cup Playoffs. The multi-year extension for Adidas represents the largest investment in the company’s North American portfolio, reportedly worth $830 million according to CNBC.
“This is unprecedented. It’s every team, all of our youth clubs, all the way through MLS NEXT Pro,” Garber told CNBC. “We couldn’t be more excited about this.”