Antenna: MLS Season Pass had 110K US signups on July 21, the day of Messi's first MLS match, up from 6,143 on July 20; July was TV+'s best signup month in 2023
Soccer superstar attracts over 110,000 sign-ups to MLS Season Pass on day of first game — Soccer superstar Lionel Messi helped drive a surge in U.S. subscriptions to
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple had already positioned MLS Season Pass as a standalone global product, launching it in more than 100 territories with monthly and season pricing through the league-wide streaming package launch. The scale of signups around Messi’s first match supplies an early measure of how a single player can accelerate adoption of that product.
The surge also gives practical weight to reports that MLS and Apple had discussed linking Messi’s compensation to new Season Pass subscribers. Related coverage had identified international subscriber acquisition as a potential benefit, but the reported U.S. response shows the effect was immediate in Apple’s home market too.
First-order effects
- MLS Season Pass gained roughly 110,000 U.S. signups on July 21, versus 6,143 the prior day, directly expanding the service’s customer base around Messi’s debut.
- Apple TV+ recorded its strongest signup month of 2023 in July, tying the MLS event to a broader acquisition moment for Apple’s video service.
Second-order effects
- The result strengthens MLS and Apple’s incentive to market marquee-player moments as subscription events rather than relying only on the league’s regular schedule.
- It makes player-linked commercial arrangements more credible for sports-rights packages when the athlete can be associated with measurable new subscriptions.
Third-order effects
- If such spikes can be retained beyond the debut window, sports streaming rights could be valued increasingly for their ability to acquire subscribers across a broader media bundle, not solely for direct match-viewing revenue.
- The model would shift more negotiating leverage toward globally recognizable athletes, while leaving leagues and platforms exposed if acquisition surges do not translate into sustained subscriptions.
The trend: Sports streamers are using star power and exclusive live rights as subscriber-acquisition engines for wider entertainment services.