Ask columnist Jason Williams anything − sports or non-sports – and he’ll pick some of your questions and respond on Cincinnati.com. Email: jwilliams@enquirer.com
Message: I certainly can’t be the only one who is upset because FC Cincinnati is on Apple TV+, and you must subscribe to MLS Season Pass to watch them. I would consider Major League Soccer to be the least attractive sport of all major league sports, and that’s why it’s crazy for MLS not to have a contract so everyone can see them. If they want to grow pro soccer, they need to be more mainstream. I’m trying to be a fan, but watching them is very difficult.
Reply: Soccer is a niche sport in America and always will be. Sport of the future since 1975!
And MLS assured it’s not trying to help make soccer “more mainstream” in the U.S., when it inked the 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with Apple TV two years ago. It was a money-grab for MLS, signaling the league only cares about retaining its small but fervent core of diehard fans.
MLS has never been a good TV product, and the league figures its core fans attend games when their favorite team is playing at home and will buy the Apple TV+ package to watch when their club is on the road.
That leaves folks like you – the casual fan who wants to support the hometown team – in a tough spot.
Either don’t watch or pay $99 per season (or $14.99 a month during the season) for Apple TV+’s MLS package – and that’s an extra cost beyond your cable subscription or the multiple other streaming platforms you’re already paying for. Mind you, it’s an extra cost at a time when we’re being nickel-and-dimed and then some on everything else.
I have YouTube TV, ESPN+ and Netflix, at a total cost of around $110 a month. I refuse to pay for any other streaming platform. Cue memories of our ol’ friend Johnny Thinwallet.
Live sports streaming is here to stay. The faster we accept this reality, the better off we’ll be. It takes time to adjust your viewing and TV spending habits after decades of getting most of our favorite teams on over-the-air networks and basic cable channels.
It’s not just FC Cincinnati and MLS, either. Reds fans should take note here. The Reds could very well be heading toward most of their games being exclusively on a streaming platform. Bally Sports Ohio’s future remains shaky.
Cincinnati Bearcats basketball fans learned all about their team’s games being exclusively on a streaming platform during UC’s first season in the Big 12 Conference. Most of UC’s conference games last season were on ESPN+ ($10.99 per month). Upset Bearcats fans overloaded the inbox in early January.
If you don’t want to pay the subscription fee and still want to follow a game, then get creative. I like to listen to the Reds and FC Cincinnati on radio. And with the Reds, I also like to follow along on ESPN.com’s Gamecast. Sometimes, I’ll also follow a Reds game or FC Cincinnati match on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds fans should take note of Major League Soccer Apple TV situation
