Apple’s Messi Vision
Which is decidedly not messy, and perhaps rather brilliant…
Well, I didn’t see Apple’s long cultivated ‘Services’ narrative going in this direction. Earlier today, it was announced that Lionel Messi, the world’s greatest soccer player,¹ would be leaving Europe behind and joining Inter Miami.² This matters because the biggest name in fútbol (soccer), and arguably in all sports, is coming to America.³ But it also matters because he’s coming to play in the MLS. A league that has an exclusive television deal with Apple. And as such, Apple apparently helped lure Messi over with an extraordinary offer: a cut of revenue from new subscribers to their Season Pass service.
That’s right. Apple is using the world’s highest-profile athlete as lead gen.
Aging soccer stars coming to the US is nothing new. Everyone from Pelé to David Beckham — who, not coincidentally now is an owner of Inter Miami — have come to play out the twilight of their careers, essentially as a marketing maneuver for both the leagues and the stars. The difference here is Apple. The nearly $3 trillion company. The one that makes Macs and iPads and iPhones and soon Vision Pros (more on that in a bit). They’re footing part of this bill with their Services revenue. Wild times.
And it actually makes a lot of sense on a few fronts.
First, Apple is obviously incentivized to help MLS grow in popularity given their aforementioned exclusive media deal. Simple.
Second, given said deal, the quickest way to boost subscribers to their MLS League Pass is the prospect of games featuring Messi. Literally it’s the best possible move in that regard. People will sign up just to see Messi play. Apple knows this. Messi knows this. And so now he’s directly incentivized for that growth. And the more he can do to juice it with his insanely high social media follower counts and the like, the better for both sides.
Third, related, Apple TV+ gets a new Messi documentary. It’s not the main reason to do this deal, but it can’t hurt. Apple TV+ needs more content!
Fourth, you may have seen Apple had a little announcement this week. Of the people who got early looks at Vision Pro, there’s seemingly universal praise for the NBA court-side and MLB dugout demos. These were apparently shot with special cameras which Apple manufactured to be able to capture footage that could take full advantage of the viewing experience on the new device. It will likely take a bit for this type of content to become more widespread and accepted amongst the leagues. You know where it won’t be? MLS. I fully expect Apple to be filming games with their new Spatial Cameras (I made up the name, but it seems like something they might use… ) soon,⁴ if they haven’t started already! Apple isn’t undercutting any other TV rights here (as they might be with say, the NBA), they have exclusive rights.⁵ To display any game, any time, anywhere on any device.⁶
And finally, fifth, much like Apple used AT&T as their exclusive carrier for the iPhone when it launched, I could see them using their MLS deal in a similar manner.⁷ That is, work with a league/carrier that is willing to break norms and allow Apple to be in control of the product and offering. And when it’s a success, watch the other leagues/carriers trip over themselves to get in line. It worked with the iPhone. Will it work here? Feels like a pretty good bet to make.
But the first step for all of this is key: increasing the popularity of MLS and getting more people to watch it. Lionel Messi will do that.
¹ We can debate best ever and best of his generation. But without question, he’s been the top ticket in the sport for a long time now. Only his arch rival Cristiano Ronaldo comes close.
² Also in the process, turning down what was undoubtedly an even more insane offer from Saudi Arabia — $1B+ insane? Maybe! — similar to the one Ronaldo, signed earlier this year.
³ A country seemingly always on the verge of soccer becoming a big thing. And leading up to hosting the 2026 World Cup, it feels like Messi’s timing is especially good here.
⁴ “Shot for Spatial” has a nice ring to it…
⁵ You do have to wonder if Apple won’t make the case that Spatial Computing content is different from televised content and as such, should have a contract and partner separate from the TV deals. And the current owners of said TV deals will make the opposite case!
⁶ Did I mention Apple holds the worldwide rights to the league? Yeah, that was smart…
⁷ This is also what Apple used to do with various entertainment studios back in the day. Steve Jobs would get Bob Iger to commit to TV shows on iTunes when the other studios would balk (and eventually come around), etc.
