it’s alive Happy MLS Season Pass Day. A truly historic day in sports.
That it’s not just because the good people at Apple are tracking my heart rate to the millisecond, or because I’m thrilled with how easy it is to enter The Daily Kickoff on this brand new iPhone 14. Promax they sent me. I’m saying this because we’ve never seen anything like this before. So excitement and fear are equal parts.
There may be some bumps in the road at first, so it feels like a real first day of school. This applies to both the people involved in creating and consuming content. But once it starts clicking, it becomes a standout.
I know I have some concerns. What I’ve often seen is that people can’t turn on the TV, flip through channels, stumble upon MLS and become a lifelong fan. Well, I’m going to level with you. There’s probably five people who’ve actually done that in the past year, and that feels like a generous estimate. Very few people do. I think we can pretty much agree that the target age group for the average MLS fan is generally not someone with a cable.
What sets soccer apart from other professional sports in North America is the atmosphere inside the stadium. Investing in people filling stadiums through free subscriptions to season ticket holders and carving out Saturdays at 7:30pm ET as set dates for MLS, building a grassroots community that really gets noticed are investing in Make lifelong fans.
It also helps the league to be able to tell stories a little more thoroughly. Done right, getting to know the major characters and storylines on a more personal level will help make the league’s overall offering as compelling as possible. We’ve seen the power of storytelling demonstrated in sports such as and football teams such as Wrexham. Now MLS can take it to another level.
Will everything be perfect from the beginning? Like most things, probably not. But objectively, the ceiling for this partnership is incredibly high. Years from now, we may see today as an even more significant moment for the league. For now, though, get excited (and nervous) to get through the first day.
