Following on from the debut of Lionel Messi for Major League Soccer (MLS) side Inter Miami, Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass has surpassed one million subscribers.
The Argentine’s debut in a 2-1 victory against Cruz Azul, in which Messi scored a 90th minute winner, helped Apple TV achieve an additional 300,000 customers from the announcement of his move to Miami.
According to Sports Business Journal, however, this figure includes those who received a MLS Season Pass subscription as a packaged deal for their club’s season ticket purchase.
The arrival of Messi to American soccer is viewed as a landmark moment for the country, as the 2022 World Cup Winner’s international pedigree as one of the greatest players in the sport will hope to bolster TV ratings and attendances for MLS fixtures.
When Messi signed his reported two-and-a-half year deal worth up to $120m, it was also revealed that the Argentine would receive a percentage of all MLS Season Pass revenue contributed to him, although this has yet to be confirmed.
Apple is in the first year of a $2.5bn broadcast deal to exclusively stream all MLS games on its Apple TV platform until 2033.
