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Apple and MLS have teamed up to offer a 1-month free trial for the MLS Season Pass for the first time. This trial is redeemable by new and returning monthly subscribers, and after the trial, the subscription automatically renews at the standard monthly MLS Season Pass price unless it is canceled.
This free trial offer will be available until October 31, which is roughly the end of this year’s soccer season. The success of MLS Season Pass is still unclear, as Apple and MLS have not yet released any subscription or viewership figures for the service’s performance in its inaugural year.
MLS Season Pass offers streaming and on-demand access to all MLS games without geographic blackouts or other restrictions. It was launched in February and has been praised for its high-quality video streams and strong broadcast production value.
However, criticisms include the patchy availability of replays after the game is broadcast live, which can take many hours to appear depending on the platform you are watching on. Until recently, the app UI did not surface replays prominently in the interface, leaving many to wonder whether they will be available at all.
Many soccer fans have also expressed their distaste for the default setting of ‘Show Sports Scores’, which can accidentally spoil matches for people joining late. The ability to turn off sports scores from appearing on game thumbnails is also not available on some platforms, such as the web interface at tv.apple.com. The lack of a native Android app has also been a frustration for MLS fans outside of the Apple ecosystem.
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Despite these complaints, the biggest criticism of MLS Season Pass has been the fact that local team games that used to be available over the air on either national broadcasts or popular cable channels are now paywalled behind the MLS Season Pass subscription. Many consider the MLS Season Pass package to be too expensive for access to just one league, whereas competing subscriptions like Peacock or Paramount offer a variety of sports games and other content for a lower monthly price overall.