TV hasn't really built MLS fanbase. US tv numbers were flat for 30 yrs. Caps season never averaged >80k on TSN. Pre-Apple TV, MLS wasn't a top 2 most watched soccer league in US or Canada. Tier 1 Rogers tv plan subs now get Apple TV for free. Playoffs are free for Apple TV subs.
MLS reported a global audience number but it's higher than 198k average for Fox/FS1 in 2022. But lower than 343k ESPN 2022 average. TSN season average for the 3 Cdn team matches were never above 100k.
People watch highlights online. MLS didn't attract too many casual tv viewers as ratings were largely flat for 30 years and eclipsed by the Prem. Since Apple deal, attendance up 12%, ticket revenue hit all time high this year and social media engagement outpacing all other major US leagues.
Bell's F1 deal is independent of ESPN. Bell has held rights since 1992 while ESPN had a 20 yr gap between 1984-2025. But if Apple is interested in Canada, they can easily outbid Bell when rights are up for renewal.
It interferes with NHL's fortunes since they sell rights nationally and regionally. No reason for Rogers to pay 2x more for rights if TSN can show Habs games out-of-market. It also interferes with Rogers selling out-of-market SN+ Premium package.
CBC underfunding & falling ad $ means no money left after paying for Olympics. So, easy for TSN/SN to outbid CBC when interested. CBC lost Rugby 7s to TSN in the past year. But CBC has never shown Rugby Union World Cups.
Rugby's $3.4m/yr from govt is same as larger orgs as soccer. Olympics money is same. Issue is less sponsor/gate $ as men's results over 10 yrs fell off & missed last World Cup. Little money from players as pool is only 5% of soccer. No rights $ from TSN. World Rugby is largest funder at $4m/yr.
Not a TSN issue. NHL sells Cdn team's rights regionally and nationally. TSN only has regional rights to 3.5 teams. National rights were sold to Rogers. But Cdn team's national games are shown on SN on 3 days. 1 day was sublicensed to Amazon. Rest are on SN+ Premium.
If you don't live in Jets region, games on TSN are blacked out since TSN only has regional rights. Need SN+ Premium to see any out-of-market games of Canadian team games not shown on SN+ Standard. MNH games on Prime are only available in French on SN+ Premium.
Only major country not on Youtube was Canada (and unlike Netflix games, Youtube didn't acquire sublicense from rights holder). Otherwise, not Youtube exclusive in Brazil as it was on tv & streaming platforms. And like all NFL games, it was on NFL Game Pass on DAZN outside of the USA.
TSN has no first channel. TSN1 is the main channel for BC/AB. Depending on plans, it is the only TSN channel for BC/AB subscribers. TSN3 is for MB/SK. TSN4 is ON. TSN5 is QC/Atlantic. TSN2 is national but has least subs as it largely shows repeats.
Canadian Championship is a Canada Soccer property. Rights were bundled with national team matches & became part of the CSB/Canada Soccer deal. No added revenue as Canada men's 2 friendlies were exchanged for 3 Cdn Championship matches & ad time. Caps get 50k if they win it all.
D+/Crave/TSN+ ads bundle is ~40% cheaper than cable tv. It is priced as cost of TSN+ with Crave at a discount & D+ free. Also better value since most of the weekly top 10 shows in Canadian are on streamers. Though, Bell/Rogers customers on certain plans already get ad versions of Crave or D+ free.
Various sites like this are out there: www.livesportsontv.com?date=2025-06... Or plenty of apps/sites like fotmob/livesoccertv for soccer or sofascore for many sports
AppleTV+ got rights to all MLS matches 3 yrs ago. TSN can show 14 Caps matches/yr as selected by Apple before the season starts. Tv has never been a key MLS growth driver. US tv ratings never grew over 30 yrs. Cdn tv numbers avg <90k. The Prem's tv audience overtook MLS in both US & Canada.
Mostly due to cord cutting. Led to falling tv audiences & ad dollars. This means no case to pay for sports not in prime time and/or not tier 1. That's why 90% of soccer shown in Canada are on streamers. Prem left for streaming 6 yrs ago. Now World Cups are going streaming. www.cbc.ca/sports/socce...
Soccer fans were underserved by cable which is why there ia 4+ soccer focused streamers. Cable subsidized sports fans as all paid for TSN/SN but most didn't watch. For cord cutters which is the majority in Canada, WWC on Netflix is cheaper at $8/m vs TSN's $20+. Netflix also has 2x the subs of TSN.
