MLS Cup was a classic, and TV viewers responded in big numbers.
The titanic clash between LAFC and the Philadelphia Union was seen by over 2.1 million people, in ratings provided by Nielsen.
Nearly 1.5 million viewers watched on Fox, while 668,000 did the same in Spanish on Univision. The only MLS Cup to draw better ratings came all the way back in 1997, as the final between D.C. United and the LA Galaxy drew just over 2.2 million viewers.
MLS has long struggled for positive news on the TV ratings front, but MLS Cup was a big success despite going up against a massive college football game between Georgia and Tennessee. Viewership was up 38% from 2021’s final, which was shown on ABC and UniMas.
Only one club match did bigger numbers on an English-language channel this year, with the Champions League final getting 2.67 million viewers on CBS back in May.
Philly went all-in on the Union
Philadelphia sports fans in particular ended up boosting the numbers. Despite having a World Series game for the Phillies later on Saturday, more fans tuned in to see the Union than ever before.
In Philadelphia, MLS Cup drew a bigger share of TV viewership than the combined totals from the Georgia-Tennessee football game on CBS and ABC’s broadcast of Penn State vs. Indiana. It’s estimated that a whopping 26% of Philadelphia’s TV viewers were tuned to MLS Cup during the penalty kick shootout.
The ratings there and nationwide come at an interesting moment for MLS. The league has signed a 10-year broadcast deal with Apple TV, reportedly worth $250 million. The vast majority of games will be available on a new MLS streaming service on the Apple TV app, with details about linear broadcasts for specific games — MLS Cup almost certainly being among them — yet to be announced.
As a league with a history of middling-to-poor ratings, entering a new era without a defined linear TV broadcast partner could be treacherous. Being able to show networks that interest is climbing, even going up against one of the biggest football games of the year, is the best way to guarantee more lucrative deals and the more favorable broadcast windows the league has long craved.
[lawrence-related id=9309,9291,9099]