On the latest episode of La Previa, host Asli Pelit talks to Tony Cherchi, the broadcaster and host of MLS 360, MLS Season Pass’ studio show in Spanish.
MLS and Apple announced a landmark 10-year $2.5 billion broadcast deal in 2022 that will see every match streamed on the tech giant’s platform. The league produces a single broadcast for each game and offers them on a new subscription service available exclusively through the Apple TV app. Cherchi, who has covered soccer extensively for ESPN, Univision and Paramount, including multiple World Cups, joined MLS Season Pass as a Spanish-language studio host and match analyst last year.
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“The first year left me very satisfied,” said Cherchi, especially “considering all the difficulty of putting together something from scratch, as it was being done with new studios, with the design of wide coverage, having narrators and commentators from two to three languages in all the stadiums. And we will add things this year, because we also have the MLS 360 in Spanish.”
The league has seen a surge in fandom since the arrival of Argentine superstar Lionel Messi in July. Subscribers to MLS Season Pass on Apple TV have more than doubled since Messi’s arrival, and Spanish language viewership on MLS Season Pass has surpassed over 50% for his matches, according to the league.
“In the last 10 years, the league has cemented a fan base in the United States, and its next step is to become a global league,” Cherchi said. “I believe that the arrival of Leo Messi is precisely the best thing that can happen to the league in search of that globalization.”
The demand from Spanish-speaking audiences prompted Apple to launch a new Spanish-language version of its studio show, MLS 360, with broadcaster Cherchi and former soccer players Miguel Gallardo and Giovanni Savarese.
Lastly, Pelit and Cherchi discuss the league’s growth beyond the Argentine superstar.
“Of course, fans fill the stadiums to watch Messi play,” Cherchi said. “But I also saw a stadium full of support for Nashville at the final of the Leagues Cup; I saw that other side of the coin. I saw a new MLS team with incredible support from its fans.”
MLS kicks off its 29th season on Wednesday with a match between Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Real Salt Lake in Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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