MLS is back!

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Boomcoach

For most of the sports you list, we have the best because no one else in the world cares.

Good God. Seriously? I listed eight sports. List FIVE the world doesn't care about.

I'll give you the NFL, bowling, fishing, and the WNBA.

[Antonin]

Originally Posted by Cod

MLS Season Pass is free for people with T-Mobile. The offer is part of T-Mobile Tuesdays until 14 March.

We are T-Mobile customers, so I went to the T-Mobile website to see how we can get MLS Season Pass. I started to read the section "T‑Mobile Customers Score MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV App On Us" and started to get a headache. I tried to use the website chat, and the bot was asking me about what streaming service I want. I just gave up.

So I would have to download the Apple TV app? To where--my phone? We have just an ordinary flat screen TV, not a "smart TV," so I'm guessing we can't download an app to that.

But if we did, we would then have to subscribe to Apple TV? And then, from there, get a free subscription to MLS Season Pass? And then we would be able to watch MLS games? But since we don't have a smart TV, we would have to watch MLS games on our cellphone?

Oh well. Not for me. Too many hoops to jump through.

I looked and looked on the T-Mobile website for an email address to which I can send a complaint, but could not find one.

[Cod]

Originally Posted by Antonin

So I would have to download the Apple TV app? To where--my phone? We have just an ordinary flat screen TV, not a "smart TV," so I'm guessing we can't download an app to that.

But if we did, we would then have to subscribe to Apple TV? And then, from there, get a free subscription to MLS Season Pass? And then we would be able to watch MLS games? But since we don't have a smart TV, we would have to watch MLS games on our cellphone?

I already subscribe to Apple TV+ (via Apple One) so I can't speak entirely to to whether or not you can redeem the offer with the free version of Apple TV. However, the Apple TV app itself is free and has free shows and sports. They show a few MLB games and MLS games to anyone with the app (no subscription required).

For season pass, I opened the T-Mobile Tuesday app, redeemed the offer, and it took me to the Apple TV app on my phone with some kind of "thanks for being a customer please enjoy MLS season pass on us". So you will need the app on your phone to at least redeem the offer, I assume you can delete the app after redeeming and checking the app on your TV (or whatever device you want to watch on -- see below). After redeeming, I went back to the app on my TV and was good to go.

As for watching shows on the app via your television, you'll need a smart device like a Roku stick, FireTV stick, etc. (cost around $30-$40; https://www.roku.com/how-it-works). This will turn your TV into a "smart" TV as long as you have an extra HDMI hookup.

Hope all that makes sense.

[Antonin]

Originally Posted by Cod

I already subscribe to Apple TV+ (via Apple One) so I can't speak entirely to to whether or not you can redeem the offer with the free version of Apple TV. However, the Apple TV app itself is free and has free shows and sports. They show a few MLB games and MLS games to anyone with the app (no subscription required).

For season pass, I opened the T-Mobile Tuesday app, redeemed the offer, and it took me to the Apple TV app on my phone with some kind of "thanks for being a customer please enjoy MLS season pass on us". So you will need the app on your phone to at least redeem the offer, I assume you can delete the app after redeeming and checking the app on your TV (or whatever device you want to watch on -- see below). After redeeming, I went back to the app on my TV and was good to go.

As for watching shows on the app via your television, you'll need a smart device like a Roku stick, FireTV stick, etc. (cost around $30-$40; https://www.roku.com/how-it-works). This will turn your TV into a "smart" TV as long as you have an extra HDMI hookup.

Hope all that makes sense.

Thank you very much for your reply. Yes, your explanation makes sense.

But it's more money to spend and so bleeping many more additional steps to take. I don't have the T-Mobile app or the Apple TV app, and I'm just tired of every single vendor I deal with, from the doctor to the pharmacy to the bank to Spectrum cable to T-Mobile, wants me to download an app and create an account. .

Apple says Apple TV costs $6.99 per month. I know I don't have a smart TV because I did the research back when I had to place my mother in a nursing home and wanted her to have a TV in her room. So, from what you are saying I would have to buy a Roku stick or FireTV stick for $30-40 and hopefully it would work if I have an extra HDMI hookup, which I'm not sure I have.

I'm feeling especially irritated now because I just found out that ALL Columbus Crew and other MLS games are now ONLY on Apple TV. That really stinks. Well, I watched a Mexican League game the other night on Telemundo, so that will have to do, even though I don't speak Spanish. The beautiful game is the beautiful game, no matter where it is played.

I truly envy those of you who have the patience to digest and make use of all the streaming service babble, and the income to purchase enough of them to keep your sports TV needs satisfied.

It sucks to get old. You feel that the world has passed you by.

As I have said many times, when I was growing up we had 3 TV channels, and you did not have to pay to watch them. Then in the late 60s we got 2 UHF channels here in Cleveland. Cable TV did not arrive in the Cleveland area until the mid 80s, and not in the city itself until the late 80s.

Now we have a zillion shopping channels, religious channels, sports channels that show things like axe throwing and "cornhole," an MTV that doesn't show music anymore, reality TV channels featuring "housewives" and tough guy contests, etc etc.

Everything that I want to watch is moving to a "streaming" service that you have to pay extra for.

I went to the Columbus Crew website and they don't even have an email address to which you can send a complaint.

[Cod]

Originally Posted by Antonin

But it's more money to spend and so bleeping many more additional steps to take. I don't have the T-Mobile app or the Apple TV app, and I'm just tired of every single vendor I deal with, from the doctor to the pharmacy to the bank to Spectrum cable to T-Mobile, wants me to download an app and create an account.

Since you already have an account with T-Mobile, I highly recommend you download the T-Mobile Tuesday app. There are weekly and monthly deals specific to your area. For example, I got a free Whataburger a week or two ago. Plus, you typically get MLB.tv for free as well.

I'm feeling especially irritated now because I just found out that ALL Columbus Crew and other MLS games are now ONLY on Apple TV. That really stinks.

For people like myself, this is fantastic as Apple removed local blackouts. So now I can watch FC Dallas without a $150/month cable bill.

Everything that I want to watch is moving to a "streaming" service that you have to pay extra for.

I only watch baseball and soccer, so thankfully, I don't need much to fill my itch.

I have to get Apple credit, the first weekend went pretty well and the coverage was pretty solid. Announcers were on location, the graphics package was minimal, etc. I really enjoyed the first weekend of the season and hoping for more this weekend.

[Sweed]

I'll give Apple a little credit for at least offering the MLS package without an Apple TV+ subscription.

The trouble is I already get a lot of EPL games through YoutubeTV and for $49 a year I get Peacock. Meaning no blackouts and a YTTV DVR that is unlimited.

[Boomcoach]

My only real complaint about Apple's package is that they offer family share, but only on Apple devices. So my daughter and I have to each purchase the package because we are not an iFamily.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Boomcoach

As much as I enjoy pre-rel, I do not see if working in the US market. Owners have not forked out hundreds of millions to be relegated to a lower league.

I still enjoy the MLS a lot. It gives me league to follow, I can get to games, and it gives me soccer during the months that the European leagues are not playing. I prefer seeing teams bringing in young talent that can move to better leagues in the future, to the big market splashes on over the hill European players, but that just gives me another reason to hate on the Galaxy, so that's all to the good!

I am looking forward to see what the new coach brings to my Crew this year. A number of my favorite players have been traded or released, but they were in their mid 30s, so I understand it. They seem to be setting up for one more signing, acquiring GAM and TAM, so I look forward to that.

Go Crew!!!

I think maybe even more to the point, the US is a very large country, way bigger than a lot of Europeans truly realize. In England you can have a 2nd and 3rd level league that's "national" but still doesn't require a huge amount of travel. In the US, taking the NBA G-League for example, you still have the Windy City Bulls regularly having to travel a couple thousand miles to the West to play California teams or a thousand miles or so to the East to play Boston's affiliate. The UK doesn't even divide its leagues into north and south until like the 5th tier down, at which point a lot of teams are either semi-pro or just kind of dipping their waters into paying their players full-time wages. I don't see how even like a 3rd tier league could make it on a nationwide basis, and even then if you had, say, a West Coast Soccer League, that *still* represents a huge amount of ground to cover from, say, Seattle to Colorado or San Diego. Like, even when you get way, way down to "only" a Washington State based league, which would surely be way down into the semi-pro if not outright amateur levels if you had a fully realized English style tier system... Washington State is the same size as England. Even at that, like, 6th or 7th tier, you're travelling hours each way every time, like, Bothell plays Walla Walla.

We do have regionalized minor leagues in baseball which I guess sort of puts the lie to that, except that those by and large formed in the pre-TV era when if you wanted to watch baseball in Denver or Salt Lake City you had to go out and watch the local team. Also of course they're slowly dying, to the point that MLB, a league that makes billions of dollars a year, props up the fact that they grossly underpay minor leaguers by making arrangements with local families to house them during the season. There's no way in hell MLS would get away with that, let alone a presumably independent promo-rel league.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Good God. Seriously? I listed eight sports. List FIVE the world doesn't care about.

I'll give you the NFL, bowling, fishing, and the WNBA.

Women's basketball lowkey has a pretty large international calling. When Britney Griner got popped for using pot in Russia, for example, she was playing for a Russian women's team. It's not on the level of men's basketball of course but the NBA also dwarfs the size of the WNBA.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Women's basketball lowkey has a pretty large international calling. When Britney Griner got popped for using pot in Russia, for example, she was playing for a Russian women's team. It's not on the level of men's basketball of course but the NBA also dwarfs the size of the WNBA.

Thanks for helping prove my point.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Thanks for helping prove my point.

Relative to the popularity of the WNBA in the US (which is not terribly high) people do in fact care about women's basketball internationally. Perhaps women's soccer is a better example?

[Boomcoach]

A better showing from the Crew, a 2-0 win vs DC, coming back from a 4-1 loss at Philly, although I think of it more as a 2-1 loss, because the 2 PKs were extremely weak.

A big roster changeover, along with a new coach, is making things interesting. Very different formation, but I think it plays to our strengths.

We let a lot of players go in the off-season, mostly due to age, imho, which hurt somewhat, but I understand. Right now my biggest concern is squad depth, especially on the wings.

It was great to hear the crowd give a strong greeting to Pedro Santos, one of the players that was let go (not one I think we should have let go). A big contributor during his time with the Crew, the crowd cheered him when he was announced and you could also hear people cheering for him as he took a corner. Seeing the players surround him for hugs and greetings after the game was heart-warming.