Columbus vs LAFC in MLS Cup Wraps Landmark Season
On Saturday, MLS’ reigning champion Los Angeles FC will look to win back-to-back titles, facing off against the Columbus Crew in the 2023 MLS Cup. The championship game of the 28th Major League Soccer season will take place at Lower.com Field in Columbus at 4 p.m. ET.
The Crew is coming to the final after finishing the season 16-9-9, while the Black and Golds went 14-10-10.
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But no matter who comes out on top Saturday, MLS will wind up a winner this season. With lucrative broadcast and sponsorship deals, global superstars and record attendance, the league experienced unprecedented growth in 2023.
New Broadcast Deal and New Sponsors
MLS started its 28th season with a new broadcast deal with Apple. The 10-year, $2.5 billion deal meant an approximate 400% increase in revenue for the league versus the previous agreement, giving Apple the right to show every MLS game with no blackouts in 100-plus countries. MLS commissioner Don Garber described the pact as “a game-changer.” It is unknown how many people subscribed to MLS Season Pass. Apple and the league do not share subscriber numbers, but in a recent earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the season pass delivered on all of the company’s expectation. The league reported record viewership numbers and a 5% attendance increase to over 10 million attendees during the inaugural Leagues Cup this summer. Nearly 12 millions fans have attended MLS games this year, a league record to date.
More eyeballs meant more sponsors for the league. According to SponsorUnited, a leading global sports and entertainment intelligence platform, MLS saw a 16% surge in sponsorships this season compared with last year, and total sponsorship revenue soared to a record $587 million, a 15% year-over-year increase. The average number of sponsorships per team also rose from 65 to 75, with over half of the teams registering double-digit increases in deals signed.
“The [sponsorship] surge is a remarkable testament to the league’s rising prominence and their ability to leverage the global excitement of the World Cup, Messi’s star power and the Apple partnership,” Bob Lynch, SponsorUnited’s founder and CEO, said. “Additionally, it’s important to remember that the league’s investment in aggressive club expansion has been pivotal in driving fan engagement and revenue growth.”
This season’s finalists, Columbus and LAFC, are among the top MLS teams in terms of sponsors. The Crew sits on fourth place with 102 signed deals, and LAFC signed 83. The value of these deals is not disclosed.
The Messi Effect
Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi signed with Inter Miami CF in July, marking a new era for the league. His debut match for Inter Miami against Cruz Azul of Mexico in the Leagues Cup was the most-watched MLS game in 20 years.
Following his arrival, interactions spiked across MLS’ social media accounts (Twitter by 1125%, Instagram by 517%, and Facebook by 2488%), according to the league. Additionally, 22 million of the 24 million followers MLS has gained since last season have come since Messi’s arrival was announced in June.
The buzz around MLS (the share of consumers who have seen, read or heard something about the league) jumped 16 points among Gen Z adults and 11 points among millennials in 2023, according to a report from Morning Consult, an intelligence company. While the NFL, NBA and MLB remain millennials’ favorite leagues, the MLS has now caught up to the NHL in purchasing consideration among this group.
The league also reported after Messi made his debut in late July, his jerseys topped the list of highest sellers on MLSstore.com.
Soaring Valuations
The average MLS team is worth $582 million, with LAFC on top for the second year at $900 million, and the other finalist, Columbus Crew, 14th at $560 million, according to Sportico’s latest valuations. Last year, 18 MLS clubs landed on Sportico’s 50 most valuable soccer clubs list, including LAFC at No. 16. While the league still lags behind the NFL, MLS has an impressive roster of owners with ties to the finance world and other major sports franchises in the U.S.
The Crew, one of the oldest franchises in the league, is operated by an ownership group led by the Haslam family (who also own the NFL’s Cleveland Browns) and former team physician Pete Edwards. LAFC’s diverse ownership group is led by Ares Management co-founder and director Bennett Rosenthal, along with Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty co-owner Joe Tsai, former NBA star Magic Johnson and former USWNT star Mia Hamm, among others.
“People have been questioning soccer in America since I started at MLS nearly 25 years ago,” Garber said recently at the Soccerex convention in Miami, when asked about the league’s growth.
“People questioned whether we would be a league of choice for the best players. We were able to achieve that. People questioned whether we could build infrastructure for the sport; we built 26 stadiums. People questioned whether or not we’d be able to build an ecosystem for the sport. We’ll soon have our 30th team.”
In May the league awarded San Diego an expansion franchise, which increases the league to 30 teams. The team will be owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation (the first Native American tribe to co-own a U.S. professional soccer team) and San Diego Padres star Manny Machado. Sportico reported that the expansion fee for the franchise was about $500 million.
With San Diego joining MLS in 2025, Garber said the league have no plans to add more franchises, but he did not slam the door completely shut. “We never say never to anything,” he said.
A Promising Future
With Leagues Cup, Gold Cup, Copa America, Club World Cup and the World Cup on the horizon, the league and the commissioner are optimistic about the continuous growth of MLS going forward.
“This MLS Cup final between The Crew and LAFC is a terrific and a very fitting matchup, and it’s capping off a big, epic year for our league,” Garber said. “There’s so much momentum, and there’s so much promise for our future.”
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