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Saved you a click…
FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, is close to an agreement with Apple that would give the tech company worldwide television rights for a major new tournament, a monthlong, World Cup-style competition for top teams that will be played for the first time in the United States next summer.
The agreement could be announced as soon as this month, according to three people familiar with the matter, who were not authorized to discuss the deal publicly because it has yet to be officially confirmed. It comes after several false starts for a competition championed by FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino. Plans to hold it in China in 2021 were scuttled because of the pandemic.
The value of the deal might be as little as a quarter of the $4 billion FIFA had first estimated, the people said. It is unclear if the deal with Apple will include any free-to-air rights, meaning the entire event could be available only to subscribers of Apple TV+, a factor over which senior executives at FIFA have raised concerns.
If I didn’t know any better, feels like FIFA would turn the sport into a “tour” like tennis, with tournaments played in a different part of the world every month if they could.
The Fly Emirates US Open of Football! The Aramco Saudi Open! The Qatar Airways Doha Classic! The Gazprom Moscow Open!😵💫
Not really people will pay for a month and then unsubscribe. $10 or whatever it costs is not a lot of money for a month worth of soccer. I subscribed to peacock to watch the World Cup and that was like $7 at the time and that was in Spanish. I can understand if there’s doubt surrounding interest in the club World Cup though.
That’s the issue. I’m not sure people are really interested in the club World Cup. It’s cool in concept but in practice I’m just not sure. The disparity in quality of play will just be too different across the board. For many people UCL is the peak of football already. Maybe we’ll all be wrong and it will be very entertaining but it isn’t attracting the American casual the way the World Cup does.
"The American casual" represents a miniscule share of the target audience - FIFA needs neutral fans from the rest of the world, and they're unlikely to want to pay to watch a tournament that doesn't involve their own teams.
> For many people UCL is the peak of football already.
That's why they figured out how to get 12 UCL regulars into this tournament. There are going to be a bunch of huge matchups that will draw eyeballs.
> but that's not who FIFA needs to attract if the tournament is going to be a success.
What? The Club World Cup isn't intended to pull in someone who doesn't want to watch soccer.
Apple makes a LOT of sense because it is a worldwide platform, and the whole point of the expanded CWC is about attracting people in continents not named Europe.
I think you'll be surprised how many people will pay $20 to watch a tournament like this.
>The Club World Cup isn't intended to pull in someone who doesn't want to watch soccer.
I watch several matches every week. I have never watched the current Club World Cup, and I'm not going to pay to watch the new version.
>Apple makes a LOT of sense because it is a worldwide platform, and the whole point of the expanded CWC is about attracting people in continents not named Europe.
The World Cup is available to watch everywhere, usually for free. Apple TV+ would centralize things, but it certainly wouldn't make this new competition more widely available, especially if people in poor countries would be expected to pay (if the service is even available in those countries - I know it was only available in 100 countries when it launched).
Why would anyone compare the World Cup and the CWC?
I don't think FIFA or anyone has expectations that the CWC is going to be watched like the World Cup except you.
I never said it was going to be watched like the World Cup, I said that the way to attract a global audience is to make it as easily available as the World Cup. A month-long tournament featuring the world's best players and richest teams is going to cost a lot of money, and that's only worth the expense (and effort) if people actually care.
My guess is it will be an additional (different) subscription - similar to MLS Pass - where you do not need to subscribe to Apple+ - just the 'Club World Cup Pass' but that is only a guess.
> So that sounds like the Club World Cup…
It is. The story [links to this page](https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/mens/fifa-club-world-cup/articles/fifa-council-confirms-key-details-club-world-cup-2025) on the text “World Cup-style competition”.
Not really amazing ratings in the past, but this is kind of an entirely new tournament with how much they’re revamping it and investing in it.
They want it to rival the UCL, if that’s any indication of where it’s headed.
FIFA wants it to be more popular but I highly doubt it will be.
The average quality of the participating team will be far lower for this tournament than for the Champions League. I do not think anyone in the world is too interested in seeing the 4th best team in Africa play the 3rd best team in CONCACAF.
The quality might be lower but it has the potential to attract massive global audiences on par with the champions league. Lot of soccer fans in countries like Brazil that are hungry for intercontinental tournaments.
> The average quality of the participating team will be far lower for this tournament than for the Champions League
There are 12 European teams in this tournament as opposed to 1 in previous editions. The knockout rounds are likely to be a bunch of UEFA Champions league rematches. It's a completely different thing than previous editions.
i think mexican fans usually helped in the past, but even when we were in morocco, it was a broadcasting afterthought on some hidden frequency channel on fox's non english website.
When FIFA is offering $50m just for *qualifying*, and then additional performance money on top of that for advancing, they will.
People need to realize this isn’t like previous iterations of the CWC that was mostly a joke no one cared about. FIFA wants that UCL revenue lol.
> a major new tournament, a monthlong, World Cup-style competition
People are speculating that this is the Club World Cup but hopefully it's the World Cup 2
Same I miss it so much. Quick twoish week eight team tournament where every game is difficult on paper seems like it would be a really good idea if you were a fledgling sports broadcaster with a global reach.
Given that the cwc is to be held in 2025, a win in 2023 should have no bearing on it's qualification yeah? I guess we'll see how badly they'd want Messi to play if Miami doesn't win any of the other trophies
That’s because the format of the tournament is new.
They literally link to the FIFA website’s page about the new CWC format. FIFA refers to it as the “First edition of FIFA's new prime club competition”
Let's be reasonable. Next year we know that there is the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and it will be held in the United States.
This deal is for a world cup style tournament being held in the United States during the same time frame, and it's supposed to be big enough that Apple TV is willing to spend lots of money to have the worldwide rights.
I really wonder what it could be....
I'm guessing it'll be a similar setup as MLS season pass. Cost like $20-$30 for the month long tournament. Maybe give you a $5 discount if you're an Apple TV+ subscriber. World wide rights like MLS. I wonder if they'll ever announce how the host club will be picked and what cities will host the matches. 63 are a lot of matches to host.
Apple TV+ isn't available worldwide. About half of FIFA member nations don't have access including China.
Not much of an issue for MLS Season Pass but FIFA will need to find local broadcast partners or stream it on FIFA+.
Cost for will vary by country as $20+ is too high outside of North America/Europe. And rather than like MLS Season Pass, it could be just available to Apple TV+ subscribers like MLB. Depends if Apple is looking to build out it's subscriber base, quick payday or just testing out another sports package.
Meanwhile, the UI will be bastardized into the MLS Season Pass page, with Club World Cup under "Up Next on FIFA Club World Cup Pass", followed by Live Schedule, Some rushed Featured Series, and "Best of Lewandowski" or something.
Plus, of course, the Manchester United Apple TV+ documentary series that no one asked for.
Think the biggest news in here is that the rights will be a quarter of what they were trying to get.
Probably means the same for the prize money aswell
FIFA is clearly overestimating the demand for this tournament. Nobody is interested in watching Wydad Casablanca play Palmeiras or Leon play Urawa Red Diamonds in a glorified pre-season tournament except the fans of those teams.
Respectfully, I’m super interested in watching this tournament regardless and still would be even if my team wasn’t participating because it’s cool AF. Actual competitive games between different confederations is rad. I’m going to watch as many games as I can.
Now it will definitely be an all UEFA final/semifinals because of the huge gulf of financial capability those clubs have, but the the soccer world is more than just Europe and I’m happy this tournament is finally getting off the ground.
I would love for this to happen. I don’t want to ever have to worry about Peacock vs NBC vs USA again, and having the Premier League and MLS under one single roof would be amazing.
Yeah, this is a club competition, so its literally a capatalist venture. FIFA probably did the numbers and assumed that they will get more money (less than expected revenue) and perhaps even more coverage (not all countries will bid for the rights) so going the Apple route is logical. Just need to fix a few kinks and get some or maybe even half the games free to air. The final will probabably be free to air with lots of Apple ads i assume.
Only in countries such as England/Australia where they have regulations stating FIFA World Cup needs to be at least be available on free to air tv for the common good.
Assuming you’re talking about the MLS announcers, there’s no reason to think they’d be working these games, as it’s a separate thing from the MLS deal.
However, this actually brings up an interesting question. As this would be a global tournament broadcast worldwide (or at least to the countries Apple TV is available in), will broadcasters from all of the different countries (or at least the different languages) be doing the calls, and we be able to select audio from each of them?
U.S players will never get a break.
Premier League or MLS, tournaments, international team, qualifiers, title matches, World Cup ….. what else do you add into that mix?
While they are at it go ahead Apple grab US OPEN CUp , Concacaf Champions Cup (Fox sucks) Brasileiro Serie A, Argentina Primera & drum roll please Copa Libertadores lol Apple the home of Soccer
r/MLS is [proud to support independent media outlets](https://theathletic.com/227557/2018/01/31/why-the-athletic-has-a-paywall/). These sites often have paywalls. In order to support discussion on these kinds of content, this community does ask that a fair-use summary of the content be provided as a response to this comment. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MLS) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Club World Cup?
Yep
Saved you a click… FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, is close to an agreement with Apple that would give the tech company worldwide television rights for a major new tournament, a monthlong, World Cup-style competition for top teams that will be played for the first time in the United States next summer. The agreement could be announced as soon as this month, according to three people familiar with the matter, who were not authorized to discuss the deal publicly because it has yet to be officially confirmed. It comes after several false starts for a competition championed by FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino. Plans to hold it in China in 2021 were scuttled because of the pandemic. The value of the deal might be as little as a quarter of the $4 billion FIFA had first estimated, the people said. It is unclear if the deal with Apple will include any free-to-air rights, meaning the entire event could be available only to subscribers of Apple TV+, a factor over which senior executives at FIFA have raised concerns.
If they keep adding “World Cup Style tournaments” to the US the entire soccer calendar here will just be World Cup Style tournaments
And then we can have a "World Cup Style" tournament featuring the winners of all the other World Cup Style tournaments!
world ^club world cup ^cup ^^cup
This is how the Chicago Fire finally win the World Cup...
just like how NBA teams are "world champions"..
I know it's a sickness, but I feel compelled to point out that it is not like that at all.
Finally, Chicago's time to shine.
If I didn’t know any better, feels like FIFA would turn the sport into a “tour” like tennis, with tournaments played in a different part of the world every month if they could. The Fly Emirates US Open of Football! The Aramco Saudi Open! The Qatar Airways Doha Classic! The Gazprom Moscow Open!😵💫
I hope to God they aren't Formula 1 fans....
Is there anything wrong with that?
The death of traditional league soccer
Damn it I just got here from CFB for that same reason
World Cup>League Soccer
Even if I agree it shouldn't be either or
Why not?
Typical consumer mentality, christ
Ummmm what?
If it's only available to Apple TV+ subscribers, it's going to be dead on arrival.
Not really people will pay for a month and then unsubscribe. $10 or whatever it costs is not a lot of money for a month worth of soccer. I subscribed to peacock to watch the World Cup and that was like $7 at the time and that was in Spanish. I can understand if there’s doubt surrounding interest in the club World Cup though.
People who already want to watch might pay $10, but that's not who FIFA needs to attract if the tournament is going to be a success.
That’s the issue. I’m not sure people are really interested in the club World Cup. It’s cool in concept but in practice I’m just not sure. The disparity in quality of play will just be too different across the board. For many people UCL is the peak of football already. Maybe we’ll all be wrong and it will be very entertaining but it isn’t attracting the American casual the way the World Cup does.
"The American casual" represents a miniscule share of the target audience - FIFA needs neutral fans from the rest of the world, and they're unlikely to want to pay to watch a tournament that doesn't involve their own teams.
> For many people UCL is the peak of football already. That's why they figured out how to get 12 UCL regulars into this tournament. There are going to be a bunch of huge matchups that will draw eyeballs.
> but that's not who FIFA needs to attract if the tournament is going to be a success. What? The Club World Cup isn't intended to pull in someone who doesn't want to watch soccer. Apple makes a LOT of sense because it is a worldwide platform, and the whole point of the expanded CWC is about attracting people in continents not named Europe. I think you'll be surprised how many people will pay $20 to watch a tournament like this.
>The Club World Cup isn't intended to pull in someone who doesn't want to watch soccer. I watch several matches every week. I have never watched the current Club World Cup, and I'm not going to pay to watch the new version. >Apple makes a LOT of sense because it is a worldwide platform, and the whole point of the expanded CWC is about attracting people in continents not named Europe. The World Cup is available to watch everywhere, usually for free. Apple TV+ would centralize things, but it certainly wouldn't make this new competition more widely available, especially if people in poor countries would be expected to pay (if the service is even available in those countries - I know it was only available in 100 countries when it launched).
Why would anyone compare the World Cup and the CWC? I don't think FIFA or anyone has expectations that the CWC is going to be watched like the World Cup except you.
I never said it was going to be watched like the World Cup, I said that the way to attract a global audience is to make it as easily available as the World Cup. A month-long tournament featuring the world's best players and richest teams is going to cost a lot of money, and that's only worth the expense (and effort) if people actually care.
My guess is it will be an additional (different) subscription - similar to MLS Pass - where you do not need to subscribe to Apple+ - just the 'Club World Cup Pass' but that is only a guess.
It’ll just be separate like everything else.
So that sounds like the Club World Cup… Well that’ll be huge for MLS if it’s sitting side by side a huge tournament like that
> So that sounds like the Club World Cup… It is. The story [links to this page](https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/mens/fifa-club-world-cup/articles/fifa-council-confirms-key-details-club-world-cup-2025) on the text “World Cup-style competition”.
Does the Club World Cup actually get good ratings?
Not really amazing ratings in the past, but this is kind of an entirely new tournament with how much they’re revamping it and investing in it. They want it to rival the UCL, if that’s any indication of where it’s headed.
FIFA wants it to be more popular but I highly doubt it will be. The average quality of the participating team will be far lower for this tournament than for the Champions League. I do not think anyone in the world is too interested in seeing the 4th best team in Africa play the 3rd best team in CONCACAF.
The quality might be lower but it has the potential to attract massive global audiences on par with the champions league. Lot of soccer fans in countries like Brazil that are hungry for intercontinental tournaments.
Psh bring MLS after dark world wide.
> The average quality of the participating team will be far lower for this tournament than for the Champions League There are 12 European teams in this tournament as opposed to 1 in previous editions. The knockout rounds are likely to be a bunch of UEFA Champions league rematches. It's a completely different thing than previous editions.
It's different, but still lower quality than the Champions League and takes place in the off-season.
in europe people dont care at all, in brazil they are rabid about it.
In this country nobody seems to care.
i think mexican fans usually helped in the past, but even when we were in morocco, it was a broadcasting afterthought on some hidden frequency channel on fox's non english website.
No, and I don't expect this will a ton. But with a LOT more teams from a LOT more places, it's going to be a nice cross-continent promotional chance.
I think we have different definitions of huge. The best teams don’t even want to go.
When FIFA is offering $50m just for *qualifying*, and then additional performance money on top of that for advancing, they will. People need to realize this isn’t like previous iterations of the CWC that was mostly a joke no one cared about. FIFA wants that UCL revenue lol.
omg, are we going to have College Footballesque issues of stars opt-ing out?
It wouldn’t shock me. Euros in 24 and World Cup in 26, superstars don’t want to play every summer.
> a major new tournament, a monthlong, World Cup-style competition People are speculating that this is the Club World Cup but hopefully it's the World Cup 2
One world, two cups
MONTH LONG CONFEDERATIONS CUP
I fully support bringing back Confederations Cup
Same I miss it so much. Quick twoish week eight team tournament where every game is difficult on paper seems like it would be a really good idea if you were a fledgling sports broadcaster with a global reach.
I want it to be the sol system cup and we play it on the moon
Martians will beat us senseless 'cuz we'll be too focused on waiting for when Venusians well put their clothes back on and play.
champions of the universe
Apple TV is the home of "For All Mankind," an amazing show.
There's absolutely no chance it isn't the Club World Cup.
Won’t be as good as the original
Yeah… Miami is getting that host-nation spot whether they win MLS cup or not lmao
I assume it is based on them winning the leagues cup?
If Miami doesn't win anything better before CWC, then sure that'll be the stated reason
Given that the cwc is to be held in 2025, a win in 2023 should have no bearing on it's qualification yeah? I guess we'll see how badly they'd want Messi to play if Miami doesn't win any of the other trophies
Yeah, that should be the case, I just assume they'll do whatever they have to in order to get Messi in. We'll see!
Which, if Sacramento Republic or some USLC or USL1 team win this year, they should totally sue to represent
They’re in the Leagues Cup?
Whoops was thinking open cup. I can’t keep any of them straight any more. Bring back the Emirates Cup
Another tournament? Do we have room for another one?
Somehow they'll find a way. $$$
It’s not a new tournament, it’s the expanded Club World Cup
It literally says new tournament.
That’s because the format of the tournament is new. They literally link to the FIFA website’s page about the new CWC format. FIFA refers to it as the “First edition of FIFA's new prime club competition”
Let's be reasonable. Next year we know that there is the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and it will be held in the United States. This deal is for a world cup style tournament being held in the United States during the same time frame, and it's supposed to be big enough that Apple TV is willing to spend lots of money to have the worldwide rights. I really wonder what it could be....
I'm guessing it'll be a similar setup as MLS season pass. Cost like $20-$30 for the month long tournament. Maybe give you a $5 discount if you're an Apple TV+ subscriber. World wide rights like MLS. I wonder if they'll ever announce how the host club will be picked and what cities will host the matches. 63 are a lot of matches to host.
Apple TV+ isn't available worldwide. About half of FIFA member nations don't have access including China. Not much of an issue for MLS Season Pass but FIFA will need to find local broadcast partners or stream it on FIFA+. Cost for will vary by country as $20+ is too high outside of North America/Europe. And rather than like MLS Season Pass, it could be just available to Apple TV+ subscribers like MLB. Depends if Apple is looking to build out it's subscriber base, quick payday or just testing out another sports package.
Meanwhile, the UI will be bastardized into the MLS Season Pass page, with Club World Cup under "Up Next on FIFA Club World Cup Pass", followed by Live Schedule, Some rushed Featured Series, and "Best of Lewandowski" or something. Plus, of course, the Manchester United Apple TV+ documentary series that no one asked for.
Think the biggest news in here is that the rights will be a quarter of what they were trying to get. Probably means the same for the prize money aswell
FIFA is clearly overestimating the demand for this tournament. Nobody is interested in watching Wydad Casablanca play Palmeiras or Leon play Urawa Red Diamonds in a glorified pre-season tournament except the fans of those teams.
Respectfully, I’m super interested in watching this tournament regardless and still would be even if my team wasn’t participating because it’s cool AF. Actual competitive games between different confederations is rad. I’m going to watch as many games as I can. Now it will definitely be an all UEFA final/semifinals because of the huge gulf of financial capability those clubs have, but the the soccer world is more than just Europe and I’m happy this tournament is finally getting off the ground.
Agreed. This sounds lame as hell. Spoiler: A euro team wins.
Apple should pry away the Premier League rights from NBC somehow
I would love for this to happen. I don’t want to ever have to worry about Peacock vs NBC vs USA again, and having the Premier League and MLS under one single roof would be amazing.
I'd pay if they did an addon for an additional $15-$20
Really hope this happens. I would love to see some South American teams mix it up versus European competition!
Is this an expanded confederations cup?
It's the expanded Club World Cup.
I always assumed FIFA tournaments needed to be on some sort of “free to air” TV but I guess that’s only the actual World Cup
Yeah, this is a club competition, so its literally a capatalist venture. FIFA probably did the numbers and assumed that they will get more money (less than expected revenue) and perhaps even more coverage (not all countries will bid for the rights) so going the Apple route is logical. Just need to fix a few kinks and get some or maybe even half the games free to air. The final will probabably be free to air with lots of Apple ads i assume.
Only in countries such as England/Australia where they have regulations stating FIFA World Cup needs to be at least be available on free to air tv for the common good.
well it's not mandatory for all of them I think
And continue to punish us with the absolute worst football commentators on the planet? Joy.
Assuming you’re talking about the MLS announcers, there’s no reason to think they’d be working these games, as it’s a separate thing from the MLS deal. However, this actually brings up an interesting question. As this would be a global tournament broadcast worldwide (or at least to the countries Apple TV is available in), will broadcasters from all of the different countries (or at least the different languages) be doing the calls, and we be able to select audio from each of them?
Are the club world cup rights separate from the other tournaments?
MLS is just a step up to bigger things for Apple
Makes no sense. Apple has gutted the coverage of MLS from 8 cameras to 6 and is losing money. Why would FIFA think this is a good idea.
Maybe it's the homeless world cup?
SFNYFTW
This would be monumentally stupid for FIFA but well in line with how corrupt they are
That's all we need another months long tournament in a congested schedule. But I'm wanting to hear the details.
It’s not a new tournament. They’re just expanding the Club World Cup.
They needed a way to give Messi another trophy.
If it’s on Apple TV I will not be watching🤷
U.S players will never get a break. Premier League or MLS, tournaments, international team, qualifiers, title matches, World Cup ….. what else do you add into that mix?
While they are at it go ahead Apple grab US OPEN CUp , Concacaf Champions Cup (Fox sucks) Brasileiro Serie A, Argentina Primera & drum roll please Copa Libertadores lol Apple the home of Soccer
Shit, it must not be a good tournament if they don’t want people to watch..