We know what MLS wants from Apple. What does Apple want from MLS?

It’s easy to understand why Major League Soccer wanted to partner with Apple. The technology giant offered a historic amount of money, $250 million-plus per year for a decade, and the marketing might of one of the world’s most famous brands.

Figuring out what Apple wants from the deal is harder. Sure, there are soccer fans in the company’s ranks, from software and hardware designers to the C-suite. And if a name long associated with cool modernity is going to get into live sports, a sport whose fan base trends young and smart — and with money to spend — is a good fit.

But what really is behind it all? Over the last few weeks, The Inquirer has spoken with a range of sources on all sides of the deal, plus some interested outside observers. Most of them agreed to talk only on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely.

» READ MORE: How to watch Union games in the new Apple MLS Season Pass streaming package

Longtime American soccer fans aren’t used to hearing the kind of praise Apple has lavished on MLS since the deal was first announced last June. Historically, media networks have said polite things about what MLS could be, but have said less about what it is. And sometimes, American soccer leagues have been used as leverage to gain more lucrative foreign league rights.

But the insistence that Apple means it has been repeated so often now, and by so many people. When the content in MLS Season Pass went live on Feb. 1, its depth was unprecedented: historic games, player profiles, tales of supporter culture, drone tours of stadiums, and features on teams’ histories — a subject too often ignored by the league.

The good vibes have mostly outweighed the bad ones, but there’s one standout problem. Critics have come through loud and clear over MLS’ immediate departure from local TV channels, with their built-in audiences that bring casual fans to teams.

Those viewers have complained to this reporter and others that they won’t pay for Apple’s package and won’t go out of their way to watch free games. There will be six per week leaguewide this year, with each team expected to have around free 14 games over the season.

A transition year with games on Apple and local TV would have made things easier, but there will be none.

» READ MORE: MLS and Apple announce the price of their new streaming package

Union fans had an especially good setup. Games were televised on free-to-air PHL17 and streamed free of charge for local fans on the team’s website.

But elsewhere in the country, there were problems. Fans in Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, and New York complained for years about their games’ subpar distribution on local cable sports channels. Atlanta, Columbus, Minneapolis, and Kansas City are four of the 19 markets nationwide with local channels run by Sinclair’s Bally Sports, which is about to go bankrupt.

MLS and Apple see the wave coming, and they don’t have to worry. Every MLS game is on Apple’s platforms for one price, with no local blackouts or timeslot conflicts with other sports.

The worldwide scale of the MLS deal matters to Apple, especially in South America in Europe. Viewers who tune in will see that every MLS team’s jersey has Apple’s logo on a sleeve.

If MLS can land more big international names, Apple will profit. And if the league gets the biggest name of all, Lionel Messi, it’s the jackpot — though the odds seem to be decreasing.

» READ MORE: Apple TV becomes the new home of Major League Soccer with a 10-year deal for every game

If it seems that Apple is focusing more on existing fans than the general audience so far, that’s accurate. The first priorities have been making the streaming offering robust and making the broadcasts as high-quality as possible.

The general audience is the next step. Apple knows it has to earn the trust of viewers who are hardwired to put NBC Sports Philadelphia on their TVs and leave it there unless the Eagles or Union are on elsewhere.

How will they do so? Apple has already started sending notifications for its streaming app directly to users of iPhones, iPads, and Apple TV boxes. Content will show up elsewhere too, from the Apple News app to podcasts, and there’s a desire for some of it to be editorially independent.

Apple will leverage its brick-and-mortar stores, which are big deals in many cities, creating events with coaches and players. For a Union team that doesn’t always market hard in Center City, having Jim Curtin and Mikael Uhre at the Apple store near Rittenhouse Square would be a PR boost.

» READ MORE: Former Union TV analyst Danny Higginbotham joins Apple MLS broadcasts

It’s worth a reminder here that Apple’s streaming app isn’t just on Apple devices. It’s on Roku, Google’s Chromecast, Amazon’s Fire Stick, Comcast X1 cable boxes, and more.

The app is not on Android phones; the Google-Apple rivalry is still real in that regard. But there’s web browser access for those devices, Windows computers, and everything else.

There is a burden of proof that Apple and MLS have to reach. It can’t be cleared until we’ve seen the production of live games, studio coverage, and the much-anticipated whip-around show akin to “NFL RedZone.”

Apple has told MLS when the league’s offerings aren’t up to the company’s standards. The Athletic has reported on Apple’s requirements for the volume of content teams must produce, even if it means hiring new staff.

But already, other sports leagues are watching MLS and Apple with interest.

» READ MORE: MLS announces a limited TV package to go with its big Apple streaming deal

European soccer leagues wishing for global exposure wonder if they can strike deals without having to fight TV networks. There’s been media speculation that the NBA, with its global reach, could turn to Apple as a streaming partner. Apple and the NFL talked last year about a streaming deal for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket out-of-market package, but it didn’t come to anything. (The NFL ended up with Google’s YouTube TV.)

Major League Baseball is already on board with Apple, having started a Friday night series of exclusive games last year.

The biggest impact could come with women’s sports leagues. Many fans of the WNBA and NWSL would love to pay one price to watch every game in one place without having to wait for men’s sports broadcasts that run through their timeslots. They crave the piles of extra content that MLS Season Pass includes.

And if a tech company offered $250 million a year for a women’s sports league, it would shatter the history books for market value.

The WNBA currently earns around $30 million a year from deals with ESPN, CBS, Amazon, and Twitter that end after 2025. The NWSL earns just $1.8 million a year from CBS and Twitch, with those deals ending this year. Commissioner Jessica Berman said at last month’s draft in Philadelphia that CBS’ exclusive negotiating window for renewal has expired, and the league is eager to go to market.

Of course, it takes two to tango. How to portray the state of things, then? Put it this way: Apple is in the dance hall, with a desire to do more deals that make sense. But that’s by its standard, and it’s not rushing. So we’ll have to wait to see if a company with a long history in music finds the right tune in a women’s sports league.

» READ MORE: After decades at Univision, broadcaster Pablo Ramírez starts a new era with MLS and Apple