MLS and Apple unveil production details of their game and studio show broadcasts

Major League Soccer and Apple unveiled some more details about the MLS Season Pass streaming package on Wednesday, this time focusing on the production side of things.

It’s an aspect that casual viewers might not think much about, but hardcore fans care about a lot. And the league and Apple know that a casual fan who tunes in and finds a low-quality broadcast might turn it back off.

So it’s good news that every game in the package will be produced with 1080p HD pictures, one of the top levels available, and with high-end sound. And that’s not just MLS regular-season and playoff games: it’s the Leagues Cup tournament against Mexico’s Liga MX, the MLS Next Pro reserve league, and showcase games from the MLS Next youth league that will be included.

Every MLS and Leagues Cup game will have a production truck on site at the stadium, which is another wonky matter that soccer fans care about. Remote production, which is increasingly common in other sports too, saves networks money but often leads to a lower-quality product since fewer people are working on site.

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

The company in charge of production for game and studio broadcasts is IMG, the global behemoth that does world-feed production for the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League and other big events. IMG has also handled MLS’s international distribution for many years.

For MLS and Apple, IMG is setting the editorial tone of broadcasts, overseeing production elements, hiring game producers and directors, and handling travel logistics for broadcasters.

The leaders of IMG’s team for MLS broadcasts are John McGuinness, formerly of NBC’s Premier League crew; and Shaw Brown, the best-known soccer game producer in the U.S. right now.

In his long career in the sport, Brown has worked for all the major networks: ABC and ESPN, then NBC, Fox, and CBS’s soccer studio shows. Last fall, he was Andrés Cantor’s in-stadium producer on Telemundo’s men’s World Cup coverage in Qatar, and showed up in a few of Cantor’s viral social media videos.

With MLS and Apple, Brown’s roles include coordinating the hiring of producers and directors for game broadcasts. And when he’s not doing that, he’s the lead producer of HBO Max and TNT’s U.S. national team broadcasts.

» READ MORE: We know what MLS wants from Apple. What does Apple want from MLS?

The editorial tone point is a big one for fans. How much freedom will broadcasters have to criticize players, coaches, front offices, and the league itself?

One source with knowledge of the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity. The source said there will be editorial guidelines, but a wide spectrum of latitude, and said the coverage will be independent. The rest of us will have to wait to see how that plays out.

A sampling of on-screen graphics seen by The Inquirer looked pretty minimalist, which is no surprise given Apple’s aesthetic. There’s more pop of color than what’s been seen on Apple’s baseball broadcasts, but not too much to be distracting.

Given how much of a screen can see action during a soccer game, many fans will be happy that the graphics aren’t overbearing.

Production work at stadiums will be run by NEP, whose rainbow-colored circular logo you’ve likely seen if you’ve ever walked by a production truck outside a stadium.

NEP is providing all the trucks, camera operators and replay equipment for MLS game broadcasts, and the studio broadcasts will come from a NEP-owned facility in New York. NEP also has a big library of historical MLS footage to work into broadcasts.

MLS and NEP have a long history together too, rooted in local TV broadcasts of games across the country. And NEP’s current vice president of production services, Larry Tiscornia, worked at MLS for 20 years.

» READ MORE: Ex-Union players Sébastien Le Toux, Maurice Edu to call MLS games on Apple’s streaming platform

Unfortunately, there’s one big piece of information we don’t know yet: how many cameras there will be at each game. This is a big deal, because it impacts not just the quality of live moments, but the quality of replays – especially those used by the referees.

In particular, the big European leagues have cameras stationed near the edge of 18-yard box that really help with offside calls. MLS hasn’t had those, and a lot of people want them.

That’s the behind-the-scenes stuff. MLS and Apple also announced details about what the audience will see on screen while watching the studio shows.

The pregame show will be called MLS Countdown, and there will be up to four editions of it on a game night. The first will be at 7 p.m. ET, half an hour leading into what will usually be a large number of 7:30 kickoffs.

As almost every game this year will start at 7:30 p.m. local time, there will be a pregame show each hour. The ones for the central and mountain time zones will be 15 minutes instead of 30, because there will usually be fewer games with those kickoff times. When the west coast games come around in the last slot, they’ll get a half-hour pregame show.

Each pregame show will be for all the games that hour, and the early one will presumably have something to say about all the night’s action.

There will be one big postgame show, MLS Wrap-Up, at the end of the full night – which means 12:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. ET. Everything should be available for replaying afterward, though game broadcasts will start at kickoff, not with the pregame show.

» READ MORE: Jenn Hildreth, Ramses Sandoval and Carlos Ruiz headline the latest Apple MLS broadcaster hires

All of the pregame and postgame shows will be done in English and Spanish, in different studio spaces. MLS and Apple badly want to capture the Spanish-language audience, and whether they succeed is one of the biggest questions facing the partnership. They’ve hired a lot of people to try, from producers to current and former Univision broadcasters.

The much-anticipated whip-around show, MLS’s version of NFL RedZone, will be called MLS 360. A rendering of the studio seen by The Inquirer showed a circular set with two seating areas and two big screens – one behind the main desk, and a floor-to-ceiling one across the room.

Not surprisingly, the color scheme in the rendering had some tones we see in Apple products: white, gray, beige wood, and soccer field green.

There will not be a multi-game view function, like the ESPN app’s ability to put four games on one screen. Apple knows hardcore fans want it, but there’s no word yet on if it will happen.

MLS 360 will be behind Apple’s paywall every week except the opening week, when it and all live games will be available for free.

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

The last piece of information unveiled Wednesday was the broadcaster pairing assignments to start the season. Union fans will be happy to know that Danny Higginbotham, the team’s last local TV analyst, will call the Feb. 25 season opener against Columbus at Subaru Park.

His play-by-play partner will be Steve Cangialosi, the longtime voice of the New York Red Bulls on MSG Network who became a regular on ESPN’s national games in recent years.

The Spanish-language crew for the game will be Sergio Ruiz and Miguel Gallardo, both of whom used to do Orlando City’s local Spanish broadcasts.

All announcer crews will be on site at stadiums this year, another good thing for fans.

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