After a brief return to regular TV, the Union go back behind Apple’s paywall

If you’re one of the many people who’ve complained to The Inquirer about Union games not being on TV much anymore, know that your complaints have been heard.

Unfortunately, any number of complaints aren’t going to turn the tide away from MLS’s focus on online streaming. And that’s especially true when the nation’s biggest owner of local sports cable channels, Sinclair’s Diamond Sports, has gone bankrupt and reportedly failed to pay baseball teams whose games it owns.

Philly fans haven’t had to worry about that, because NBC Sports Philadelphia is in better shape. But increasingly, it looks like fans here are an exception, not the rule.

» Click here for details on how MLS Season Pass works and how to sign up for it.

For a moment on Tuesday, Union fans got to feel like it was the old days again. The Concacaf Champions League home game against Atlas was on FS1, a traditional TV channel that has lots of Phillies and Villanova games.

“‘Thank God,’ one reader wrote to this reporter after learning Tuesday’s game was on his cable system.

Next Wednesday’s game in Mexico will be on FS1, too. But between now and then, the Union go back behind Apple’s paywall for Saturday’s game at FC Cincinnati. Chris Wittyngham and Lori Lindsey will have the call in English; Jose Hernandez and Pablo Mariño will have their second Spanish call of a Union game this season.

Local soccer fans know Lindsey well. She played for the former Philadelphia Independence and the U.S. women’s team, still lives here, and calls NWSL games on CBS.

Fans might not know Wittyngham’s name, but they’ve likely heard him. He’s been Inter Miami’s radio play-by-play voice, and calls international broadcasts of Concacaf Champions games. If you saw highlights of the Union-Atlas game on Concacaf’s Twitter feed, that was his voice.

» READ MORE: Jack McGlynn seized his chance to shine against Atlas in a too-rare start

Wittyngham also used to be the executive producer of The Dan Le Batard Show, and the producer and analyst on the late Grant Wahl’s soccer podcast.

He told The Inquirer that as he called Tuesday’s game, he took note of the Union’s unusual 4-3-2-1 setup, with Joaquín Torres and Dániel Gazdag behind Julián Carranza in the attack.

“They’re accommodating something of a new style, and by playing Torres in that role, it’s pretty interesting,” Wittyngham said. “They’re struggling going forward at the moment, but they still have all the same players that were Best XI quality a year ago. … They struggled early last year, and then all of a sudden it detonated, and I wonder if that’s going to come at some point.”

A radio broadcast of the Union game will be available on 97.5 The Fanatic’s HD2 channel and app. Dave Leno and former Union player Sheanon Williams will have the call.

» READ MORE: Matt Real and Nathan Harriel are covering left back for the Union while Kai Wagner is hurt

Apple and MLS are offering six games free each week this year, with each team in the league expected to average 14 free games over the season. All of this weekend’s games are on Saturday night, as is the case for most of the year.

The free games are Inter Miami vs. FC Dallas (7:30 p.m.), Los Angeles FC vs. Austin FC (7:30 p.m.), Chicago Fire vs. Minnesota United (8:30 p.m.), Real Salt Lake vs. Charlotte FC (9:30 p.m.), Seattle Sounders vs. St. Louis City SC (10:30 p.m.), and Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers (10:30 p.m.).

We still don’t know when the Union’s next free game will be. MLS and Apple have set the free games through the end of April, and the Union don’t have any — though they do have a bye on the last weekend of the month.

If you have Apple TV+ but not MLS Season Pass, you can watch the “MLS 360″ live highlights show for no extra charge.

LAFC-Austin is this weekend’s TV game, on Fox29 and Fox Deportes. It’s the second straight Saturday with a prime time MLS game on big Fox, and it’s the last one for the year. USFL football takes over the time slot next weekend, and next month it will be baseball’s turn for a long stretch.

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

Los Angeles FC vs. Austin FC, 7:30 p.m. (free): John Strong and Stuart Holden on Fox29 in English; Jake Zivin and Taylor Twellman on Apple in English; Rodolfo Landeros, Alvaro Izquierdo and Martín Zúñiga on Fox Deportes in Spanish; Jorge Perez-Navarro and Marcelo Balboa on Apple in Spanish

FC Cincinnati vs. Union, 7:30 p.m.: Chris Wittyngham and Lori Lindsey in English; Jose Hernandez and Pablo Mariño in Spanish

D.C. United vs. Columbus Crew, 7:30 p.m.: Eric Krakauer and Lloyd Sam in English; Moisés Linares and Jaime Macías in Spanish

Inter Miami vs. FC Dallas, 7:30 p.m. (free): Tyler Terens and Devon Kerr in English; Juan Arango and Carlos Suárez in Spanish

New England Revolution vs. CF Montréal, 7:30 p.m.: Callum Williams and Calen Carr in English; Diego Pessolano and Daniel Chapela in Spanish; Frédéric Lord and Vincent Destouches in French

New York Red Bulls vs. San Jose Earthquakes, 7:30 p.m.: Nate Bukaty and Jamie Watson in English; Oscar Salazar and Maximiliano Cordaro in Spanish

New York City FC vs. Atlanta United, 7:30 p.m.: Tony Husband and Ross Smith in English; Sergio Ruiz and Miguel Gallardo in Spanish

Chicago Fire vs. Minnesota United, 8:30 p.m. (free): Kevin Egan and Kyndra de St. Aubin in English; Jesús Acosta and Walter Roque in Spanish

Houston Dynamo vs. Los Angeles Galaxy, 8:30 p.m.: Keith Costigan and Maurice Edu in English; Pablo Ramírez and Carlos Ruiz in Spanish

Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado Rapids, 8:30 p.m.: Mark Rogondino and Heath Pearce in English; Raúl Guzmán and Sonny Guadarrama in Spanish

Nashville SC vs. Toronto FC, 8:30 p.m.: Steve Cangialosi and Danny Higginbotham in English; Bruno Vain and Andrés Agulla in Spanish; Olivier Brett and Patrice Bernier in French

Real Salt Lake vs. Charlotte FC, 9:30 p.m.: Adrian Healey and Cobi Jones in English; Alejandro Figueredo and Luis Gerardo Bucci in Spanish

Seattle Sounders vs. St. Louis City SC, 10:30 p.m.: Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth in English; Francisco X. Rivera and Diego Arrioja in Spanish

Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers, 10:30 p.m.: Blake Price and Paul Dolan in English; Adrian Garcia-Márquez and Francisco Pinto in Spanish; Matt Cullen and Sébastien Le Toux in French