The Union-Inter Miami game is free on Apple TV
Apple's MLS Season Pass paywall starts this weekend, but the Union game is one of six across MLS that are free of charge to watch. Here's who will be calling it.
After offering all of the season-opening games for free last weekend, this weekend Apple’s MLS Season Pass paywall goes up for the first time. But Union fans won’t have to pay to watch Saturday’s game at Inter Miami (7:30 p.m.), because it’s one of six games available for free this weekend.
Both the English and Spanish broadcast teams will have heavy hitters. Calling the game in English will be longtime Fox play-by-play voice Keith Costigan and former ESPN analyst Brian Dunseth. Costigan is a close follower of U.S. youth national teams, so he’ll have plenty of insight on the Union’s Jack McGlynn and Quinn Sullivan. Dunseth has been a popular voice on TV and radio in recent years, and played for six MLS teams and the 2000 U.S. men’s Olympic squad.
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“Right now, picking up where they left off, it’s hard not to think what the Philadelphia Union did last year as a collective unit — especially with the additions of Joaquin Torres, Damion [Lowe] and [Andrés] Perea — that the team isn’t even stronger than it finished last season as,” Dunseth told The Inquirer.
The Spanish announcers will be Sammy Sadovnik and Eduardo Biscayart, veterans of Telemundo’s World Cup and English Premier League coverage. Sadovnik is Telemundo’s No. 2 play-by-play voice behind Hall of Famer Andrés Cantor, and he often calls games with Biscayart.
» READ MORE: The Union have rarely had must-watch players. Jack McGlynn is one right now.
“Philly did well” in its opener, Sadovnik said, “Julian [Carranza’s two goals] and [Dániel] Gazdag with the penalty kicks. It’s a great team.”
Sadovnik and Biscayart called Miami’s season-opening 2-0 win over Montréal last Saturday. The second goal came from former Union academy prospect Shanyder Borgelin in his MLS debut, after he subbed in for Miami’s big offseason signing: longtime Atlanta United star striker Josef Martínez.
“Miami looks pretty good — that was the first win in their four [first-weekend] home openers,” Sadovnik said. “Borgelin was a very good striker. They put him in the front of the attack, [Rodolfo] Pizarro behind him, he’s doing really well.”
Sadovnik also highlighted the MLS debut of 18-year-old midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi, an Inter academy product who’s being pursued by the U.S. and Argentina under-20 national teams.
Saturday’s free games on Apple
Apple and MLS will offer six games free each week this year, with each team in the league expected to average 14 free games over the season.
The other five free games on Saturday are Los Angeles FC-Portland (4:30 p.m.), Columbus-D. C. (7:30 p.m.), New York Red Bulls-Nashville (7:30 p.m.), Chicago-New York City FC (8:30 p.m.), and San Jose-Vancouver (10:30 p.m.).
LAFC-Portland is this weekend’s TV game, airing on Fox29 and Fox Deportes. It will be interesting to see if Fox has its broadcasters call the game off monitors from a remote studio as it did last weekend, which drew heavy criticism from viewers.
Also of note, starting this weekend Apple TV+ subscribers — Apple’s main entertainment package with shows such as “Ted Lasso” — get the “MLS 360″ whiparound show included. To watch individual games that aren’t free, you still have to subscribe to MLS Season Pass. The same goes for the rest of the Season Pass content.
» READ MORE: How to watch Union games in the new Apple MLS Season Pass streaming package
All of Apple’s broadcasters are in the stadium for every game, in English and Spanish and French where applicable. Because there’s just one video feed and three languages of audio, there’s no introductory shot of the broadcasters in the booth, but they contribute to pregame coverage with interviews of players and coaches.
Union fans who want to watch the team on traditional TV only need to wait a few more days. Tuesday’s Concacaf Champions League round-of-16 game at El Salvador’s Alianza (8 p.m.) will be nationally televised on FS1 in English and TUDN in Spanish, because those games are in a separate deal.
The broadcast of the return game at Subaru Park on March 14 (also 8 p.m.) will be a problem, though. FS1 has the World Baseball Classic, and Austin FC’s game against Haiti’s Violette AC is at the same time as the Union’s. Fox picked Austin’s game — the first CCL home game in team history — over the Union for FS2. So the Union will be bumped to Fox Soccer Plus, an old channel that Comcast doesn’t carry in the Philly area anymore. YouTube TV and a few other providers have it as a premium offering.
Fox is aware this is an issue, but we’ll see if the network does anything to make the game easier to watch. Univision’s plans that night aren’t confirmed yet, though the TV grid shows TUDN taking Austin too.
» READ MORE: The easy part of the Union’s schedule is over after just one game
Saturday’s MLS announcer schedule
Los Angeles FC vs. Portland Timbers, 4:30 p.m. (free): John Strong and Stuart Holden in English on Fox29; Max Bretos and Maurice Edu in English on Apple; Rodolfo Landeros, Martín Zúñiga and Alvaro Izquiero in Spanish on Fox Deportes; Jorge Perez-Navarro and Marcelo Balboa in Spanish on Apple
Atlanta United vs. Toronto FC, 7:30 p.m.: Steve Cangialosi and Danny Higginbotham in English; Jose Hernandez and Pablo Mariño in Spanish; Frédéric Lord and Vincent Destouches in French
Columbus Crew vs. D.C. United, 7:30 p.m. (free): Eric Krakauer and Lloyd Sam in English; Moisés Linares and Jaime Macías in Spanish
Inter Miami vs. Union, 7:30 p.m., free: Keith Costigan and Brian Dunseth in English; Sammy Sadovnik and Eduardo Biscayart in Spanish
New England Revolution vs. Houston Dynamo, 7:30 p.m.: Callum Williams and Calen Carr in English; Stefano Fusaro and Luis Gerardo Bucci in Spanish
New York Red Bulls vs. Nashville SC, 7:30 p.m. (free): Tony Husband and Ross Smith in English; Juan Arango and Carlos Suárez in Spanish
Orlando City vs. FC Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.: Tyler Terens and Devon Kerr in English; Sergio Ruiz and Miguel Gallardo in Spanish
Austin FC vs. CF Montréal, 8:30 p.m.: Andres Cordero and Jamie Watson in English; Raúl Guzmán and Sonny Guadarrama in Spanish; Olivier Brett and Patrice Bernier in French
Chicago Fire vs. New York City FC, 8:30 p.m. (free): Kevin Egan and Kyndra de St. Aubin in English; Diego Pessolano and Ivan Kasanzew in Spanish
FC Dallas vs. Los Angeles Galaxy, 8:30 p.m.: Mark Followill and Lori Lindsey in English; Bruno Vain and Andrés Agulla in Spanish
St. Louis City SC vs. Charlotte FC, 8:30 p.m.: Jake Zivin and Taylor Twellman in English; Pablo Ramírez and Carlos Ruiz in Spanish
Colorado Rapids vs. Sporting Kansas City, 9:30 p.m.: Nate Bukaty and Tony Meola in English; Francisco X. Rivera and Diego Arrioja in Spanish
San Jose Earthquakes vs. Vancouver Whitecaps, 10:30 p.m. (free): Adrian Healey and Cobi Jones in English; Oscar Salazar and Max Cordaro in Spanish; Matt Cullen and Sébastien Le Toux in French
Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake, 10:30 p.m.: Mark Rogondino and Heath Pearce in English; Adrian Garcia-Márquez and Francisco Pinto in Spanish