MLS 2024 returns to the rhythm of Leo Messi. The ‘playlist’ that the Argentine listens to in the warm-up premiered exclusively on Apple Music. It is among the top-40 most listened to on the platform. La Pulga changes the perception of the MLS. Xherdan Shaqiri and other soccer stars tell EFE how the impact of the number 10 is experienced from within.
«“Music calms my mind, helps me be calm and relaxed,” Messi says in his ‘playlist’. Latin pop, reggae, rock and Argentine cumbia are his favorite genres. Of the AC/DC to Coldplay, passing through Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Maluma or Rosalía, The Argentine shared the 60 songs that marked the most important moments of his career on the occasion of the start of the MLS.
This ‘playlist’ is part of a series of projects by Apple TV, owner of the MLS rights with a ten-year contract in force from 2023, to take advantage of Messi’s enormous impact. After the docuseries ‘Messi meets America’, prepared for the arrival of the Argentine to ‘soccer’, last Wednesday Apple launched a new special content, ‘Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend’, to celebrate his World Cup win in Qatar.
Inter Miami debuted the new MLS season on Wednesday with a 2-0 victory against Real Salt Lake. Messi started alongside the Uruguayan Luis Suárez. His presence attracts new sponsors on an almost weekly basis. The JP Morgan Chase bank has just signed an agreement to give its name to the club’s stadium. Messi’s documentaries are sweeping Apple TV and the popularity of the MLS is skyrocketing.
A change of perception
The global perception of MLS changed after Messi’s arrival. This is reflected by Apple TV data and confirmed to EFE by international stars of the league such as the Swiss Xherdan Shaqiri, among others.
«We all saw how great Messi’s arrival in the league was. Around the world we saw that people follow the MLS much more. And I also see more and more South American players who want to come to this football before making the leap to Europe,” Shaqiri, a European champion with Liverpool and now designated player for the Chicago Fire, told EFE.
The Swiss, who also played for Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in his European career, acknowledged that several footballer friends contact him to find out about the American league.
One of the Latinos who followed the path from the Argentine league to the American one was Fede Navarro, a midfielder trained in Talleres Córdoba who came to the MLS with the Fire. In conversation with EFE, the Argentine said that “where Leo arrives everything is revolutionized” and that the presence of the world champion in the United States league “benefits everyone.”
MLS goals, in ‘8K 3D’
Among the novelties prepared by Apple is an unprecedented experience in Apple Vision Pro, the mixed reality glasses from the Californian house, which will allow you to see the goals of the 2023 playoffs in 8K 3D quality, with a 180-degree field of vision and spatial audio.
This is an unprecedented product that will be released soon, as reported by Apple at a meeting to present the new season in which EFE participated.
The MLS Season Pass, which saw record subscription numbers last summer when Messi’s arrival in Miami was announced, returns this year with an ultra-modern platform in English, Spanish and French, making it easy for users to navigate.
In particular, the new system added special content such as stories, analysis and several ‘Best of’ focused on the best plays of the league’s stars.
The ten-year contract signed in 2022 between Apple and MLS is unique worldwide and brings soccer matches to all five continents, without limitations, with 6,000 different contents annually.
In 2023, the MLS Season Pass broadcast 1,000 matches, including MLS, Leagues Cup, youth matches and friendlies, and carried out 500 analysis programs in New York with 500 workers. The television also hired nearly 100 analysts and commentators, many of them former soccer players, for both English and Spanish broadcasts. EFE
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