130 $. 150 $. 180 $. 270 $. 300 $.
Unfortunately, that’s not the progress of my stock price over the past year. Rather, it is the cost of packages to watch soccer matches in Quebec.
The new kid? Apple’s. It allows you to follow all the games of the MLS, in French or in English for those of the Canadian teams, for $130 per year. The price is right. It’s less expensive than comparable plans for hockey, baseball and football. Note that it will be free if you buy a season pass for CF Montreal games.
The problem ?
It’s not Apple. It is the excessive fragmentation, which has become frankly ridiculous, of the soccer television market.
Let’s take a concrete example.
Mine.
I like soccer. I want to watch the CF Montreal games and the big shocks of the Champions League. The base, what. RDS, to which I already subscribe, plans to broadcast 14 games of the CFM season. For the other 20, I will have to subscribe to Apple. What about Canadian Championship matches? Whoops. Neither Apple nor RDS owns the rights. I need to subscribe to FuboTV. Annual cost: $270.
The good news is that FuboTV is like the Netflix of soccer. The offer is huge. A subscription also gives me access to the matches of the Canadian team, the French Ligue 1, the Italian Serie A and the English Premier League.
Joy under our roof. It is that our eldest devotes an inexplicable cult to the English club of Tottenham. A very intense partisanship. Nick Hornby level, in Fever Pitch. He owns the blue jersey. The white shirt. The aqua jersey. The green-yellow-salmon mismatched jersey. When Harry Kane scores a goal in stoppage time, our walls shake. Fortunately, our immediate neighbor is also a Tottenham supporter.
The thing about Spurs is that they are good. Not dominant. Just good. Fifth overall. But what are the good clubs doing in Europe? They participate in a second competition. The Champions League. And who do you think owns the rights?
Neither RDS, nor Apple, nor FuboTV.
To watch the expected duel between Tottenham and AC Milan on Valentine’s Day, I would have to subscribe to a fourth service. DAZN. This one is more expensive: $300 per year. Except it comes with MLB Network and NFL Game Pass. Our youngest would be delighted.
Let’s take the abacus out of the attic.
$130, plus $270, plus $300, that’s…$700.
That’s not counting my subscription to RDS, necessary to follow the games of the Canadian and the Alouettes. Nor the one at TVA Sports, which will broadcast Euro 2024. It’s starting to do a lot, right?
Oh. Wait. It whispers in my ear that Tottenham beat Preston 3-0 last week in the FA Cup. The what? The FA Cup. A gigatournoi, which opposes the clubs of the first nine divisions of the country. The big deal. Especially for Spurs fans, whose team hasn’t won a major trophy since 2008. This year may be the right one. Glory, Glory, Tottenham Spurs !
Well, what channel is it on?
Neither on RDS, nor on Apple, nor on FuboTV, nor on DAZN.
It’s on SN NOW, Sportsnet’s online package. Another payment of $250. But, but, but, at this price, they explain to me, I will have the privilege of being able to watch Alphonso Davies with Bayern. A think about it.
Sssssssssssssssss
Kaboum!
My brain just exploded.
* * *
This extreme fragmentation of the soccer television market has undeniable advantages. 20 years ago my son would have struggled to follow Tottenham diligently from here. Sportsnet showed a few Premier League games a week, but not all of them. Today, all matches are offered here. Not just those of Tottenham. Those of Olympique de Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Salt Lake too. It’s amazing. A revolution. The faithful follower is satisfied.
Except that the occasional amateur, the one who hangs on once in a while in the games of CF Montreal on a cable station, that one, we risk losing him. Just as the Expos lost an important base of their occasional supporters, in 2000, by ceasing to be on French-language television.
Competition between broadcasters in soccer has fostered innovation. The transmission of all matches is the best example of this. On the other hand, the increase in supply and in the number of players did not cause prices to fall for the consumer. On the contrary. The broadcasters fought among themselves for the exclusive rights of each league. There was an overstatement. The winners paid dearly.
Too expensive, even.
Mediapro, which owned the rights to Ligue 1 in France, has declared bankruptcy. TVA Sports accumulates deficits year after year. Even with the Canadian in the Stanley Cup final, in 2021, the Quebecor chain lost 11 million. Bally Sports, which broadcasts NHL, NBA and major league baseball games in the United States, is in troubled waters. Its bankruptcy, expected soon, risks upsetting the finances of the NHL.
Our ability to pay is not unlimited. We will have to make choices. Between MLS and the Premier League. Between soccer and hockey. Between sports and Netflix. Between television and other daily living expenses.
And soon, sooner rather than later, the leagues will realize they’ve slaughtered the golden goose.
