MLS Season Pass had more than 110,000 new sign-ups in the United States on July 21st when Lionel Messi played his first match for Inter Miami.
Apple had just 6,143 new sign-ups the previous day.
“There is only one Lionel Messi, so this was a very big moment for the sport in this country,” said Jonathan Carson, chief executive of Antenna. “Sports are definitely star-driven but that has never before translated into an enormous subscriber bump.”
Apple last year signed a deal with MLS worth at least $2.5 billion.
“We are beating our expectation in terms of subscribers, and the fact that Messi went to Inter Miami helped us out there a bit,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said on the company’s August earnings call.