Wasserman’s managing executive for global soccer, Rich Motzkin, has said that Major League Soccer (MLS) is undoubtedly growing, and that the league’s “iconic” Apple TV broadcast partnership has helped to innovate US sports broadcasting as a whole.
Speaking to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) on an episode of the GlobalData Sport Podcast, Motzkin suggested that criticism of the partnership fails to account for what Apple has allowed MLS to accomplish, commenting: “MLS is innovative. They took the first risk. And that deal actually allowed [Inter Miami] to sign [Lionel] Messi, and bring the greatest soccer player in the world here. Without that deal, Messi could not have been signed by MLS for multiple reasons.”
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With the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup currently underway across the country, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup (also to be staged in-part in the US) looming large, there is a lot of pressure for the world’s biggest sports market to capitalize on these hosting opportunities with a significant growth in interest in the sport.
While these major international tournaments will always attract interest in some form due to their rarity and high profile, spurring a prolonged uptick in interest in the annual domestic league is an altogether different prospect.
MLS Cup Final viewership in 2024 was down almost 50% year-on-year on linear TV, which itself fell around 70% from the high-water mark of the 2022 edition. While the attraction of Argentine star Lionel Messi of Inter Miami has drawn crowds in person, the TV visibility, or lack thereof, enforced by the league’s broadcast partnership with OTT streaming service Apple, remains controversial.
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By GlobalDataWith the prospect of a rival top-flight league also on the horizon, many have suggested that the growth of domestic soccer in the country has stalled.
There is, however, an alternate perspective. One that suggests that shrewd commercial business is growing the MLS both on the pitch and off it. Don Garber, the league’s commissioner, for one, said that the Apple deal could be “one of the greatest deals in sports history”.
One who shares the view that the league is certainly still in a growth phase is Motzkin. The executive vice president and managing executive for global soccer in the US at major sports agency Wasserman, Motzkin has been involved in major MLS deals throughout his storied career, and now he speaks to GlobalData Sport about where the league is heading next.
On the topic of the Apple deal, Motzkin posited that the league being a first mover in the streaming space with Apple should be commended, continuing: “Now you see the NFL, they've got deals with Netflix and Amazon, and that has also created that opportunity for all these other sports leagues [to turn to streaming], but people should recognize that MLS was the first professional league to be innovative, and take that risk, which has created opportunities for everybody else out there.”
Between 1992 and 1994, Motzkin served as the US Soccer Federation’s general counsel and deputy executive director. Since then, after he stepped into the world of talent representation, he has helped represent a myriad of the US’ most prominent soccer stars, including Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Lindsey Horan, Mallory Swanson, and Weston McKennie, and has negotiated sone of the most lucrative contracts in the country’s soccer history.
Motzkin speaks to GlobalData Sport following the release of the Business of Major League Soccer 2025 report, which details team and league-wide sponsorship, media, and social media data.
An area that the league is growing in prominence is the digital landscape, with MLS becoming the second most-followed soccer league in the world outside of Europe’s so-called “big five” competitions, marginally trailing only Mexico’s Liga MX.
Looking to the future, Motzkin expects this growth trajectory to continue, saying: “It's all just a matter of time. If you look at where this league was five years ago, 10 years ago, versus where it is now, you know, it's just growing rapidly in every way, shape, or form.
“We live in a world of instantaneous results. But things take time. I guarantee you a year from now… [MLS] will be in the top five in social media, and it will continue to rise in its metrics.”
Motzkin adds that as the on-field product continues to improve with the addition of new, higher-quality players from around the world, the commercial side will see a similar upward shift as more eyes fixate on MLS.
