Welcome to the latest edition of Hot Take, in which a Hudson River Blue contributor takes a highly subjective stand on a topic and gives you their deeply biased opinion
Yesterday, Major League Soccer and Apple announced the preliminary team of game analysts and play-by-play announcers for MLS Season Pass, the subscription service that will broadcast every MLS game this year. The roster of eighteen highly-qualified professionals includes some familiar faces — and three have deep ties with the New Jersey Red Bulls. No other team is represented as strongly.
As for NYCFC, there are zero announcers or analysts who are affiliated with New York City in any capacity. To go by the numbers, the league and Apple decided that MLS Season Pass is red.
This is a concern not just because of the intermural rivalry between New York City FC, the only MLS team to train and play in New York, and the Red Bulls, who train and play in New Jersey but use the aspirational “New York” in their name the same way a mid-market condo will brand itself “The Alhambra” — although watching a Red Bulls legend hold forth sounds like a high price to pay to see NYCFC play. It’s because it brings back the anxiety that MLS Season Pass broadcasts will always feel like watching a feed supplied by the other team.
