Familiar voices grace Sporting Kansas City’s Apple TV broadcast this week
When Nate Bukaty signed off the broadcast of Sporting KC’s season-ending loss in Dallas last October, he wondered if that might be the last Sporting match he’d ever call. Bukaty had spent the last eight years doing what he would call the best job he’s ever had — serving as “the voice of Sporting Kansas City” on local broadcasts.
During Sporting’s final home match of the season, Bukaty and his team of color commentator Jacob Peterson, sideline reporter Aly Trost Martin, and producer Brad Mertel were honored at midfield in recognition of their work.
“It was unusual because it was kind of a, ‘Goodbye … maybe!’” Bukaty told The Star. “Nobody really, none of us knew what was happening next.”
The uncertainty? MLS has now entered the first year of its 10-year, $2.5 billion broadcast rights deal with Apple.
Sure enough, though, Bukaty was hired as a broadcaster for MLS Season Pass, coinciding with his work with Fox Sports as a play-by-play broadcaster. His first assignment for Season Pass? Sporting Kansas City’s matchup on Saturday with the Colorado Rapids.
Alongside him in the booth will be someone Kansas Citians recognize well: KC Wizards legend Tony Meola, who will be the analyst for the broadcast. Meola has been working as a color commentator since 2018 and recently was the color commentator for the Chicago Fire.
The new Apple TV deal and MLS Season Pass have essentially eliminated the idea of the local broadcast. Every match is a national match and the only broadcast produced for both teams.
Bukaty says he always tried to give the big moments the calls they deserved since games were still being broadcast on ESPN+ for out-of-market viewers. But the idea of all broadcasts from now on being essentially national broadcasts excites him.
“I can only speak for myself personally, but as much as I love doing the Sporting games, I’m finding it a little liberating to be emotionally detached from the result of the game itself,” Bukaty said. “All I’m rooting for is great plays now and great performances regardless of the team.”
Overall the hope is that Season Pass helps elevate Major League Soccer as a whole instead of fans in their markets only being familiar with their teams. While the concept of not having the same broadcasters every week on your games might be new, Meola thinks fans are too bright and can see through the homerism that could be present in the old local broadcasts.
“I don’t think it’s fair to the game, and I think the number one reason is fans are too smart these days,” Meoloa said. “The fans know the game too well, and they would see right through all of that.”
While both Meola and Bukaty are calling their first game with MLS Season Pass, they’re not calling their first game together. Last week, they paired up for a Fox Sports broadcast of the Colorado Rapids visiting the Seattle Sounders. The Sunday kickoff allowed Bukaty and Meola to watch the entire first slate of MLS Season Pass together at Meola’s Florida home.
“I love the one-stop shop,” Meola said. “You go to one place and you can consume everything there. If you want a whip-around show, if you support a team, it’s got that.”
Both Bukaty and Meola were struck by the visual quality of the broadcasts, too, as now the same number (and quality) of cameras is used at every match around the league. The general broadcast quality and the presentation to fans is something Bukaty hopes will get fans in tune with the rest of the league.
“I felt like watching that first night of MLS 360, that this is going to allow so many people to really develop a full fandom of the league itself and the stars across the league,” Bukaty said.
Bukaty and Meola will be on the call for Sporting KC’s road match against the Colorado Rapids, kicking off at 8:30pm Central on Saturday. The match will be Sporting’s first behind the MLS Season Pass paywall.
This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 1:02 PM with the headline "Familiar voices grace Sporting Kansas City’s Apple TV broadcast this week."