MLS ‘partners with the team behind the hit F1 Netflix documentary Drive To Survive and discussions are underway about a similar TV show following their teams’
Box to Box Films, the UK-based production company behind the popular Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive, has agreed a partnership with Major League Soccer in the United States.
MLS is set to be the latest league to get the proverbial ‘DTS treatment’ as the company headed by multi-BAFTA and Academy Award-winning producer James Gay-Rees will produce content and possibly a documentary, he said. the league’s deputy commissioner, Gary Stevenson. he said the athletic.
MLS signed a $2.5 billion media rights deal with Apple for ten years. Any series or content that Box to Box produces is likely to be on its Apple TV+ platform. Box to Box has previously worked with Apple TV to produce sports content in the form of ‘Make or Break’ docuseries, which serialize professional surfing.
The company has also recently tried to shed light on and popularize other “niche” sports like golf and tennis through two recently released Netflix series: golf’s “Full Swing” and tennis’s “Break Point.”
But it is ‘Drive to Survive’, the Netflix documentary that has just released its fifth season, that has seen the popularity of the sport of Formula One grow, especially in the United States, where the audience has almost tripled since 2018.
Box to Box has agreed to a partnership with MLS to produce content and possibly a series
BTB recently released the fifth season of the popular Netflix documentary series ‘Drive to Survive’
According to The Athletic, a ‘Drive to Survive’-style documentary on MLS has been discussed, however, ‘details have not been finalized’.
Major League Soccer could be perfectly positioned to grow in popularity through the recent craze surrounding serialized sports documentaries that provide insight into individual teams and clubs from around the world.
Most notably in soccer, teams like Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham have all benefited from Amazon’s ‘All or Nothing’ series. Amazon also gave German giant FC Bayern Munich its own series: ‘FC Bayern – Behind the Legend’.
Other popular series include FX’s ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ and other shows about clubs like Sunderland and Leeds United.
Not all MLS clubs are new to producing serialized content. In 2019, Los Angeles FC documented its inaugural season with ‘We are LAFC.’ This season, the Philadelphia Union is filming and releasing ‘The Union Way’ as part of the content available to subscribers on MLS Season Pass.
Season Pass has opened up new opportunities for clubs to present their own image to subscribers and fans, both new and old. Each team has produced a ‘club profiles’ piece highlighting their history in documentary form.
MLS commissioner Don Garber says the league’s partnership with Apple allows clubs to do something along the lines of “Drive to Survive” and use the company’s popularity to build audiences.
“Each team has the opportunity to do their own ‘Drive to Survive’ and have the world’s largest technology and most innovative consumer-facing company provide the platform for that,” Garber said.
DTS Season 5 launched just before the 2023 Formula One season kicked off this weekend.
MLS clubs recently agreed to a new broadcast deal with Apple TV, allowing teams to increase their digital presence through self-produced content available to season pass subscribers.
MLS commissioner Don Garber says the Apple TV deal allows teams to ‘do their own ‘Drive to Survive” and says clubs will ‘create very innovative, exciting and interesting content globally’
“You think about what was so original and attractive and what put F1 on the map in this country… This will be a test for our teams.
“They’re required to provide a certain amount of content, because that’s what MLS does – centrally ensure that our teams are doing what they need to do to support a collective effort.
“But I can assure you that the teams that are really good will create very innovative, exciting and interesting content globally, and that will drive subscribers.”
In addition to his work on Box to Box, Gay-Rees has won several BAFTA Awards for his work on documentaries highlighting the life of F1 driver Ayrton Senna and British musician Amy Winehouse. The Winehouse documentary also won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Film and an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
‘Drive to Survive’ won the Sports Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Documentary Series – Serialized’ in 2022.