Apple TV subscribers will be able to watch all Major League Soccer matches without an additional subscription starting next year.
For the first three years of MLS’s 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement with Apple, a standalone Season Pass subscription was required to access all matches. During this season, more than 200 games were simulcast on both MLS Season Pass and Apple TV, including the league’s “Sunday Night Soccer” package. Dropping the separate subscription was announced Thursday at an owners meeting.
Apple has made its Friday night Major League Baseball competition available to all subscribers since its inception in 2022. It recently acquired US rights to Formula 1 for five years which will also be available starting next season.
Easier access to MLS games also comes as the United States hosts the World Cup next year and the league switches to a late summer to spring calendar in line with the European model in 2027. The current season runs from late February to early December.
MLS Deputy Commissioner Gary Stevenson said that Apple approached Major League Soccer early this year about the possibility of moving all its matches to Apple TV.
“We were testing ‘Sunday Night Soccer’ on Apple TV and got really good reception,” Stevenson said. “Then we talked to them about a potential schedule change and they thought it made sense. So the whole thing seemed like a perfect evolution of what we started, and we think fans will find the experience and value much better.”
MLS season ticket holders will receive Apple TV subscriptions after previously obtaining an MLS Season Pass.
MLS said total live match viewers reached 3.7 million weekly across live and linear platforms for its 15 weekly matches, an increase of 29% from 2024.
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Apple has global rights to MLS, which it tapped into in South America after Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami in 2023. The league also saw an influx of Asian viewers after Son Heung-min began playing for LAFC in August. Messi and Son achieved the highest shirt sales in the league this season.
The teams of Messi and Son qualified for the quarter-finals of the league. LAFC is in Vancouver on November 22 while Inter Miami travels to Cincinnati on November 23.