Starting next year, every MLS match will be available to all Apple TV subscribers with no extra Season Pass required. It’s a major evolution in the 10-year, $2.5B partnership and signals Apple’s continued push to collapse the traditional paywall structure around live sports.
Over the first three years of the deal, fans needed a separate MLS Season Pass to unlock the full schedule. This season alone, more than 200 matches were simulcast across both platforms as Apple quietly tested broader distribution — including the “Sunday Night Soccer” slate. The results were strong enough that Apple made the move official during this week’s MLS owners’ meetings.
This isn’t new territory for Apple. Friday Night Baseball has been free to Apple TV subscribers since 2022, and the company recently landed U.S. rights to Formula One in a blockbuster five-year agreement. With F1 set to hit Apple TV next season, the platform is preparing for an unprecedented influx of global sports fans — and MLS stands to benefit from that halo effect.
As the United States gears up to host the 2026 World Cup, MLS is expanding reach at exactly the right moment. The league is also preparing for its shift to a European-style fall–spring calendar in 2027, aligning MLS more cleanly with global competition and international transfer windows.
According to deputy commissioner Gary Stevenson, Apple initiated the conversations early this year.
“We had been testing ‘Sunday Night Soccer’ on Apple TV and we got a really good reception to it… It all kind of seemed like the perfect evolution,” Stevenson said. “We think fans are going to find the experience and the value significantly better.”
MLS season ticket holders will now receive full Apple TV subscriptions — a step up from the prior MLS Season Pass benefit.
The strategy is paying off. MLS averaged 3.7 million gross live match viewers per week this season across streaming and linear, up 29% year-over-year.
Apple also holds global streaming rights, which has unlocked new markets for the league. Lionel Messi’s Miami arrival activated massive South American viewership in 2023, while Son Heung-min’s move to LAFC this summer ignited new audiences across Asia. Not surprisingly, Messi and Son finished No. 1 and No. 2 in league jersey sales.
Both stars now head into the postseason with their clubs — LAFC traveling to Vancouver on November 22 and Inter Miami visiting Cincinnati on November 23