MLS and Apple are opting for a major change to its broadcast relationship starting next season.
According to a report by soccer writer Paul Tenorio of The Athletic, MLS and Apple have agreed to scrap the MLS Season Pass product beginning next season, instead bringing all MLS matches to Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+) without the need for a separate subscription. Since the MLS-Apple partnership began in 2023, fans were required to pay $99 per season to access MLS Season Pass.
The move should allow MLS to reach a substantially larger audience than before. This season, the league experimented with bringing certain matches outside of the Season Pass paywall, and saw encouraging results. In 2025, MLS introduced a marquee Sunday Night Soccer package available to all Apple TV subscribers, and recently decided to make the MLS Cup Playoffs available to non-Season Pass subscribers as well. Per Tenorio, such games “did reach bigger audiences, on average.”
The new arrangement will align MLS with Apple’s other live sports properties, including its new deal with Formula One, which all air on Apple TV without an additional paywall.
Since the beginning of the MLS-Apple partnership, fans, and even MLS team executives, have criticized the league for making its matches inaccessible. Last year, MLS took several steps to mitigate some of those hurdles, such as integrating its matches directly into Comcast and DirecTV channel guides, and streaming select matches within popular gaming platforms like the EA Sports FC Mobile app.
Apple pays MLS an average of $250 million annually over the course of its 10-year agreement. It’s unclear whether the new arrangement will alter any of the financials of the deal from an MLS perspective.
The news should be met with excitement from fans, who will no longer be required to pay extra to receive MLS games.
Variety reports that Apple TV has approximately 45 million subscribers, though Apple executive Eddy Cue suggested the number is “significantly more than that.” Either way, that figure is exponentially more than the number of people who were signed up for MLS Season Pass, which numbered in the low single-digit millions after its first season, many of whom obtained the service through free promotions.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.