MLS games head to Apple TV in 2026 as Season Pass ends

Major League Soccer is stepping onto a bigger stage next year, when all of its matches will find a new home on Apple TV.

Beginning in the 2026 season, MLS games will be available on Apple’s flagship streaming platform, which currently includes Major League Baseball games as well as scripted series like “Severance.”

The move marks a big shift for both the league and Apple’s media strategy, as the tech giant will end Season Pass — the separate subscription service for MLS games provided by Apple.

Apple and MLS had inked a 10-year media rights deal in 2022 that saw Apple become the exclusive global home to the U.S. professional soccer league. However, rather than feature matches on the fledgling streaming service, Apple instead launched Season Pass for an additional subscription solely for MLS games.

“This idea that you could watch all of our matches in one place with a push of the button globally was unprecedented. We really, really liked that concept with Season Pass, and it worked because people reacted really well to the product,” MLS Deputy Commissioner Gary Stevenson said in an interview.

Season Pass — which costs $14.99 a month, compared to the $12.99 charged for the separate monthly Apple TV subscription — kicked off in 2023. Apple doesn’t provide subscriber metrics for its streaming services.

Stevenson said that conversations about moving the league to Apple TV started as Apple’s main streaming platform grew.

“They came to us and said, ‘Let’s put it on Apple TV,’ and we said, ‘We’re all in,'” said Stevenson. “So this was good news for us.”

While Stevenson didn’t go into specifics, some terms of the deal changed as part of the move to Apple TV.

“But it’s not like it was a big renegotiation because what we’ve been focused on is the distribution, and how to make it a better and more accessible experience for the fans,” said Stevenson.

Since jumping into the streaming game, Apple has methodically added sports to its platform and has secured exclusive rights in an increasingly fragmented sports viewing ecosystem.

Most recently Apple and Formula 1 inked a five-year exclusive media rights deal, meaning all races will stream on Apple TV in the U.S. beginning next year. Apple is paying roughly $140 million annually for the F1 rights, CNBC previously reported.

Apple has been looking to change the current sports viewing experience. While live sports garners huge audiences in the pay TV bundle, the rise of streaming has led to a fractured market in which consumers often require multiple subscriptions to watch one sport.

At a recent event, Apple Senior Vice President of Services Eddy Cue said the market has “gone backwards,” when it comes to sports viewership.

“You used to buy one subscription, your cable subscription, and you got pretty much everything they had. Now, there’s so many different subscriptions, so I think that needs to be fixed,” Cue said during a panel in October.

Since MLS kicked off its media rights deal with Apple, there has been little information about how Season Pass has performed — and some skepticism about its success.

However, MLS Commissioner Don Garber told CNBC Sport in an interview last year that Apple Season Pass subscriptions had exceeded expectations, though he declined to provide specific numbers.

“We have more subscribers than we and Apple thought we would have,” Garber told CNBC at the time, adding that there would be more transparency at a later date.

Apple also doesn’t release numbers for Apple TV, but Cue has reportedly said that the platform has “significantly more than 45 million” viewers.

The broader reach for the league will come after the MLS completed its 30th season. It has been working to capitalize on the growth of soccer’s popularity in the U.S., particularly ahead of the World Cup, which will take place in North America next year.

The league, which pales in comparison to the popularity of the NFL, NBA and other U.S. pro sports that have existed for decades before the MLS, has also seen fandom increase in recent years after global superstar Lionel Messi started playing for Inter Miami CF.

On Thursday, the MLS made another big change when it announced that it would shift its calendar to align with the schedule of global soccer leagues.

MLS’s postseason during the fall has coincided with one of the busiest times in U.S. — the start of the NFL, NBA and NHL seasons and the heart of MLB’s postseason, which recently garnered high viewership.

The shift will also allow MLS teams to more seamlessly take part in the worldwide player transfer window during the summer.

“Participation in the most active transfer window will now enhance, rather than disrupt, a team’s ambitions for the season,” according to a news release.

Currently, MLS’s regular season schedule runs from February through October, followed by playoffs and then the championship game taking place in December. Beginning in the summer of 2027, the MLS will adopt the new calendar.