Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, center, talks with Apple TV analysts Bradley Wright-Phillips, left, … [+]
We learned several key details of Major League Soccer and Apple TV’s plans for telecasting the 2025 MLS Regular season Wednesday.
In a move that was somewhat foreseen after the 2025 schedule unveiling, we learned that this season’s broadcast plans include a new “Soccer Sunday” package on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass streaming service, a selection of standalone matches played a day after most of the weekend slate and highlighted for a more national audience.
Additionally, we learned MLS Season Pass would be sold for the first time outside of the Apple TV app interface, available also to Xfinity and DirecTV customers.
And it was also revealed that asome of the league’s 510 regular season games would be called from a broadcast studio this season rather than in person, as had been the case for every single English- and Spanish-language telecast in the first two seasons of the league’s streaming agreement with Apple TV.
In simple terms, the league – which foots production costs under the terms of the 10-year, $2.5 billion worldwide streaming pact – is cutting its per-game investment in a run-of-the-mill Saturday night broadcast, but pulling out more stops and expense for a selection of premium games. And it’s a tradeoff that will probably result in a better overall experience for the viewer.
One Big Problem Solved
The Soccer Sunday package address a consistent complaint from fans in 2023 and 2024, that there was rarely enough time for fans to watch their own teams live and also keep tabs on what else was going on in the league.
That’s because – in a move intended to appease fans’ desire for more consistent kickoff times – Apple TV insisted on scheduling the overwhelming majority of games in those first two seasons at 7:30 p.m. local time on Saturday or Wednesday nights.
The new 2025 schedule doesn’t obliterate that formula but merely tweaks it, placing about 20% of that total inventory of 510 matches outside those Saturday and Wednesday windows. That might not sound like much change, but in terms of the average viewer, it could be the difference between consuming one match a weekend and consuming three or four.
In addition, Soccer Sunday will also include pregame and post-game content from the MLS Season Pass studio headquarters, with MLS Wrap Up show following the featured game rather than the Saturday slate. In short, the Sunday games will be treated more like an “event” in the way that ESPN treats Monday Night Football or NBC and Peacock treat their Premier League Mornings.
If the exchange is cutting some corners on the regular Saturday night match production, that’s probably worth it.
Big Investment, Smaller Return
Even with broadcasters traveling to every stadium on Saturday nights, the matches often felt distant. Halftime programming was just the announcers recapping highlights and running down scores rather than turning it over to a studio show. In fact, the main studio programming of the evening – MLS 360 – was an NFL RedZone-style production that runs counter to individual match broadcasts.
Broacasters’ knowledge of the individual teams involved was inconsistent despite the expense of travel. And the scheduling of games on top of each other meant these expenses were being incurred for relatively small TV audiences per match.
And if Apple TV talent calling games remotely does result in a major decline in the production quality, the news that MLS Season Pass will be available via Xfinity and DirecTV suggests an openness to creative solutions to such problems.
The next logical evolution might be for MLS and Apple to explore reconnecting with regional sports networks via simulcast rights – similar to how Fox Sports currently has a national agreement to simulcast 34 games per regular season — to make up for that lack of on-the-ground presence.
The value proposition there is complicated. Apple TV won’t want to undercut demand for MLS Season Pass subscriptions by giving fans too much free match access via local cable or broadcast TV. But symbiotic collaborations between Apple TV and those RSNs in local markets could help increase the quality of the Saturday and Wednesday night match production at a lesser cost.
