Main League Soccer’s thirty first season will get underway Saturday, with all 30 golf equipment taking the pitch for MLS is Again weekend. And Apple TV subscribers can have a front-row seat to all of it, with all 13 matches obtainable and no blackouts throughout greater than 100 international locations and areas, Apple mentioned.
“All eyes are on North America this 12 months because the MLS season kicks off this week and the World Cup approaches,” mentioned Thomas Müller, Vancouver Whitecaps FC attacking midfielder and 2014 FIFA World Cup champion. I’m excited to start my first full season in MLS, assist the crew construct on what we began, and provides followers all over the place the possibility to observe our journey on Apple TV.”
MLS kicks off 2026 season on Apple TV with new options and World Cup highlight
The season’s timing is important. With the FIFA World Cup coming to North America this 12 months in June, the league enters 2026 with world consideration on American soccer in a approach it hasn’t seen earlier than. For Apple customers, which means the season arrives with a slate of recent options, expanded broadcast entry and deeper integration throughout Apple’s ecosystem of apps and units, the iPhone big mentioned.
What’s new: Walmart Saturday Showdown
The headline addition for 2026 is Walmart Saturday Showdown, a brand new weekly featured matchup throughout the Saturday slate. Every showdown recreation will obtain enhanced manufacturing, together with footage captured utilizing iPhone. It provides what Apple describes as dynamic angles designed to deliver viewers nearer to the pace and physicality of the sport.
The primary Saturday Showdown airs February 21 at 6:30 p.m. PT, as LAFC hosts Inter Miami on the historic LA Memorial Coliseum. The matchup places MLS MVP Lionel Messi and the reigning MLS Cup champions up in opposition to Son Heung-Min and LAFC. That marquee opening night time pairing units the tone for what Apple positions as a premier viewing expertise all through the common season.
Sunday Night time Soccer returns
Sunday Night time Soccer introduced by Continental Tire is again for an additional season, kicking off February 22 at 4 p.m. PT with a bicoastal conflict between the LA Galaxy and New York Metropolis FC. The showcase options devoted in-stadium pre- and postgame protection, enhanced graphics in English and Spanish, and a few of the league’s most compelling weekly matchups. See the entire MLS 2026 season schedule.
Integration throughout Apple apps
For followers following alongside on their units, MLS has a presence throughout almost each Apple app this season. The free Apple Sports activities app for iPhone provides customers entry to stay scores, standings, play-by-play knowledge, lineup particulars and stay betting odds — with a faucet to launch matches instantly in Apple TV. On iOS and watchOS, Dwell Actions deliver real-time scores and updates to iPhone and Apple Watch Lock Screens without having to open any app in any respect.
Past sports activities, Apple Music will function club- and player-curated playlists all through the season. Apple Maps customers can entry Matchday Guides created by MLS golf equipment, together with metropolis guides by gamers highlighting native bars, eating places and stadium data. Apple Information provides scores, schedules, standings and protection from a whole bunch of publishers. And Apple Podcasts hosts a devoted MLS hub with curated episodes and collections centered on the league, its golf equipment and North American soccer broadly.
Extra methods to observe
Apple expands entry to MLS matches past its personal subscribers this season. DirecTV prospects — together with these at industrial venues by way of DirecTV For Enterprise — can now entry Apple TV’s stay sports activities programming. That features all MLS matches. New for 2026, EverPass will even provide industrial institutions streaming entry to Apple TV’s full stay sports activities portfolio by way of its EverPass Core bundle.
Comcast’s Xfinity prospects proceed to have built-in entry to MLS matches in English and Spanish by way of the Xfinity X1 platform and Xfinity Stream app. Comcast and Apple are additionally providing all Xfinity prospects free entry to MLS 360, the league’s widespread whip-around studio present that gives stay look-ins from each match concurrently.
Watch MLS on Apple TV
Apple TV is accessible on the Apple TV app throughout iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K, Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, main good TV manufacturers, Roku, Amazon Fireplace TV, Chromecast with Google TV, and PlayStation and Xbox consoles, in addition to at television.apple.com. A subscription prices $12.99 per 30 days, with a seven-day free trial for brand new subscribers. Clients who not too long ago bought a brand new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac are eligible for 3 months free. Full-season MLS membership ticket holders additionally obtain an Apple TV subscription as a part of their bundle.
David Snow, an knowledgeable on Apple {hardware} and software program, writes on a wide range of technological and cultural subjects for Cult of Mac. They embrace Apple information, expertise shopping for guides, and options about laptop setups and Apple TV exhibits and flicks.
With 30 years of expertise protecting expertise and different topics, he has written and edited for quite a few print and on-line publications, together with CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired Information, Crimson Herring journal, Regulation.com, The Nationwide Regulation Journal and Regulation Expertise Information journal. Amongst different roles, he served as government editor of the Regulation.com community of internet sites and editorial director, expertise, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse College with majors in journal journalism and psychology. Whereas there, he labored as a reporter for The Day by day Orange newspaper and affiliate editor of Equal Time journal.
Founding father of the weblog On the Waterline, he may be reached on X (previously Twitter) through @atthewaterline and on Mastodon through @dsnow.
