Guess the Major League Soccer has finally turned on its competitive switch. Over the past few days, the American men’s domestic league has already become a major talking point as it considers shifting its entire schedule to better compete with top European leagues. And as if that weren’t enough to send the message, it now appears the stakeholders are ready to take things a notch up, with MLS looking to mirror F1’s Apple TV deal by introducing notable changes to its own.

Several reports stated that Major League Soccer is finally eliminating its MLS Season Pass starting from 2026. Instead of charging subscribers an extra fee of $14.99 per month or $99 for the full season to access all content, it is being said that league matches will now be available to every Apple TV user through the platform’s standard plan, which costs $12.99 per month or $99 annually.

Additionally, the Athletic reported that the MLS season ticket holders will receive this subscription for free, and by coming out from behind a separate paywall, the league’s matches will now be accessible to all Apple TV subscribers. Of course, such changes automatically suggest that it would also impact the Apple-MLS 10-year, $2.5 billion deal that was signed between the two parties at the end of 2022.

And rightly so; first, the contract has been cut short to 2029 instead of ending in 2032, while also removing Apple’s opt-out clause for 2027. Now, with the MLS decision to come out of a separate paywall, the tech giant will be paying $200 million to the league in 2026, followed by an additional $107.5 million for the shorter 2027 sprint season. These adjustments make it pretty obvious that Apple clearly wasn’t fully satisfied with the performance of the original partnership.

Notably, this is quite reminiscent of the five-year deal that Apple has signed with Formula 1, starting from 2026. This will see fans get access to both sports through the platform. Heck, the Tim Cook-led corp even launched several bundles to attract fans. One of them was an Apple TV–Peacock package that gives viewers both MLS and Premier League access for $14.99 per month.

This only compelled the MLS to embrace this approach itself by silently making more than 200 matches available outside the Season Pass paywall. Thankfully, this managed to draw noticeably larger audiences. And now, the decision to make the entire 2025 postseason open to all viewers rather than keep it behind a separate subscription is only going to boost things for them even further.

MLS is even resorting to other options!

Ironically, Apple’s streaming service actually offered a much better viewing experience compared to the typical TV arrangements. Then again, when it came to attracting new fans, it turned out to be a huge blow. Ardent soccer fans across the USA and even outside who wished to watch any game felt the league had become tougher to find on TV, both in local markets and nationwide. So to fix that, the MLS and Apple decided to expand distribution through partners like Comcast and DirecTV.

Certain challenges have been assumed by the stakeholders. Then again, MLS deputy commissioner Gary Stevenson told The Athletic that the deal is ahead of its curve. “You’re going to see some changes in the future that are going to be better,” he said. While expressing his happiness to see all 600 matches being available worldwide with a single tap, he believes the Apple partnership will only serve the fans even better and is expected to improve and grow in the years ahead.

Let’s see whether that would be the exact case or not. Either way, share your views in the comments below.