As first reported by Sports Business Journal, all of the Major League Soccer playoff matches will be watchable with an Apple TV subscription (formerly Apple TV+), meaning fans don’t need the add-on MLS Season Pass subscription to tune in.
The playoff schedule begins on Wednesday. In light of the news that F1 will stream on Apple TV in the United States as part of the base subscription, there has been some speculation that the separate MLS Season Pass product could be going away …
Making all playoff games available outside of Season Pass certainly helps add fuel to the fire of that speculation.
Right now, U.S. soccer fans have to pay $99 per season to get MLS Season Pass. But more casual viewers have balked at the need to pay extra, even if they are already Apple TV subscribers. (MLS Season Pass can be purchased without Apple TV, however).
The general opinion is that viewership would increase substantially if the ‘second’ paywall was taken away, which perhaps Apple could subsidise with higher advertising sales on the broadcasts.
The new F1 deal certainly makes the MLS Season Pass business model feel a little antiquated. From 2026, Apple TV subscribers in the US will get access to all F1TV Premium content, live and on-demand, at no additional charge. To date, F1.TV Premium on its own has cost its subscribers about $16.99 per month.
Since its introduction in 2023, the additional cost of MLS Season Pass has felt like a stretch, as live sports on other U.S. streaming services generally do not charge an additional upsell, when available. (For instance, Premier League matches stream on Peacock, as part of the base Peacock subscription.)
Of course, the dynamics of MLS and F1 do differ, where MLS shows a dozen games per week during the regular season, whereas F1 only has 24 race weekends across the whole year.
Financially, Apple will pay about $150 million annually for F1 United States broadcast rights. Apple pays MLS about $250 million annually for worldwide rights. Some portion of the MLS Season Pass subscription price is shared with the league.
Perhaps, this is why Apple opted to package Season Pass as a separate thing, as it houses a lot more content in terms of numbers of hours. Or perhaps, Apple has changed its strategic approach and in 2026, MLS Season Pass will cease to exist.
On the future of MLS, Apple is yet to commit either way. It typically announces plans for MLS Season Pass in February or March, so the company has a few more months before it has to make a final decision.
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