MLS has torn up its Apple deal early and is now eyeing annual TV rights worth $400-500 million — nearly double what it got from the tech giant. That's the ambition. Whether the market agrees is a different question entirely.
The league and Apple renegotiated their landmark 10-year, $2.5 billion exclusive deal to end after the 2028-29 season, three full years ahead of schedule. New commissioner Joe Berg now inherits the task of convincing broadcasters to pay a premium for a product that, by most honest assessments, hasn't yet justified the Apple investment in terms of viewership growth.
The calendar shift makes this harder, not easier
When MLS signed with Apple, the league ran in the summer — a relatively quiet stretch in the sports calendar. Baseball, some golf, a bit of tennis. Manageable competition.
That's gone now. MLS is transitioning to the traditional fall-to-spring soccer calendar, which means going head-to-head with the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 every single week. Leagues with decades of built-in U.S. fandoms, global star power, and broadcast infrastructures MLS simply can't match yet.
And that's before you get to the NFL.
The domestic TV landscape is essentially pre-sold. NBC is locked in with the Premier League, NFL, college football, and NBA. CBS has the NFL, March Madness, and the Champions League. Fox owns football. ESPN is already stretched across too many properties to give MLS a prime slot. There's no obvious landing spot — and certainly no broadcaster sitting around waiting to spend half a billion dollars annually on a league still building its identity.
Berg's real test isn't on the pitch
A more flexible salary cap would raise the quality of play, attract better players, and make MLS a more watchable product. That part of Berg's mandate makes sense. But better players don't automatically translate into bigger TV deals when you're competing in a market this saturated.
The math is uncomfortable: MLS needs the rights revenue to fund the growth, but it needs the growth to command the rights revenue. Berg is walking into that loop with no easy exit.
His success in the role will ultimately be measured not by what happens in the league's boardroom, but by what number lands on the next rights contract. Right now, the broadcasters hold all the leverage.
