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MLS 2026 Season Begins February 21 on Apple TV With Free Access for Subscribers

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The 31st Major League Soccer season is set to begin on Saturday, February 21, with games set to be available through the Apple TV subscription service. Apple TV subscribers in more than 100 countries can access MLS matches with no blackouts and no additional fees.

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Apple used to charge $14.99 per month or $99 for the MLS Season Pass, but the Season Pass was removed for the 2026 season to give all Apple TV subscribers access for free. MLS is aiming to expand its fanbase and make content easier to access through its partnership with Apple.

Apple says that MLS on Apple TV will include Walmart Saturday Showdown, which spotlights a featured matchup during the Saturday slate of matches throughout the regular season. It will include enhanced production that's designed to "help viewers feel more connected to the match," with Shot on iPhone moments captured with dynamic angles. This week's Saturday Showdown will feature LAFC vs Miami at the LA Memorial Coliseum. The game is set to begin at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

All 30 MLS teams will take the pitch on February 21 and February 22 for MLS is Back Weekend. 13 of 15 season openers are scheduled for Saturday, with two games on Sunday. The season will begin with St. Louis facing off against Charlotte at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. A full schedule can be found on the MLS website.

Soccer fans can keep up to date with scores, stats, and standings throughout the MLS season with the Apple Sports app. The app offers Live Activities for all MLS matches, with live scores and play-by-play information. Apple will also have special curated playlists on Apple Music, dedicated Matchday Guides in Apple Maps, an MLS hub in the Apple Podcasts app, and MLS info in Apple News.

Article Link: MLS 2026 Season Begins February 21 on Apple TV With Free Access for Subscribers
 
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https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/19/major-league-soccer-2026-season-start/
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Apple TV is becoming an incredible deal. With student plan, I'm paying 6.99$ a month for Apple Music, which includes Apple TV. With Apple TV you get access to all MLS games and F1 races without any additional cost. The best thing is you get full access for the entire season, unlike some other sports which gives you access to some games and others are streaming on alternative streaming services.
 
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MacRumors said:


The 31st Major League Soccer season is set to begin on Saturday, February 21, with games set to be available through the Apple TV subscription service. Apple TV subscribers in more than 100 countries can access MLS matches with no blackouts and no additional fees.

apple-mls-season-begins-2026.jpg

Apple used to charge $14.99 per month or $99 for the MLS Season Pass, but the Season Pass was removed for the 2026 season to give all Apple TV subscribers access for free. MLS is aiming to expand its fanbase and make content easier to access through its partnership with Apple.

Apple says that MLS on Apple TV will include Walmart Saturday Showdown, which spotlights a featured matchup during the Saturday slate of matches throughout the regular season. It will include enhanced production that's designed to "help viewers feel more connected to the match," with Shot on iPhone moments captured with dynamic angles. This week's Saturday Showdown will feature LAFC vs Miami at the LA Memorial Coliseum. The game is set to begin at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

All 30 MLS teams will take the pitch on February 21 and February 22 for MLS is Back Weekend. 13 of 15 season openers are scheduled for Saturday, with two games on Sunday. The season will begin with St. Louis facing off against Charlotte at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. A full schedule can be found on the MLS website.

Soccer fans can keep up to date with scores, stats, and standings throughout the MLS season with the Apple Sports app. The app offers Live Activities for all MLS matches, with live scores and play-by-play information. Apple will also have special curated playlists on Apple Music, dedicated Matchday Guides in Apple Maps, an MLS hub in the Apple Podcasts app, and MLS info in Apple News.

Article Link: MLS 2026 Season Begins February 21 on Apple TV With Free Access for Subscribers
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You love to see it!
 
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I've always felt that TV+ or whatever it is now (just AppleTV I think) was a questionable deal at $12.99 vs. the $4.99 when it came out.

However, I do follow MLS and I also follow Formula 1 which completely changes the calculus for me. It's now a killer deal for me personally.
 
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This is one of the few moves they've made that I totally agree with and makes almost an astounding amount of sense.

Maybe MLS isn't as bogged down in legacy contracts, but I've never understood why MLB and NBA in particular punish their own fan bases so much by making it so incredibly expensive to watch local games. I guess they assume they have enough fans and don't want any more. And even the teams that realize how dumb local blackouts are can't do anything about it due to long term contracts.

If MLS wants more fans, it only makes sense to let more fans watch it under reasonable terms.
 
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CalMin said:
I've always felt that TV+ or whatever it is now (just AppleTV I think) was a questionable deal at $12.99 vs. the $4.99 when it came out.

However, I do follow MLS and I also follow Formula 1 which completely changes the calculus for me. It's now a killer deal for me personally.
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Considering the low US appeal of both sports, it seems like a total win/win for all parties.
 
As someone who lives in Europe and spends a lot of time watching the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, La Liga, and Bundesliga, I decided to tune in for the MLS final a few months ago.

The atmosphere of the presentation, the commentating, the crowd noise, and the pace of play were all way more different than I could have imagined, and not in a good way.

I love watching Messi play, but getting up at 3 in the morning to watch this slop is too big of an ask for me.

Youtube highlights will have to do.
 
I'll be checking this out, not much of a soccer fan ( unless world cup is on ) but I will look into watching some games this season
 
smriga said:
why even bother commenting?
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Because it's a discussion forum where everyone can discuss and share an opinion.

I switched from cable to streaming because there was no sports and all the money went to film and TV content. I think that, if Apple really wants to go with more sports, the least it can do is to let users customize the sidebar to show or hide the content they prefer. It's already possible to hide sports results in the Apple TV app, so it shouldn't be a problem. Not everyone watches and enjoys professional sports.

Putting something permanently visible in the sidebar with no option to remove it is, in my opinion, not much different than putting a U2 album in people's music library. People didn't like it and rightfully so. Same can be said for sport leagues or any other content category in the sidebar.

4 bit 9d api said:
I'm waiting for a MR update to remove your whiny comment.
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Why? My comment is as valid as many on this site. I even expressed it without asking for differing opinions to be deleted. But you're right it was more a badly written comment than a opinion. So I added more details to my point of view just above.
 
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I’ll care if/when there’s a team in my city. Until then the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, college football and basketball will come first as we have all 4 professional leagues with teams within an hours drive as well as two Big 10 universities but no MLS despite several attempts to land a team.

If there’s no home town team to root for in a sport I’m not that interested in to begin with then I just can’t get into a sport with the possible exception of football because the one NFL team here has been hot garbage juice outside of a few good seasons here and there since 1957.
 
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Macaholic868 said:
I’ll care if/when there’s a team in my city. Until then the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, college football and basketball will come first as we have all 4 professional leagues with teams within an hours drive as well as two Big 10 universities but no MLS despite several attempts to land a team.

If there’s no home town team to root for in a sport I’m not that interested in to begin with then I just can’t get into a sport with the possible exception of football because the one NFL team here has been hot garbage juice outside of a few good seasons here and there since 1957.
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Detroit is saturated, mate.
 
Baseiseough said:
🥱
Too good to miss ??? But I do... I do want to miss it !
In fact, I'm sill waiting for an Apple TV update with the option to remove MLS and sports from the app sidebar!
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well I'm not a sports fan, but in general i wish there was a way to choose what to watch, just because I'm not a sports fan doesn't mean i wish on everyone else they didn't have the choice to watch.
 
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