Apple to broadcast MLS game shot on iPhone in TV first: More about promotion than the end product?
Apple to broadcast MLS game shot on iPhone in TV first: More about promotion than the end product?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7298002/2026/05/21/apple-iphone-mls-game/
Publish Date: 2026-05-21 12:39:00
Source Domain: www.nytimes.com
This weekend’s Major League Soccer game between the LA Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo will have a new look for television viewers — it will be shot entirely on an iPhone.
Apple has announced the landmark move ahead of Saturday’s game, which will see the broadcaster film the entire contest on an iPhone 17 Pro.
It will mark the first time the device will be used to capture the entirety of a major professional live sporting event broadcast, Apple said in announcing the move Thursday.
The device will capture “live footage throughout the match, including team warmups on the pitch, player introductions, in-net goal angles, and the atmosphere inside the stadium”, the tech company added.
Apple utilised an iPhone for part of a Major League Baseball broadcast in September 2025, but Saturday’s feed is the first time a whole sporting event will be shown in its entirety after being shot that way.
The game, from Galaxy’s Dignity Health Park, will kick off at 7.30 p.m. PT.
Apple struck a 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement to exclusively screen every MLS and Leagues Cup game in 2022.
However, after a revision of terms in November of last year, the deal will now end at the conclusion of the 2028-29 season, three and a half years earlier than expected.
‘More about promotion than the end product?’
Analysis by
iPhones have been capturing full soccer games for years and years — but usually it’s little kids running around during AYSO (the American Youth Soccer Organization). With this latest experiment, Apple will expand that to a full MLS game.
Who is this for? Not really fans, even if Apple’s press release claims that after it first used an iPhone on an MLB stream, what ensued was “strong fan response to the ‘Friday Night Baseball’ production, Apple expanded the use of iPhone across additional sports broadcasts.” Maybe I missed it, but I don’t recall the whole world talking about the iPhone angles on MLB coverage.
Anyway, the iPhone is an…
