TV rights
What broadcasters have paid American soccer leagues to show their games, and clubs for their local games. Leagues rarely announce these figures; most come from the business press, citing unnamed sources, and are estimates. MLS took no rights fee at all for its first three seasons, and its national money rose from about $8 million a year in 2007 to Apple's $250 million. Apple's deal also took every match, so clubs' local deals ended after 2022. 22 deals are on record.
Major League Soccer
Click or tap a bar to see the deals in it.
| broadcaster | rights | seasons | a year | in all | note | sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC and ESPN | English-language TV | 1996–1998 | $0 | — | signed in 1994 before the league had a team, no rights fee, the networks and the league split the advertising revenue | 1 2 |
| ABC, ESPN and Univision | English- and Spanish-language TV | 1999–2006 | — | — | renewals of the first deals, terms not reported | 1 |
| ESPN and ABC | English-language TV | 2007–2014 | $8,000,000 | $64,000,000 | eight years, the league's first rights fee | 1 |
| Univision | Spanish-language TV | 2007–2014 | $10,000,000 | $80,000,000 | sold by Soccer United Marketing together with U.S. national team and other matches, so not all of it is for MLS | 1 |
| Fox Soccer Channel | English-language cable TV | 2011 | $7,000,000 | $7,000,000 | a one-year extension, reported at $6.25M to $7M | 1 2 |
| NBC Sports | English-language TV | 2012–2014 | $10,000,000 | $30,000,000 | three years, reported at $10M to $12M a year, with U.S. national team matches | 1 2 |
| ESPN and Fox | English-language TV | 2015–2022 | $75,000,000 | $600,000,000 | eight years, the two networks combined per Sports Business Daily, shared with U.S. Soccer, whose national team rights were in the package | 1 2 |
| Univision | Spanish-language TV | 2015–2022 | $15,000,000 | $120,000,000 | eight years per Sports Business Daily, with national team rights | 1 |
| Apple | every match worldwide, streaming | 2023–2025 | $250,000,000 | $2,500,000,000 | signed for ten years, 2023 to 2032, at a minimum of $2.5B, payments tiered to rise over the term, plus a share of subscriptions | 1 2 |
| Fox | English-language TV | 2023–2026 | — | — | four years, a share of matches alongside Apple, terms not announced | 1 |
| TelevisaUnivision | Spanish-language TV, Leagues Cup | 2023–2026 | — | — | four years, terms not announced | 1 |
| TSN and RDS | Canadian TV | 2023–2026 | — | — | four years, terms not announced | 1 |
| Apple | every match worldwide, streaming | 2026 | $200,000,000 | $200,000,000 | the deal as amended in 2025 to end in mid-2029, about $50M more than the original terms would have paid by then | 1 |
| Apple | every match worldwide, streaming | 2027–2029 | $219,166,667 | $657,500,000 | the amended deal's last three payments, $107.5M for the short 2027 season and $275M for each of 2027-28 and 2028-29 as the league moves to a fall-to-spring calendar | 1 |
Clubs' local TV
| club | broadcaster | rights | seasons | a year | in all | note | sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA Galaxy | Time Warner Cable SportsNet | local TV | 2012–2021 | $5,500,000 | $55,000,000 | ten years, signed in 2011, the richest local deal in the league | 1 2 |
| Los Angeles FC | YouTube TV | local TV and streaming | 2018–2022 | $6,000,000 | $30,000,000 | multi-year, announced before the club's first season, about $6M a year by 2022 | 1 2 |
North American Soccer League
Click or tap a bar to see the deals in it.
| broadcaster | rights | seasons | a year | in all | note | sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | network TV | 1968 | $500,000 | $500,000 | the ten-year deal the National Professional Soccer League signed in 1967 at $1M for its first year, carried into the merged league for 1968, reported at $500,000 to $1M, then dropped | 1 2 |
| CBS | network TV | 1976 | — | — | announced as three years, only the 1976 games were shown, terms not reported | 1 |
| TVS | syndicated TV | 1977–1978 | — | — | terms not reported | 1 |
| ABC | network TV | 1979–1980 | $900,000 | $1,800,000 | two years, nine telecasts a season, ABC dropped most of 1980 for low ratings | 1 |
| ESPN | cable TV | 1981–1982 | — | — | twenty Saturday games a season, terms not reported | 1 2 |
| USA Network | cable TV | 1981–1982 | — | — | terms not reported | 1 |
A year and in all are as reported. Where only one was reported and the deal's length is known, the other is worked out from it and shown in grey italics; hover it for the sum. A reported range is shown at its low end. Seasons are the first and last the deal covers. Deals sold with U.S. national team rights, as most were from 2007 to 2022, are shown whole, though not all of the money was for the league. Sources are numbered links to the reports.