MLS Cup 2025 Production To Feature Four iPhone 17 Pros as Game-Coverage Cameras

Stay tuned to SVG on Friday for our in-depth story on this year’s MLS Cup production

In a first for a live MLS broadcast, MLS Cup 2025 will integrate live game footage captured on the iPhone 17 Pro, with four devices positioned throughout Fort Lauderdale, FL’s Chase Stadium. When Inter Miami FC and Vancouver Whitecaps face off on Saturday, it will be part of the league’s most expansive MLS Cup broadcast presentation ever.

“We’re always looking for ways to innovate and test new technologies with our partners, including Apple,” says Seth Bacon, EVP, media, MLS. “We’ve been testing [the use of] iPhones about four months now and have been looking at different ways to utilize them. In our tests, we’ve tried several different setups, rigs, and locations, as well as played around with zoom, speed, color, and other technical and creative aspects. We think we’ve found the ideal setup going into [MLS Cup this weekend].”

The four iPhones will consist of a wired high–end-zone camera and three wireless systems: a pitch-side DJI Ronin gimbal rig, a supporter cam focused on the fans in the stands, and a sideline camera shooting coaches’ reactions throughout the game. Whenever an iPhone camera feed is shown during the broadcast, it will feature a “Shot on iPhone” overlay graphic.

MLS worked closely with Apple’s iPhone technology and live-production team, as well as with technical-solutions provider NEP Group, to create the iPhone camera rigs and control systems that will be used to shade the cameras from the truck. A large chunk of the league’s tests, Bacon says, have been focused on how to seamlessly integrate these iPhones into the truck as live camera sources.

“These are actual iPhones,” he stresses. “We’re not plugging them into some other contraption; the iPhone will be the device actually capturing the action and coming into the truck for our broadcast. We think that’s going to be a differentiating factor compared with what others have done in the past in using iPhones [for live game coverage].”

The match will be the most ambitious deployment of iPhones for game coverage to date, following a Friday Night Baseball production at Fenway Park in September.

“We’ve done the testing and know that the technology will work,” says Bacon. “It’s just a matter of going out and getting it done. The quality of the picture that you can capture on an iPhone today is second to none. So we know it’s only going to be additive from a fan-experience standpoint and allow us to tell even more stories than we do on a typical match.”

This year’s MLS Cup production will deploy more than 30 cameras, the most ever for an MLS Cup. Fans will have access to an expanded range of angles and perspectives, including robotic goal cameras, the fan-favorite referee cam, dedicated iso cams on coaches and players, and drone coverage.

MLS Cup will air free on Apple TV in more than 100 countries and regions with no subscription required. Coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET with special editions of pregame shows MLS Countdown and MLS La Previa. Apple TV offers a variety of options for watching the championship match live, including through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, Android devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes, and game consoles and on the web at tv.apple.com.

In addition to streaming free on Apple TV, the match will be broadcast on FOX, FOX Deportes, RDS in Canada, and TNT in Mexico. And MLS Cup will be broadcast live in New York City’s Times Square on SILVERCAST Media’s HD Mega-Zilla, with a digital TV display spanning an entire city block.

In terms of on-air talent, the Apple TV English commentary team will be Taylor Twellman, Jake Zivin, and Jillian Sakovits; Spanish commentary will be provided by Diego Valeri, Sammy Sadovnik, and Antonella Gonzalez. In the studio will be Kevin Egan, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Dax McCarty, Kaylyn Kyle, and Sacha Kljestan on the English side and Ramses Sandoval, Gio Savarese, and Miguel Gallardo for the Spanish broadcast.

Live coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. with pregame shows MLS Countdown and MLS La Previa and ends with postgame recap shows MLS Wrap-Up and MLS El Resumen.

Stay tuned to SVG on Friday for our in-depth story on this year’s MLS Cup production.