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, in which the broadcaster will 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 utilized an iPhone for part of a Major League Baseball broadcast in September 2025. Still, Saturday’s feed is the first time a whole sporting event will be shown in its entirety, shot that way.The game at Galaxy’s Dignity Health Park will begin at 7.30 p.m. PT.Apple struck a 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement in 2022 to exclusively screen every MLS and Leagues Cup game.However, after a revision of terms in November, the deal will now end at the conclusion of the 2028-29 season, three and a half years earlier than expected.What it meansiPhones have been capturing full soccer games for years, but usually, it’s kids running around during AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) games. With this latest experiment, Apple will expand that to a full MLS game.Who is this for? Not really for the fans, even if Apple’s news 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 world talking about the iPhone angles on MLB coverage.The iPhone is an historic product, and this MLS game might even look good. However, the event seems more about promoting a product than about capturing a soccer match. — Andrew Marchand
