For years, watching a soccer game usually meant choosing between the broadcast your TV provider gave you and whatever streaming service held the rights. Now Yahoo Sports and Apple TV are trying something a little different. The two companies have teamed up to bring alternate broadcasts of select Major League Soccer games directly to Yahoo Sports, giving fans another way to watch some of the league’s biggest matchups.
The partnership was announced Wednesday and will also include a small number of Major League Baseball games. But for soccer fans, the more interesting part is what Yahoo and Apple are doing with MLS.
Yahoo Sports Will Carry Full MLS ‘Altcasts’
The soccer portion of the deal centers around two games, and both will feature The Cooligans hosts Alexis Guerreros and Christian Polanco on the call.
The first comes Wednesday, Sept. 16, when reigning MLS Cup champion Inter Miami faces Liga MX champion Cruz Azul in the 2026 Michelob ULTRA Campeones Cup. The second arrives Oct. 28, when Inter Miami hosts FC Cincinnati.
Both games will stream in their entirety on the Yahoo Sports website and app, including pregame coverage. In other words, this isn’t a short preview or a highlights package. Fans who choose the Yahoo version will be able to follow the entire match with Guerreros and Polanco providing their familiar combination of soccer analysis, comedy and personality.
That should appeal particularly to fans who already listen to The Cooligans. Instead of hearing the traditional Apple TV commentary, they’ll get a broadcast built around two personalities who have developed a following through their podcast and Yahoo Sports appearances.
The Camera Angles Will Be Different, Too
The alternate commentary isn’t the only difference. Yahoo’s MLS streams will use camera feeds supplied by Apple TV and MLS Productions, including some angles that viewers won’t normally see during the main broadcast. Among them will be a referee camera and a dedicated feed shot entirely on an iPhone. That gives the Yahoo version a slightly different feel from simply turning down the sound on the regular broadcast and listening to another podcast.
There is also an important distinction for fans wondering whether this means MLS games are becoming free on Yahoo. They aren’t. The Yahoo ‘altcast’ is an additional way to watch these two selected matches, but Apple TV continues to hold the main MLS broadcast rights. Yahoo’s streams will include direct links for viewers who want to move over to Apple TV and watch the primary feed and the rest of the league’s schedule. An Apple TV subscription is still required to watch MLS on Apple’s service.
So, think of Yahoo as a ‘different angle’ into these particular games rather than a replacement for Apple TV.
MLB Gets a Similar Experiment — With a Catch
The baseball side of the partnership works a little differently. Yahoo Sports hosts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman will provide pregame coverage and call the first two innings of two Apple TV “Friday Night Baseball” games: Tigers at Guardians on Sept. 4 and Phillies at Mets on Sept. 18. After two innings, viewers will need to move to Apple TV to watch the remainder of the game.
For MLS fans, however, the bigger story is the possibility of this becoming a more common way to experience games. The initial agreement covers only two MLS matches, and there is no announcement yet of a larger slate. Still, it represents another step toward giving soccer fans more choice in how they watch a game, not just where they watch it. And if The Cooligans’ broadcasts connect with Yahoo’s audience, don’t be surprised if we see more of these alternate MLS feeds in the future.
Yahoo and Apple TV Team Up to Bring Fans An Alternate View Of MLS Games