On May 23, Apple will present a special broadcast of a Major League Soccer (MLS) match shot entirely on iPhone 17 Pro smartphones. It will be the first time a major professional live sporting event is broadcast exclusively on iPhone.
Developed in partnership with the MLS, the historic broadcast will feature the LA Galaxy facing off against the Houston Dynamo FC at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. This is the final weekend of MLS matches before the league pauses for the FIFA World Cup 2026, being co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Many MLS players will feature for their international squads in the tournament.
The iPhone 17 Pro will capture the entire broadcast, including pre-game warmups, player introductions, and in-net goal angles during play. Apple and the MLS will have iPhone 17 Pros set up throughout the stadium to capture the crowd’s reactions and overall atmosphere. Basically, fans watching at home on Apple TV should expect to see all the traditional camera angles they get with normal broadcasts, plus even more enabled by the iPhone’s smaller size.
While this marks the first time Apple will use iPhone for the entirety of its broadcast camera setup, the company has used iPhone in professional sports streaming before. During a Friday Night Baseball matchup between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers, Apple used iPhone 17 Pro to capture certain moments from the game and capture cinematic in-stadium footage. An iPhone used in the broadcast now lives at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Following the success of the iPhone 17 Pro’s use during Friday Night Baseball last year, Apple integrated its flagship phone into additional broadcasts, including the MLS Cup in 2025. iPhone is also part of all of Apple’s Friday Night Baseball broadcasts for the 2026 season.
“iPhone 17 Pro features three 48MP Fusion cameras, offering the equivalent of eight lenses in a compact form factor and pro-level video features like Apple Log 2 used for this weekend’s broadcast,” Apple explains in a press release.
As PetaPixel explained in its iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max Review, the iPhone 17 Pro has plenty of fantastic features for video creators. The iPhone 17 Pro’s video quality is excellent, and it has many features to support even high-end professional workflows, including Log recording, 4Kp120, ProRes RAW, Open Gate, and more.
It will be very interesting to see how an entire professional sports broadcast shot on iPhone looks this Saturday, May 23. Kickoff is at 10:30 PM ET (7:30 PM PT), and all Apple TV subscribers can watch it for free.
Image credits: Header photo created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.com and an image provided courtesy of Apple.
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