MLS, Apple, IMG Deliver Record-Breaking Production for MLS Cup 2025
STAMFORD, CT – December 7, 2025 – As Lionel Messi and Inter Miami compete for the MLS Cup title today, a massive collaborative production effort involving Major League Soccer, Apple, IMG, and NEP is rolling out the largest MLS Cup broadcast in league history. The culmination of a season marked by significant operational shifts, the broadcast will be available free on Apple TV in over 100 countries and regions, requiring no subscription.
This year’s MLS cup production represents the first full season following the move of MLS Productions from NEP’s Metropolis Studios in New York City to “The Studios at WWE” in Stamford, Connecticut, in January 2025. The relocation was part of an expanded multiyear deal with IMG and has enabled a more consistent and technologically advanced production workflow.
Since the move, all Apple TV MLS studio shows - including MLS Countdown and MLS La Previa pregame shows, and MLS Wrap Up and MLS El Resumen postgame shows – have been produced out of the Stamford facility. MLS also partnered with AE Live as its exclusive graphics provider and implemented a centralized graphics-integration model for all game broadcasts.
“It has been a terrific year for us at MLS productions,” said MLS productions Executive Producer, Bacon. “We knew when we launched this project in 2022 ahead of the 2023 season that there was going to be a long road ahead and there woudl be changes from year to year. But I think we are now at a point where we have more consistency in the way that we produce [our content].”
Bacon added,”The studio here in Stamford has been everything we expected and then some. We’ve been able to leverage the technology, the connectivity, the infrastructure, and the consistent group of people to not only maintain the quality we had from the first two years but also start to push forward even further. Behind-the-scenes changes invisible to the consumer [and also] big-ticket items like our fully virtualized studio are adding new layers of storytelling and quality to our productions.”
Throughout the 2025 season, the partnership produced over 600 games on MLS Season pass on Apple TV. Today’s broadcast will feature special editions of MLS Countdown and MLS La Previa beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET, followed by postgame recaps with MLS Wrap-Up and MLS El Resumen. MLS and its partners aim to deliver a memorable finale, leveraging lessons learned throughout the year.
“We want to take all the things we’ve learned and tested throughout the year and drive them into one [MLS Cup] show,” Bacon stated.”Just like the grand finale of a huge fireworks display, we want to go out with a bang that people won’t forget.”
