When North America hosts the 2026 World Cup, sports fans will be glued to the United States the following month. Three-quarters of the activities are scheduled to be played in the States, with the remainder in Mexico and Canada. Major League Soccer, which second appeared at the U.S. World Cup in 1994, was introduced. It first started to play in 1996. The team’s participants hope this tournament—the initially with 48 groups, away from 32—will power Soccer to a new stage.
To assess the state of the sport’s company, Sportico spoke with more than 60 people, including owners, team managers, bank, professionals, investors, and media experts, over the course of the past month. What emerged is a group that is facing an inflection point in many ways, with a crucial 24 weeks away.

Before the NBA gained a foothold in the late 20th century, value-to-revenue combinations were high before the value-to-revenue combinations were higher than any other major sports club. A World Cup knock was much associated with MLS group beliefs. Then, MLS needs to deliver on the chance by converting more casual activities fans—and more severe American football fans—into MLS followers. As it considers whether to change its watching schedule to fit the FIFA soccer schedule, it will continue to pursue this goal. And front of mind for many groups is how to access more benefit from the team’s advertising relationship with Apple.
The average MLS franchise is worth$ 721 million, up 6 %. Los Angeles FC leads the way at$ 1.28 billion followed by Inter Miami CF ($ 1.19 billion ), LA Galaxy ($ 1.11 billion ), Atlanta United ($ 1.08 billion ) and New York City FC ($ 1 billion ). Collectively, San Diego joins the 29 teams from last year in No. 1. 30 in 2025—are worth$ 20.9 billion, including real estate and team-related businesses held by owners, such as NWSL clubs.
However, the advantages are not distributed equally. Six teams rose in value at least 10 %, fueled by new stadium projects or thriving local businesses, while a dozen teams inched up 3 % or less.
The least-valuable club increased 22 % during that time, while the average club increased 31 % from Sportico’s initial MLS valuations in 2021. For comparison, the NBA “get-in” price is up 127 %, versus 122 % in the NFL and just 10 % for MLB, the latter of which has been hampered by the melting regional sports network model. The NHL’s bottom clubs saw the biggest growth, up 159 %, among its clubs.
Last season, the 29 teams generated an estimated$ 2.2 billion, or$ 77 million per club, from their stadiums, sponsorships and non-MLS events at venues that they own or operate ( player trading revenue is excluded ). Sponsorships increased by 13 %, and ticket sales increased by 12 %. Total regular season attendance was 11.45 million, up 6 %, as Lionel Messi drew club-record crowds when Inter Miami traveled to Kansas City ( 72, 610 fans ) and Foxborough ( 65, 612 fans ).

The 22, 691 average attendance was still an all-time high despite crashing out of Inter Miami road games. Multiple teams highlighted the consistency of the schedule—most games were on Saturday nights—for helping drive season ticket sales. Austin FC, LAFC, Philadelphia Union, and St. Louis City SC were the only eight teams to have all 17 of their home games sold out.
The$ 2.2 billion tally includes a distribution from MLS for revenue from league media deals, sponsorships, merchandise, shared gate receipts and Soccer United Marketing ( SUM), a league-owned enterprise. Teams don’t actually get a check from the MLS every year. Its single-entity structure means most player contracts are “owned” and paid by the league. Players and league operations cost more than central revenue, which requires teams to cover those costs through an annual assessment.
Inter Miami set a new bar last year with estimated revenue of$ 190 million, including a small distribution from MLS and then matchday (tickets and stadium ) and commercial ( sponsors and merchandise ) revenue estimated to be roughly$ 90 million each. Earnings over$ 50 million were before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
The two LA teams ranked second and fourth in overall revenue, with Atlanta United sandwiched in between. These three clubs generate sponsorship revenue, which is comparable to the earnings of many NBA and NHL teams.
Austin, Cincinnati and Columbus all rank outside the top 30 media markets, but their MLS clubs have built strong ticketing and sponsorship businesses. According to internal MLS records reviewed by Sportico, all three teams ranked in the top seven for commercial revenue in 2023, at around$ 30 million each. Final accounting is still being completed for the 2024 season.
The documents also highlight the difficulties some markets face, with revenue from sponsorships or ticket sales ranging between$ 10 million and$ 10 million. Teams have found other revenue streams to buoy their income statements, ranging from corporate events to expanding youth businesses. Running camps and clinics throughout the metro area has a two-fold advantage: it allows the clubs to expand their brands and also generates income.

In June 2022, Apple and MLS reached a 10-year,$ 2.5 billion media rights deal. A revenue-sharing component was included in the agreement that was based on subscriber goals and gave MLS 50 percent of every dollar over the threshold. It was a key sales point in the deal for many teams who were excited by the idea of having the world’s most valuable company—current market capitalization of$ 3.6 trillion—ride shotgun on their media rights and market the league across its two billion global devices.
The initial goals of MLS were for revenue sharing to begin in the fourth or fifth year of the agreement. Yet, Messi’s arrival in 2023 boosted subscriber numbers during Apple’s first season, and many team executives were optimistic the sharing component would kick in during year three of the deal ( 2025 ) or even 2024 if everything broke right. Nearly no one anticipates the rev share to increase until 2025, a twelve-month period. Some teams are hopeful it triggers in 2026, buoyed by World Cup excitement, while multiple team executives painted a bleaker expectation: never.
MLS declined to comment on subscriber counts.
Broadcast revenues are a core tenet of the other four biggest U. S. sports leagues, representing anywhere from 27 % of annual revenue in the NHL to more than 50 % for the NFL. Guaranteed checks from the league office aid in higher club revenues and explain why the NBA floor price is$ 3.1 billion and the NFL floor is$ 4.7 billion.
MLS is on the hook for production costs, which ate up a huge chunk of revenue in the first year. Low single-digit million of net revenue per club was likely the result of the agreement for the second year.
The shifting media landscape and challenges in the U. S. RSN model have forced teams across sports to pivot their broadcast strategies. Some teams are choosing to have more money than to spend on RSNs, which has slowed down their reach. The Apple deal as currently constructed provides neither dollars nor reach, lamented multiple longtime team executives. According to several people who were not authorized to speak publicly, Apple has an opt-out clause in the agreement after five years.

On the product side, Apple’s presentation of MLS games has received rave reviews, and fans who tune in are watching an average of 65 minutes per match, according to MLS. Additionally, the audience is ten years more recent than the linear TV audience’s when games were available.
Both sides are keen to make the partnership work. Fans of Comcast Xfinity and DirecTV can now subscribe to MLS Season Pass through the TV providers in 2025, which will expand distribution of MLS games on Apple TV. T-Mobile customers will be able to access MLS Season Pass for free in the return of a promotion from 2023.
MLS Productions, the company that produces media and broadcasts, will relocate to WWE’s brand-new, state-of-the-art facility in Stamford, Connecticut. The season will also see the introduction of a featured, standalone match weekly on Sunday nights. In an effort to create the kind of buzz that Drive to Survive had for F1, an eight-part docuseries Onside: Major League Soccer will debut on Apple TV + next month.
” We couldn’t be more excited about our future with Apple”, Don Garber, MLS commissioner, said in his December state of the league address ahead of the MLS Cup.
Garber continued,” What we have, really is a communication problem,” citing the six-to-12 free games available weekly. ” This is new, and we’ve got to work with Apple, we’ve got to work with our clubs, and we’ve got to work with our partners to get more exposure to what we think is a great product”.
The team valuations from Sportico are based on an estimated control sale price rather than a limited party stake. Teams have been able to sell LP stakes in MLS at valuations that far exceed prices bankers think control stakes could fetch.
Real Salt Lake, the Houston Dynamo, and Orlando City SC have all changed hands over the course of more than three years, and it has been more than three years since an MLS team sold its controlling stake in an eight-month period from June 2021 to January 2022. They each fetched roughly$ 400 million or a tick lower. NWSL teams were not a part of the enterprise values of the three deals prior to the explosion in NWSL sale prices, but they were still negligible components of the deals.

San Diego starts play this year after paying a record$ 500 million expansion fee. According to the discount rate used, Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour is the lead investor and is paying the expansion fee over a number of years, giving the result that the net present value ranges from$ 400 million to$ 450 million. Mansour is also on the hook for startup costs and a new training facility.
The Vancouver Whitecaps bringing in Goldman Sachs to look into a sale is likely to give the MLS’ get-in price another test this year. The Whitecaps, which joined MLS in 2011, are light on assets and in need of an upgraded stadium and practice facility. Revenue was estimated to be at the bottom of the league last year, with$ 47 million coming from sponsorships and a distribution from MLS. Revenue got a significant boost due to a scheduled home game against Inter Miami, which drove a 56 % gain in season-long attendance.
Vancouver is the second-least as valuable MLS team, valued at$ 470 million. Greg Kerfoot is the largest shareholder by a wide margin, and LP owners include Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett and Steve Nash. Bankers and many team executives believe that moving the franchise would bring in more money, but the team’s current goal and MLS are to keep the club in Vancouver.
While there have not been any control transactions since 2022, several teams sold limited partnership stakes at rich valuations, which bankers think are premium prices compared with what a full sale would command.
Cincinnati FC recently purchased 4 % of the team for$ 939 million, making it an enterprise value of$ 939 million. The buyers weren’t people just wanting to put “team owner” on their LinkedIn page, but instead existing owners in the franchise, which last month missed out on adding an NWSL expansion club to its portfolio with Caitlin Clark as part of the bid.
The holding company that owns NYCFC and its yet-to-be-built stadium in Queens purchased a 10 % stake in the billionaire in September. The deal values the entity at roughly$ 1.5 billion, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Up until he was bought out in 2021, the former CEO of Sprint was a co-founder of Inter Miami. City Football Group US Holdco LLC is now 80 % owned by City Football Group ( majority held by Emirati sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed ), 10 % by the New York Yankees and 10 % by Claure.

An LP interest in the Austin FC was sold by Inner Circle Bank last fall. If a transaction is completed, the team is expected to use the proceeds to pay down debt and for growth initiatives. Austin has the league’s longest active sellout streak and has sold out all 70 regular season and playoff home games in its four-year history. It is one of the few MLS teams that has consistently turned an operating profit over the last few seasons. The team’s value is$ 865 million, which is its sixth-highest in the league.
The average revenue multiple for MLS teams has come down to 9.4 times revenue—it was 12.2 four years ago—but it is still the second-highest among sports leagues after the NBA.
The potential to bring lagging markets up to speed is a part of the optimism surrounding MLS. Chicago and New England have made some progress in their ongoing searches for stadium solutions. Toyota Stadium in Dallas will receive a$ 182 million upgrade as part of a public-private partnership between the city of Frisco and the Hunt family. But the biggest domino to fall last year was NYCFC securing approvals for its new building, which it broke ground on last month. The$ 78 million-and-adjacent Etihad Park will open in 2027, one year after Inter Miami opened its new stadium as part of the$ 1 billion Miami Freedom Park project.
NYCFC sold naming rights to Etihad Airways for 20 years, blowing past the previous record—LAFC’s deal with BMO worth$ 10 million annually. The New York club began the first phase of its hospitality sales, which included three different suite types that ranged in price from$ 250, 000 to$ 325, 000 annually on five- to fifteen-year terms. It sold out its eight Pitchside Lounges and has leased roughly one-third of the more traditional Broadway Suites and Skyline Suites.
It is a significant change from the team’s current setup, which included six different stadiums during the 2022 season and had almost no premium seating revenue from its “home” stadiums. The suites at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field were also poorly situated for taking in a soccer match.

Numerous sponsorship opportunities will be available at the new digs. Financial services firms avoided the club, with Bank of America signage looming over Yankee Stadium and Citi on the front of the New York Mets ‘ home. Similar to other significant sponsorship categories, where the team was declared exempt based on its home fields in baseball stadiums.
” It is a complete game-changer for us as a business”, Brad Sims, NYCFC president, said in a video interview. ” Starting a business and operating your own facility opens up so many new revenue sources for us.” Sims said the organization is also building the venue with a focus on running it year-round for events and concerts.
In addition, the quality of play across MLS has significantly improved over the past ten years, despite the presence of promising off-field developments in important markets. Sports intelligence firm Twenty First Group tracks soccer player data and found the number of the top 1, 250 players in the world—50 teams of 25 players —has increased in MLS from one in 2015 to eight this season across six teams.
Although it is progress, it still trails the top European leagues, with England’s Premier League with 306 players in the lead league. France’s Ligue 1 has the fewest players of the Big Five leagues at 114, and there is a big drop off to Portugal’s Primeira Liga in sixth at 54. The Ukrainian Premier League and MLS are 19th in the table.
” Long-term progress for MLS will require more than marquee signings”, AJ Swoboda, managing director at Twenty First Group, said in an interview. How can MLS sustainably develop into an even bigger destination for top talent, whether domestic or international, established stars or emerging prospects, is a sporting challenge for the next ten years? Swoboda points to changes in roster rules, such as the Under-22 Initiative introduced in 2021, as ways for the league to help “build paths towards sustainable growth”.
Most MLS ownership groups go through capital calls annually, but some owners want to be much more aggressive with player acquisition. Of course, that costs money and can lead to bigger losses if offsetting revenues are not available.

The flip-around of the season, which is followed by the majority of the rest of world soccer, is a part of the calculus for attracting more talent to the league. As MLS ‘ talent improves, it would likely benefit the league to fall in line, as it loses players to international competitions every summer.
Additionally, the current MLS schedule forbids teams from purchasing and selling players. The January transfer window has much less action than the summer one. And if a team receives a strong offer for a player in the summer, they are hamstrung. It sends a bad message to fans to dump a top player as the team is making a playoff push.
MLS last considered re-joining the FIFA calendar in 2015, but it did so because it was heavily influenced by cold weather and cities. Since that time, MLS has added teams in Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Diego, which has evened out the northern heavy presence during MLS ‘ initial two decades. This time, it seems like a schedule can be created to limit winter games in places like Minnesota, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver to just one home game per month.
Yet, it would take major investments from those teams to get their facilities up to par to operate near the coldest part of the year, and it may still be a nonstarter for some clubs, such as Minnesota United FC.
In a phone interview, Minnesota owner Bill McGuire said,” We would not want to do it. It’s a terrible decision. ” I think it hurts our sponsors, and I think it hurts our fans”. While several others are concerned about the impact it might have on season ticket sales, the gentlemen’s owners are sympathetic to McGuire’s concerns about the weather.
Yet, Sportico spoke with representatives from two dozen teams, and the overwhelming majority favored flipping the calendar. The league has assembled a group of reputable team owners who have had success in a variety of fields. They have big league ambitions for MLS, which requires aligning the schedule with the rest of the soccer world.