‘Sunday Night Soccer’ Hosts Provide Play-by-Play on the MLS’ Soaring Popularity

Thanks to Apple TV, it’s never been easier to be a fan of soccer. Just ask the hosts of “Sunday Night Soccer,” who credit the streaming service’s accessibility for helping make the sport the most popular it’s ever been — in North America, at least.

It’s been two months since Jake Zivin, Taylor Twellman and Andrew Wiebe became the faces of the MLS’ weekly primetime broadcast with the inaugural San Diego FC vs. LA Galaxy match on Feb. 23 and they’ve since provided coverage on eight games thus far, with 30 in total planned for this 2025 season. Most recently, the Columbus Crew topped St. Louis City SC on Sunday night with a 2-1 win.

According to lead commentator Zivin and sideline reporter Wiebe, it’s this newfound access to the players and the game itself that has revolutionized the world of Major League Soccer.

“The level of coverage for MLS is sort of unrecognizable in terms of all the different things that a fan has access to that they didn’t before. Certainly in distribution: I’m watching games on my phone when I’m in the market, at dinner,” Wiebe told TheWrap. “I’ve been a consumer of this league for a long time and, outside of select ESPN games, select Fox games, there wasn’t an immersive experience of, ‘Hey, this is going to be a four-hour soccer experience for you at the highest possible level of production.’ We just didn’t have that.”

Those four hours include the match itself, as well as both pre- and post-game coverage with “MLS Countdown,” “MLS La Previa,” “MLS Wrap Up” and “MLS El Resumen” (it’s worth noting Apple does not provide internal viewership data).

“I take immense pride in being part of this massive block of coverage that I think other sports fans in America are accustomed to and sort of take for granted,” he continued. “And we’re just scratching the surface. We’re not leaning on 10 years of experience, 20 years of this being ‘Monday Night Football,’ which has just existed in the lexicon and in the brain of football fans forever. This is brand new, so we get to build it in a way that really benefits the fan and certainly benefits us on-site.”

“It really gives us the time and the bandwidth and just the medium to tell stories and to set up these games and let everybody know why this game is important, why these teams are important, introduce them to the characters in the game,” Zivin explained of the enhanced studio programming. “The stories of the people involved, of the teams involved, that brings more people in and that makes people more interested in watching the games, because then they can continue to watch.”

“It’s been such an enhancement to the overall coverage of MLS this year, having Andrew be able to go sit down with a player or a coach. We get to know that player’s story a little bit better, give the viewers somebody to root for. Maybe it resonates with them, right?” he added. “The average fan wants to hear that person’s upbringing and the struggles they’ve gone through to get to this point.”

And while “Sunday Night Soccer” only just started this year, MLS and Apple have been teamed up for two years now, starting with MLS Season Pass in February 2023 as part of their 10-year media rights agreement.

“I think that MLS and Apple and what we’re doing with MLS Season Pass is — it’s not the future, because it’s the present for us — but it’s where all sports rights are going,” Zivin said. “To not have to worry about where to watch your game this week, to not have to look it up, just be able to open up your phone or your laptop or your iPad or turn on your TV … wherever, whether you’re traveling, if you’re in your home, if you’re in another state, if you’re in another country, over 100 countries in the world, you can watch it. I believe that’s the future.”

“I think there was a massive cultural shift that accompanied, certainly some demographic shifts, but I think media availability and distribution has been the gasoline on the fire. There was always huge passion for soccer in this country, but it was more in pockets. You had different communities where it was No. 1, but as a kid, I didn’t have access to coverage. I don’t even remember having access to video of professional soccer being played,” Wiebe recalled. “The big turning point for soccer in the U.S. was when we could see it and access it easily. Once you start to see it, it starts to explode. My sons are obsessed with soccer and it comes from FIFA, and it comes from watching games, and it comes from playing on the weekends, and, of course, what their dad does, but they have tools now to further that obsession and even to learn about it that weren’t even invented yet when I was their age.”

Plus, outside of Major League Soccer itself, the sport is about to be even more in front of viewers and potential fans thanks to 2026’s FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics both taking place in North America.

“I think technology in terms of media distribution and ability to consume media has completely changed the game, because the entire world loved this,” Wiebe reiterated. “Everyone was obsessed, once we got it in a way that we could get our hands around it. Naturally, I think the United States is going to follow.”

“I’m surprised in 2025 there is still a line between TV and streaming. I would have thought by now it would be all blurred together, and I believe that we’re getting there. From a sports perspective, we’re at the forefront of that,” Zivin concluded. “I think in 5, 10, however many years, this is going to be how everybody watches sports and every sports viewer, consumer is going to look back at this and it’s going to be thought of as the first that got this going.”

“Sunday Night Soccer” airs weekly on Sunday nights during primetime on Apple TV+, while MLS Season Pass is available via subscription.

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