What MLS Needs From the 2026 World Cup to Ensure Post-Messi Prominence

Major League Soccer will look to reap the benefits of the U.S.’s increased interest in soccer this summer.

Sebastian Berhalter (top left) and Richie Laryea (bottom left) will represent MLS on co-host USMNT and Canada, while Lionel Messi (center) aims for a second World Cup title. | John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images, Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images, Elsa/Getty Images, Winslow Townson/Getty Images, Steph Chambers/Getty Images

World Cup legacies. For many editions of the tournament, it’s been defined by costly new stadiums that sit largely unused and fall into disarray as “white elephants” in the years after the final whistle. Still, there’s a sense that big events, like the World Cup and the Olympics, must leave a lasting impact in the places they are held— it’s not all about the given moment, as costly as the moment itself has become in the modern era. 

As for any event, there’s no assurance of true impact or legacy, and in 2026, amid rising living costs, political division and a World Cup with unprecedented affordability barriers, the tournament's long-term impact remains uncertain.

It’s a far different story from the last World Cup in North America, when the United States welcomed the world in 1994. That event led to the creation of Major League Soccer, which was founded in 1993 and launched in 1996, as FIFA required a feasible, top-flight domestic league for a nation to host the tournament. 

31 years later, MLS stands as a bona fide top-10 league in the world. It has 30 teams, World Cup winners—headlined by Argentinian legend Lionel Messi—and franchise values ranging from $400 million to over $1 billion for some teams. In many ways, it’s been a smashing success. Can the 2026 World Cup offer a similar legacy of growth to the U.S. top flight?

⏪ 1994 ⏪ pic.twitter.com/O0MK2R8Kkk

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 30, 2026

“The next decade will redefine what’s possible for MLS and North American soccer,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in his State of the League address in December. “As the world turns towards North America, the 2026 World Cup will soon serve as rocket fuel for our entire ecosystem, and it will do so for MLS.”

But, as much as Garber pumped the excitement, he didn’t offer much insight into what that might entail. Has MLS truly put itself in a position to experience a World Cup bump, or will the potential explosion simply impact the World Cup’s popularity in the U.S. and possibly the popularity of European soccer, while leaving MLS behind?

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MLS’s Apple TV Deal Improves

MLS’s Apple TV deal dropped the MLS Season Pass subscription ahead of the 2026 season. | Winslow Townson/Getty Images

In its first domestic World Cup season, MLS leadership made a massive shift in the approach to its Apple TV broadcast deal, signed back in 2022. After three seasons with most live matches behind an extra paywall of “MLS Season Pass on Apple TV,” MLS and Apple dropped the extra cost, offering the MLS product to all Apple TV subscribers. 

While MLS Season Pass figures remain private, Apple TV reportedly has more than 45 million subscribers worldwide, all of whom now have access to every minute of MLS action on the same platform as Formula 1 in the U.S.

In May, MLS touted that the new structure was working, citing that the league had averaged “7.9 million live match viewers per week across streaming and linear platforms through the first three months of the 2026 season, an increase of 62% year-over-year.”

Critically, that also came with an average viewer age of 39.6 years, the youngest among the major North American men's sports leagues. This summer, many of those fans will get a chance to watch over 100 MLS players represent their national teams at the World Cup, with an MLS player lifting the trophy as a realistic possibility. 

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Still Outside of Major TV Channels 

FOX broadcast 34 MLS regular-season games and portions of the MLS Cup playoffs in 2025. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Given the recent accessibility of MLS, fans could flock to the league, but it’s not as easy as it may seem.

For many, there is still friction with streaming, and public discourse remains largely driven by what is shown on major networks such as ESPN, FOX Sports and TNT, all of which treat MLS as largely an afterthought. Despite FOX showing several games, MLS rarely features in extra content, and the primary ESPN channels don’t offer the league a spotlight. CBS showcases domestic soccer with the U.S. Open Cup, USL and CBS Sports Golazo Network, but doesn’t have MLS rights.

Thus, the league that could stand to benefit most from soccer’s increased U.S. interest is the already-popular English Premier League, given its accessibility on NBC Sports and prominent media presence.

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What Causes a World Cup Bump? 

The 2026 World Cup features 104 matches across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. | Mike Stobe/FIFA/Getty Images

Despite the year-over-year improvements, it’s still clear that MLS needs to cash in on some type of bump from this World Cup, given the rare opportunity of the tournament happening on home soil. 

While only eight USMNT players play in the league, most came through its developmental pathway. There are nine active MLS players on the co-hosting Canada, a nation where soccer—in particular, MLS—trails in public interest behind ice hockey and many of the major American leagues. 

For there to be a true World Cup bump for MLS, there needs to be a deep run by both the USMNT and Canada. Nothing would supercharge interest more than seeing the co-hosts take the sporting spotlight.

In Mexico, where soccer leads the sporting culture, it's different. Yet for U.S. and Canadian soccer, there remains an imposter syndrome, which, despite recent growth and development, has yet to break the mold of a niche interest.

Once soccer itself breaks out, so too can MLS. The league has set itself up well, given Inter Miami’s required mention any time Lionel Messi or Rodrigo De Paul touch the ball, and the fact that there will be four marquee rivalry matches in the days between the World Cup semifinals and final. 

Yet, Garber seemed to change his tone in a recent interview with Sports Business Journal, bullish on the future, but couching expectations on what a potential World Cup bump could offer.

“The World Cup gives us something to rally around and a great moment of truth, which will break through lots of different things going on in our country,” he said. “But MLS would’ve continued to grow without the World Cup and will continue to grow after the World Cup. We will continue our focus on player development, investing in facilities, growing a fanbase, ensuring that our teams are embedded in their community and that players view us as a league of choice.”

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The Post-Messi World and Schedule Shift

Lionel Messi’s MLS era can’t last forever. | Kyle Rivas/Getty Images

For all the efforts MLS is putting in and the uncontrollable factors affecting both the USMNT and Canada’s success, it’s hard to measure what a World Cup bump would truly be—is it increased viewership, highlight show presence, or even just everyday conversations?

At this point, many of those talks turn back to Messi and his tremendous tenure with Inter Miami, which has seen him garner unparalleled interest en route to winning back-to-back MLS MVPs and leading his Herons to MLS Cup, Leagues Cup and Supporters’ Shield titles. Yet he won’t last forever, turning 39 before he returns from the tournament. 

The challenge for MLS will be to ensure that the World Cup serves as a bridge to its post-Messi future, something that will be aided by the post-tournament shift to a more traditional, winter-based schedule.

Right now, MLS already has momentum. The question is whether the 2026 World Cup can transform that into lasting popularity, creating a legacy for the domestic game beyond the month-long soccer party.

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