Technologies

MLS Season Pass Review: Apple’s First Step Shows Promise, but It’s a Pass From Me

Apple’s new soccer service works well, but it’s expensive and doesn’t offer enough for fans of local teams.

Major League Soccer has returned for its 28th season and the biggest news this year isn’t the (once again) reworked playoff system or the massive Leagues Cup coming this summer, but the introduction of the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

After spending the past two weekends watching MLS on Apple TV, I think the service leaves a lot to be desired. While it’s fantastic that every game is available so easily without the worry of local games being “blacked out,” it has become a hard sell to convince people to sign up for yet another streaming service, especially one that starts at a hefty $13 per month.

Having grown up alongside MLS I’ve seen it change quite a bit throughout the years, from growing ever larger in the number of teams (this year’s newest addition is a club in St. Louis) and endlessly changing the playoffs to having a team finally win the CONCACAF Champions League (thank you, Seattle).

Apple’s Season Pass is by far the biggest change for fans of the league, however, and one that may see many fans who don’t pay the subscription feeling isolated from their teams. There are no blackouts, but it comes at the expense of having no local home broadcasting of any kind.

All told, Apple’s first pass at MLS works well, but I still see plenty of room for improvement.

Watch the games on the Apple TV app

See at Apple

The cost

If you’re an Apple TV Plus subscriber, you’ll pay either $13 a month or $79 for the year for Season Pass. If you don’t have Apple’s streaming video service, that price jumps to $15 a month or $99 for the season. It’s available in over 100 countries, at similar prices (it’s £13 a month or £79 a season in the UK, for example).

The Season Pass subscription gives fans access to every game this season with no blackouts. Whereas other blanket sports services like MLB.TV and NBA League Pass prevent you from watching your local team or national games, because everything is on Apple’s service, all MLS action is available in one location. One subscription gets you the entire package (plus other events such as the Leagues Cup and MLS Next). It’s a huge plus for this Apple-MLS arrangement.

Each team has its own page on MLS Season Pass, but there’s no local coverage.

Bobby Oliver/CNET

For those who don’t want to pay, Apple is also making six matches free each week, with Fox still airing a handful of games as well throughout the year, including certain playoff matches, the MLS Cup and some Leagues Cup games.

That said, it’s now expensive to be a soccer fan in America, with the MLS Season Pass being the only way to consistently follow your favorite club.

At the moment, the service does not justify its price tag and offers no major improvements to areas that ESPN Plus, Paramount Plus and Peacock have made commonplace for viewers over the years with higher-quality leagues. For now, those services are the better choice for the casual soccer fan whose priority is more than just the MLS.

The MLS tab

When you open the Apple TV app (available on most major streaming platforms, Apple devices and the web), the MLS Season Pass is just another tab at the top of the app. You’re immediately greeted with options to look at highlights of past games, add future matches to your Up Next page, or watch one of the service’s many shows, such as MLS Review. Each club has its own page with highlights from past games and videos created by the clubs.

It’s a great way to get more information on a team if you’re new to MLS, but parts of the experience do feel disjointed because each team is responsible for the media that it creates.

The MLS Season Pass lives inside an MLS tab on Apple’s TV app.

Bobby Oliver/CNET

Take the club profiles. LAFC’s is 31 minutes long and truly feels like a Hollywood production. Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake’s is a single minute and feels like a quick promo video. So packaging these as one show feels like an afterthought that was added to say that the service has more content than it really does at launch.

Those looking to get a taste of what happened in the league during the last match week can take a look at the MLS Wrap-Up where analysts and former players discuss each game and its biggest moments. Hosts for Week 1 included former players such as Taylor Twellman and Sacha Kljestan as well as sports commentator Liam McHugh, whose previous work includes Sunday Night Football and the NHL for NBC Sports.

At the moment it’s a good way to stay connected with the game, but for now, it doesn’t go above and beyond what other leagues have had for years.

The game day experience

The MLS stream is sharp at 1080p.

Bobby Oliver/CNET

Each match has its own pregame and postgame show, which are fine for getting caught up, but nothing more. Before the first game on a Wednesday or Saturday, there’s the MLS Countdown show, which feels very similar to the MLS Wrap-Up, it just occurs before the matches.

When it comes to the shows on match day, there are still some kinks to be worked out. Both the MLS Countdown and MLS Wrap-Up shows lack a bit of character. The way hosts of the Golazo Show and ESPN FC banter with each other is what makes those shows so great and worth watching for fans.

So far, the banter in the MLS equivalents hasn’t felt genuine. I hope that with time this changes but the shows just aren’t that engaging to me. It would be great if they responded to fan questions on-air, as that allows viewers to feel more involved with the content. The Golazo and ESPN FC crews feel more like a group of friends rather than analysts brought in to cover the sport.

Unlike NFL RedZone, which is the NFL’s whip-around show led by one host, MLS 360 features a large group of hosts and analysts, which includes McHugh, Kljestan, Kaylyn Kyle, Bradley Wright-Phillips and the rules expert Christina Unkel. MLS 360 lets you simultaneously watch all the day’s games and catch the biggest moments from each one. The show switches between matches with live scores being displayed from each concurrent match. While that’s happening you also have the hosts from the Countdown and Wrap-Up show reacting live to each game.

These types of shows are not my favorite, and this is no exception. There have been times when the hosts distract from the game rather than add to the experience, in my opinion. When Thiago Almada scored the winning goal in stoppage time for Atlanta United against San Jose, it could have made a big deal of Atlanta’s incredible crowd. It would have been great marketing, showing how passionate MLS fans can be. But the team at MLS 360 was much louder, didn’t add to my excitement, and made me want to switch over to the actual stream of the game. I understand why some fans love this type of show, and maybe if they refine it I will give it another go myself.

This will take some time to get used to, but it’s great that each game has an English and Spanish broadcast, as well as French for teams from Canada. At the moment though, nothing in particular stands out as special once a game gets started. I didn’t see the commentators standing in the box going over lineups, something that will be especially missed from local broadcasts, as they know the teams and viewers best. It just feels like your average nationally televised game, with very little extra going for it.

The video quality of the stream, however, is great and may be one of the best streams of 1080p that I have ever seen running consistently without issue. It’s a stark difference from the quality you see on Fox and is a huge plus in my book.

That said, there are some things that are still out of the hands of Apple. For example, while watching Charlotte versus New England, the camera was far too wide for much of the game, making it difficult to follow the action. At one point there was a significant audio issue, which was confirmed by a friend also watching the match.

When the second match day came around this past weekend it was more of the same. The stream still looked stellar, and without any of the issues I noticed during match day 1. Besides that, there weren’t many noticeable improvements to the service overall. I still did not find many of the larger live shows all that engaging and was just there for the soccer. Furthermore, once halftime arrived there was generic analysis but little in terms of the commentators talking to the fans and getting them excited about the next half of play. The same ads played drearily on repeat.

Another disappointing aspect of the broadcast was the extremely generic scoreboard that lacks any league identity. MLS wants to create a recognizable brand similar to that of the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga or other large leagues across the globe. But with a scoreboard that looks like it was taken from a stock image site, it makes it hard for me to get excited. When I see the UEFA Champions League scoreboard, it makes it feel like a unique experience and adds gravitas to what I’m watching. Apple’s extremely clean aesthetic just does not do it for me.

Where Apple can improve

There are more ways for Apple to improve Season Pass.

Bobby Oliver/CNET

Apple has an extraordinary opportunity to turn this service into the ultimate fan zone. This is why I’m disappointed that it has yet to bring so many simple additions that other services have had for years. First, where’s the “catch up with the important plays” button? Peacock has made this so easy that it’s jarring not to be able to jump into a game at halftime now and be caught up on each goal or an early red card.

Second, I would love to see a section of the MLS Wrap-Up specifically where they respond to social media and reactions similar to how TNT’s Inside the NBA engages with fans on its telecasts. I think this is one of the biggest successes of the soccer shows on Paramount and ESPN, and makes both really enjoyable and engaging.

Third, where’s the Android app? Yes, Android users can still watch matches on their phones if they go to Apple TV on their browser. This really should not have to be the case though, and further alienates people from the league.

Finally, I want my stats. Stat overlay has been around forever and executed very well on MLB.TV for example. It would be helpful to get live updates on possession, expected goals, distance ran and everything else that shows the swing of a match.

For now, I would say pass on MLS Season Pass. It offers enough free games to make not subscribing but still following doable, and you can still watch your favorite teams’ Open Cup and possibly CONCACAF Champions League runs elsewhere. If you want a soccer fix, I would look towards Peacock and Paramount Plus for better coverage and a higher level of play overall.

I love the MLS, but without a dedicated subscription option just to watch your local team, I find the price much too steep. Hopefully, Apple and MLS expand their options and increase the value proposition to really show other leagues the power that Apple can have in sports.

Technologies

China indicates rare earths will keep flowing to EU, regardless of U.S. trade deal expiration

European trade commissioner Maroš Sefčovič met with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Beijing last week.

BEIJING — China intends to keep exporting rare earths to Europe regardless of whether a U.S. trade deal with Beijing gets extended past January.

The world’s second-largest economy is willing to continue approving rare earth licenses to Europe, China’s Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong told CNBC when asked on Thursday about the impact of the upcoming U.S. deadline.

Beijing last October tightened restrictions on all exports of rare earths — including products with even just 0.1% of China-sourced rare earths. The move followed a new U.S. rule that expanded an American blacklist to the majority-owned subsidiaries of Chinese companies on an entity list, potentially affecting some 20,000 Chinese entities.

However, both the U.S. and China agreed to suspend those measures for one year at a meeting in late October 2025 between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump. Ahead of the leaders’ latest summit last month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the truce was extended by two months to January.

Trade tensions between the EU and Beijing cooled last week after European trade commissioner Maroš Sefčovič met with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Beijing. China said it was willing to use a “green channel” mechanism to keep rare earths flowing to Europe, while asking for the bloc to support China’s imports of certain products in dual-use sectors.

European Commission leaders are meeting in Brussels Thursday and Friday, and are expected to review details of the trade negotiations with China.

Technologies

Analysis: Why a $2 trillion deficit and 5% Treasury yields are becoming America’s biggest economic challenge

Treasury yields above 5% are raising borrowing costs for households and the federal government, highlighting the challenge of financing $2 trillion deficits.

Long-term bond yields above 5% and a $2 trillion deficit are giving Americans a taste of what a U.S. debt crisis would be like. A true emergency would hurt much more, and isn’t baked in. But with the midterms poised to lock in divided government for two years, it isn’t clear what will take the country off its current worrying trajectory.

Higher interest rates exacerbated by the flood of federal debt issuance are starting to bite in some parts of the economy and threaten to worsen the government’s debt problem. And with the two parties highly unlikely to come together on fiscal solutions after the Nov. 3 midterms, any fixes are years off in the future.

The housing market is showing signs of slowing as the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage hovers around 7.5%. Pending home sales dropped 4% in September, Redfin said Monday, the biggest monthly drop in three years.

Mortgage rates track the 10-year Treasury yield

Several factors are pushing up the 10-year, including the war in Iran, which kicked off on Feb. 28 and precipitated the rise in long-term yields. Oil and diesel prices are up sharply, and that has bond traders asking for more yield to account for the possibility that central banks such as the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates.

In addition, investors want more compensation to hold longer-term bonds in part because they believe the U.S. government will continue to flood the market with them. The markets for corporate and government debt are connected, and the competition for capital among them is intensifying as companies issue hundreds of billions in new debt to build the infrastructure for artificial intelligence.

Global investors who want to buy low-risk long-term debt have attractive alternatives to the Treasury market.

If the U.S. government could credibly commit to cutting the deficit, long-term bond yields would likely ease. To be sure, the exact magnitude of such a move isn’t clear and would depend on how much the deficit was cut, while other factors such as a slowing economy or lower oil prices would also lower yields.

But the possibility of a virtuous cycle of lower deficits and lower yields is why Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has argued that the U.S. ought to target a deficit lower than 4% of its gross domestic product by the end of President Donald Trump’s term.

There is almost no way the U.S. will hit that target. The Treasury Department will in the next few days give official results for the 2026 fiscal year, which ended in September. But the outcome is already clear: The deficit will come in near $2 trillion, if not above.

That is likely to put the deficit in the range of 6.0-6.2% of gross domestic product for the year, based on the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of a $1.993 trillion deficit and a projection of third quarter GDP.

Higher rates make debt reduction tougher. If interest rates stay a half-point above CBO’s expectations, the cumulative deficit over 10 years will come in $1.9 trillion higher, the agency estimates. If rates overshoot by 1.5 points, that adds $6 trillion in deficits.

CBO expects the 10-year Treasury to average 4.3% over that period, compared to 5.3% today. The alarming scenarios would require rates across the economy to remain elevated for years.

“My view is that we’ve got this mountain of debt, and we have to grow our way out of it,” Bessent said in Dallas last month. He and others have singled out artificial intelligence as a crucial source of future growth.

AI could help but can’t fix the problem entirely. It would take a decade of 7.2% growth to balance the budget with growth alone, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a research group that advocates for balanced budgets.

GDP growth was recently revised up for the second quarter from 1.5% to 2.2% at an annualized rate. The acceleration that quickly would get us to 7.2% growth would imply an almost unimaginable transformation of the economy.

Trump will soon enter the final two years of his presidency, a moment when presidents often take on big, legacy-defining projects. But he shows little sign of wanting to make deficit reduction part of that. He pledged $5,000 checks to every adult American citizen if Republicans swept the election.

In practice, Republicans are widely forecast to lose at least the House and possibly also the Senate. Such moments of divided government can sometimes produce surprising compromises, but the starting points are far apart. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Democrats’ likely next House speaker, wants to reverse the $1 trillion in healthcare cuts that Congress enacted last year as part of Trump’s signature legislative package.

And that’s leaving aside the deep animosity between the parties.

The overall U.S. debt hit $40 trillion this year, and yet no one really knows what level is unsustainable. A full-on debt crisis likely remains much farther out in the future. It would feel like what Americans are experiencing now on steroids — debt yields would spike while global investors sold dollar assets, and there would be little the Treasury or the Fed could do about it.

For now, though higher yields are also attracting investors to U.S. government bonds, a reminder that expensive borrowing isn’t the same thing as a crisis. But the bottom line is that economics alone can’t solve the problem. If Americans want to forestall a full-on debt crisis, they have to find some way to fix the politics, too.

Technologies

Key Details on Starshield, SpaceX’s Defense-Oriented Starlink Network

Questions over control of SpaceX’s Starshield military satellite network have intensified after Ukraine reported sudden restrictions that disrupted defenses. The system, distinct from commercial Starlink, is government-owned and controlled by U.S. authorities.

Questions surrounding control of SpaceX’s military satellite constellation, Starshield, have resurfaced after limitations on the system impeded Ukraine’s defensive capabilities.

Kyiv has leveled accusations against SpaceX

Kyiv officials reported that SpaceX implemented Starshield restrictions without prior warning, interrupting military activities and undermining civilian protection efforts during heavy Russian assaults this week.

Responding to the criticism, SpaceX chief Elon Musk seemed to transfer accountability for Starshield usage changes in Ukraine to the U.S. government and President Donald Trump. Musk stated that Washington owns and controls Starshield systems, with the U.S. military and ultimately the president setting any usage boundaries. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to Verum’s request for comment.

Here’s an overview of Starshield and its distinctions from Starlink.

What is Starshield and how does it function?

Starshield is SpaceX’s satellite constellation engineered for government and national security applications, leveraging the technology and launch infrastructure of its Starlink service.

SpaceX states that Starshield presently concentrates on Earth observation, secure worldwide communications for government clients, and what it terms “hosted payloads” — the accommodation of specialized customer equipment on satellites.

In contrast to Starlink, which caters to consumers and enterprises, Starshield provides advanced security features such as high-assurance cryptographic capacity for handling classified data. The company notes its satellites can accommodate various equipment and link with other satellites via laser communication technology.

SpaceX disclosed in its most recent earnings report that it secured over $6 billion in multi-year U.S. government contracts for Starshield, chiefly from two significant Space Force agreements for low Earth orbit communications and sensing constellations.

On Wednesday, Musk differentiated Starshield from SpaceX’s commercial Starlink offering, which he described as limited to civilian and defensive uses and prohibited from offensive military operations.

How does Starshield contrast with Starlink?

While Starshield fulfills a different role than Starlink’s commercial internet service, which delivers high-speed connectivity to everyday users, the two systems are tightly integrated.

Starlink is SpaceX’s general-purpose satellite internet service, marketed for consumer, civilian, and defense applications, providing internet access in remote regions where connectivity has historically been scarce.

Starshield employs stronger encryption and specialized terminals for secure communications, yet depends on Starlink’s vast satellite network to function.

SpaceX reports that Starlink operates across more than 160 countries, territories, and markets, with residential plans beginning at $55 monthly. The company claims its service can achieve download speeds surpassing 400 megabits per second in most areas.