Overview
The 2026 FIFA World Cup arrives at a pivotal moment for American soccer. The tournament will be the largest in World Cup history, with 48 teams and 104 matches from June 11 through July 19, 2026, across North America. For Major League Soccer (MLS), the event may be more than a global spectacle. It may be the league’s clearest commercial audition yet.
MLS enters that audition with momentum. The league has reported a 62% year-over-year increase in viewership through the first three months of the 2026 season, averaging 7.9 million live-match viewers per week across streaming and linear platforms. That growth gives MLS a stronger story to tell, but the World Cup will test a larger question: whether heightened interest in soccer can be converted into sustained engagement with the domestic professional game.
In Depth
Conversion is the real test
The key question is not whether Americans will watch the World Cup. Major international tournaments can attract substantial US audiences, particularly when the United States is involved. The more important question for MLS is whether World Cup interest can become regular-season viewership, subscriptions, ticket demand, sponsorship value, and local club loyalty.
That distinction matters because MLS is competing on two fronts. Domestically, it must compete with established US sports leagues for attention, media inventory, sponsorship dollars, and consumer time. Globally, it must convince American soccer fans that MLS is worth following alongside more established foreign leagues. The World Cup may expand the soccer audience in the US, but MLS still must capture and retain that audience.
Why timing matters
Timing is especially important because MLS has major business inflection points approaching shortly after the tournament. The current MLS collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Major League Soccer Players Association expires January 31, 2028, placing the next labor cycle squarely in the post-World Cup window. If MLS can show stronger viewership, attendance, sponsorship, and media demand after 2026, that growth narrative may become central to negotiations over player investment, roster rules, revenue sharing, and the league’s ability to attract higher-end talent.
Media rights are equally important. The current media-rights agreement is set to expire in 2029. Post-World Cup data may show media partners that American soccer demand is durable, monetizable, and valuable beyond a one-time tournament, improving MLS’s position heading into new media-rights negotiations with leading national media companies.
MLS is also positioning itself to better compete in the global player market. Beginning in summer 2027, the league will shift to a summer-to-spring calendar, which aligns with many of the world’s top leagues. This change should reduce MLS conflicts with the international calendar and will help MLS players participate more naturally in global transfer windows, providing MLS a better opportunity to capitalize on the post-World Cup increased visibility by improving its access to top global soccer talent.
The valuation lens
Club valuation growth is the through-line. MLS clubs have already appreciated significantly. Sportico reported that the average club valuation reached $767 million ahead of the 2026 season, up 6% year-over-year and 39% since 2021, with five clubs valued at more than $1 billion. Continued growth may depend not just on scarcity value, but on whether MLS can show stronger media economics, sponsorship demand, attendance, player quality, and cultural relevance in local markets.
The World Cup may be MLS’s most important commercial test yet. A successful tournament will not automatically increase the league’s value, produce a richer media deal, or reshape the next CBA. But it could provide owners, players, sponsors, broadcasters, streamers, and investors with better evidence of the size and quality of the American soccer opportunity.
Outlook
For MLS, the post-World Cup question is simple: Was 2026 a one-time soccer celebration, or the start of a larger American soccer economy? The answer may help shape the league’s next labor negotiation, its media-rights strategy, and the next chapter of MLS valuation growth.
Frank Baloh, a summer associate in the New York office, also contributed to this article.
* * * *
For more than 30 years, McDermott Will & Schulte has represented owners, investors, players, teams, and sports venues around the world in various leagues, including the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), National Football League (NFL), and PGA TOUR, handling their most critical transactional and non-transactional matters.
Our award-winning sports practice is recognized in Chambers, Legal 500, and as Law360’s 2026 Practice Group of the Year (Sports & Betting), further underscoring its leading position in the industry. With legal experience ranging from individual investments in teams and the purchase and sale of franchises to solving critical tax, real estate, intellectual property, and employment matters, McDermott leverages top-tier M&A, tax, and estate planning lawyers to deliver a client-centric approach while solving your most complicated matters in the rapidly evolving sports world.