MLS Season Pass key dates in 2024

The year 2024 is here and it brings the second season of MLS Season Pass – Major League Soccer’s ambitious direct-to-streaming platform in partnership with Apple TV.

Every regular season, Leagues Cup, and MLS Cup playoff game is featured on the service. And it is the only way to watch the majority of matches featuring MLS teams.

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MLS Season Pass 2024 – Key Dates

Here are the key dates to note for MLS Season Pass in 2024:

February 21 – Opening game of the season

The 2024 MLS season kicks off with who else? Lionel Messi and Inter Miami host Real Salt Lake at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale to get the ball rolling on the new campaign.

February 24-25 – …and the rest

A few days later, (almost) everyone else gets in on the action, with 26 of the remaining 27 clubs all playing their first games. With Miami and RSL both playing again after their midweek opener, the 29th team is left out of the party. Sorry, Vancouver Whitecaps fans. You’ll have to wait until March 2 for your first official game of the year (it’s at home though!).

May 11-18 – MLS Rivalry Week

The league’s annual attempt to cram as many rivalry games as possible into a short window arrives this May. Highlights include the “Hell is Real” Ohio derby on May 11, alongside an all-Texas Dallas-Austin affair. Timbers-Sounders meanwhile stands alone on Sunday, May 12. Things continue midweek with a classic MLS bout, DC United vs New York Red Bulls, on May 15, and another Texas battle between Austin and Houston kicks off. Portland takes on another NASL 1.0-era revival, facing the San Jose Earthquakes as well.

The Hudson River Derby, Red Bulls vs NYCFC, highlights Saturday, May 18 along with Houston vs Dallas, and is capped off with Seattle hosting Vancouver for a Cascadia Cup clash.

July 4 – El Trafico

Independence Day delivers one of the youngest, but fiercest, rivalries in the league as the Galaxy host LAFC at the Rose Bowl in a battle for SoCal supremacy.

July 24 – All-Star Game

The first half of the MLS season will be capped off with the annual MLS All-Star Game, this year hosted by Columbus.

The opponent for the MLS team has yet to be announced, but you can bet it will be a big-name club of some sort.

July 26-August 25 – Leagues Cup

Leagues Cup 2023 was the first edition of the expanded, now Concacaf-approved competition. It was boosted by the perfect timing of Leo Messi’s arrival, and Inter Miami winning the competition.

The 2024 mixup between every MLS and Liga MX team runs again this year from July to August.

October 19 – Decision Day

With an odd number of teams, it’s not as tidy as the league would like. Team #30, San Diego, joins in 2025. Until then, Toronto has to sit out the final day without a dance partner. TFC’s last regular season game is two weeks earlier on October 5 at home against Miami.

Everyone else however will take part in simultaneous kick-offs to decide the final rankings in the standings. Eastern Conference games are at 6 PM ET, and Western Conference games at 9 PM ET.

Seattle and Portland, regardless of how the standings end up, is always a tasty, and historic, matchup and highlights the day’s action.

December 7 – MLS Cup final

And finally, everything comes to a close when a champion will be crowned on December 7 at the MLS Cup Final.

But that’s not all that’s on MLS Season Pass this year.

Sprinkled in throughout the season we may see some friendlies popped in that will be available on the service. MLS Next Pro, the league’s 3rd division reserve circuit, kicks off in March and streams games live as well. Carolina Core and Chattanooga FC, two independent clubs, have joined for 2024 making the stakes a little higher, too.

Also, while not a part of MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+ will be debuting a new Messi documentary on February 21. “Messi’s World Cup: The Rise of a Legend” chronicles the star’s trips to the World Cup over the years, culminating in the victory at Qatar 2022.

Indeed, 2024 will be a big year for MLS Season Pass!