MLS Sponsorship Deals Reach Record $716M

By Barry Janoff

December 22, 2025: MLS just concluded a season that, by most accounts, was a success in attendance, viewing, media and marketing,

Sponsorship deals reached a record $716 million in 2025, an 8% year-over-year, with five teams earning almost $40 million each,. They were lead by Los Angeles FC, MLS champion Inter Miami CF and Lionel Messi, Austin FC and Atlanta United, according to a just-released report from research, consulting and marketing firm SponsorUnited.

“MLS now offers both scale and sharp targeting . . . growth is being fueled by a wave of new premium assets, expanding category participation, and the league’s rising cultural relevance as the U.S., Canada, and Mexico move toward hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup. “

Finance was the No. 1 category spender across league club portfolios, which showed a 7% growth over the precious season.

That was followed by Healthcare (up 13% Y-O-Y), Automotive (+17%), Retail (+13%) and Business Services (+13%). 

The Top Ten sponsorship categories also included Insurance, Beverage-Alcohol, Hotel-Restaurant-Leisure, Food Products and Transportation.

“Reaching record-breaking levels of team sponsorship revenue represents a major step forward for the MLS and reflects the league’s strengthening commercial foundation,” Schafer Chulay, SponsorUnited director of business intelligence, said via the company.

Top-spending brands include BMO (Bank of Montreal), Royal Caribbean, Etihad Airways, Toyota and Anheuser-Busch InBev, base on the percentage of their overall marketing budgets dedicated to MLS.

MLS and Apple said hat beginning in 2026, all league matches would be available to stream for Apple TV subscribers at no additional cost, shifting from Apple’s Season Pass for an additional subscription solely for MLS games that began in 2022.

The standalone MLS Season Pass subscription on the Apple TV app will conclude at the end of the 2025 season. 

Recent LAFC deals include Liquid I.V., entertainment lifestyle platform company HYBE, Wicket facial authentication technology for ticketing and concessions, ScorePlay AI-powered media infrastructure platform, SAS,  General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

For 2025, Inter Miami added several partners to its impressive marketing roster, including CPG giant Mondelez as the club’s official snacking partner (Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz), Flow Mineral Spring Water as the official spring water and Más+ by Messi as official sports hydration partner.

Top-Tier partners include Chase, Fracht Group, Royal Caribbean, Florida Blue Baptist Health and Polkadot in addition to more than 30 official partners.

Among players, Messi leads with 18 tracked brand endorsements and a combined social following of 629 million.

Vancouver Whitecaps Thomas Müller (14 brands, 43 million followers) and Son Heung-min (13 brands, 20 million followers) — “who has made a step-change for LAFC on and off the field following his transfer from Premier League Tottenham Hotspur — are leaders among players.

New jersey patch deals are averaging more than $5.5 million annually, and naming rights agreements, top $14 million per year.

“We’re seeing more clubs ascend into elite tiers of commercial performance for the first time, signaling how quickly the league’s ceiling is rising,” said Chulay.

“With global attention building ahead of the 2026 World Cup, our data suggests that the MLS is entering a period of meaningful acceleration with vast opportunity still available for brands looking to get in early.” 

Last month, calling it “one of the most important decisions in our history,” MLS said today it plans to move its competition calendar, aligning the league’s schedule with the world’s top soccer leagues, beginning in the summer of 2027.

MLS said it would adopt a summer-to-spring season format, shifting from the current MLS schedule that runs from late February to early December of the same calendar year.

“The calendar shift is one of the most important decisions in our history,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said via the league. “It marks the start of a new era for our league and for soccer in North America

“Aligning our schedule with the world’s top leagues will strengthen our clubs’ global competitiveness, create better opportunities in the transfer market, and ensure our Audi MLS Cup Playoffs take center stage without interruption.”

New Era For MLS: Shifting Schedule To Align With World Soccer

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