Major League Soccer (MLS) is entering one of the most exciting periods in its history. Powered by world-class talent like Lionel Messi, Son Heung-Min, and Antoine Griezmann, alongside high-profile owners including David Beckham, Matthew McConaughey, Magic Johnson, and Kevin Durant, the league is capturing unprecedented global attention.
Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, MLS reported the strongest three-year period of fan engagement in its history, with viewership up 62% and averaging 7.9 million live match viewers per week across streaming and linear partners. As soccer takes centre stage across North America, the league is investing in new ways to deepen connections with supporters and turn growing interest into lasting fandom.
As part of this commitment, MLS has engaged ECAL in a long-term partnership to deliver its official digital calendar solution for the League and MLS clubs. This includes smart, dynamic league schedules, club schedules, and single match alerts, with direct access to important broadcast and streaming details, ticketing, promos, major milestones and more – synced directly into the fans’ personal digital calendar of choice, for free.
Building on ECAL’s success across the league with clubs including LAFC, InterMiami CF, Austin FC, Portland Timbers, San Diego FC and others, this partnership empowers all clubs to use the power of ECAL’s superior calendar marketing technology to better identify, connect, engage and convert fans at the moments that matter most.
Turning a global moment into lasting fandom
MLS’ latest marketing campaign, “Thanks World, We’ll Take It From Here,” conceived by creative agency Ogilvy, reflects the league’s ambition to welcome a new generation of supporters following the global attention generated by the FIFA World Cup.
The largest campaign in MLS history debuted across FOX’s World Cup semi-final and final telecasts before expanding to Apple TV MLS Season Pass, TSN, local affiliate networks, national broadcast, streaming, digital, and out-of-home media. The hero spot features an Amazon Music Original cover of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?”, produced by DJ Premier featuring breakout artist Samara Cyn. To marry national media muscle with regional culture, 15 clubs launched localised executions, such as Nashville SC featuring Hany Mukhtar. The campaign is designed to introduce new fans to the league and encourage them to experience MLS beyond the first moment of discovery.
Building lifelong supporters requires more than awareness. It requires creating meaningful opportunities for fans to stay connected throughout the season, bridging global hype into local habits.
This is where calendar marketing plays a vital role by solving the “who?”, “what?”, “when?”, “where do I watch?” and “how do I go?” barriers. By bringing your favorite match schedules, ticketing opportunities, and key moments directly into the calendars fans use every day, ECAL helps MLS turn initial interest into response and action, and ultimately into habit.
With all 30 clubs offering welcome initiatives, including a “First Match On Us” program that is providing free tickets to first-time attendees across 22 clubs, the calendar becomes another touchpoint to prompt awareness, directly connect supporters with live MLS opportunities near them, and convert digital intrigue into stadium foot traffic.
While knockout ‘above-the-line’ campaigns generate hype, create excitement and inspire discovery, ECAL and other well-integrated campaign solutions are helping to build connection beyond the first interaction, drive engagement, prompt response and action, and ultimately provide opportunity for long-lasting affinity with the game, the league, the club and the players.
A connected matchday experience
The MLS calendar experience goes beyond simply syncing your favorite match schedules, or creating a single match alert. Each event becomes an opportunity to deliver relevant information and create a more connected matchday journey.
MLS digital calendar users receive everything they need to participate and engage, which may include:
- Ticketing information and matchday offers
- Broadcast and streaming details
- Rivalry match announcements
- Interesting facts, stats and milestones
- League and club promotions
- Retail drops and offers
- Sponsor activations and fan experiences
- Playoff and finals updates
Instead of searching across multiple platforms for key updates, fans can access information tailored to the matches they care about most, delivered directly to their personal calendar with simple-tap sync.
A match reminder becomes the starting point to discover tickets, tune into Apple TV, browse for merchandise, or engage with club content at the exact moment it matters most.
Making every match accessible, wherever fans are
As MLS continues to grow its international audience through global talent acquisition, player development, and increased worldwide viewership, delivering accurate, localised information is more important than ever.
ECAL automatically adjusts match details to each subscriber’s location, and the sync experience is automatically translated in 30 different languages.
For a global fanbase, small details like this remove friction and make it easier for supporters to stay connected with the league wherever they are.
Building what comes next
MLS is entering an exciting new chapter, with a growing global audience, an evolving fanbase and 30 clubs with more opportunities than ever to connect with supporters.
ECAL is proud to be part of that journey, partnering with MLS and its clubs to create a more connected experience for fans across the league.
As the game continues to grow, so does the opportunity to build deeper, more lasting relationships with the people who follow it.
For MLS, the next chapter is already underway. And we’re excited to be part of it.
