Soccer is not just a beautiful game. It is a universal language—spoken beyond borders, traversing the many identities humanity assigns itself. It moves through different lenses, carrying a shared meaning to all who are open to it.
In a partnership now in its 4th year, Major League Soccer and Apple TV have embraced that universal language of soccer through their expansive storytelling. The league itself includes players from 78 countries, while its broadcasts—matches, studio shows, and on-demand content—reach over 100 countries and regions.
It takes a particular kind of formula to shape that language for a world that is often divided and disrupted by both logistics like time zones and language as well as cultural nuances.
There is something almost alchemical in the process—voices, perspectives, creative vision, and technical precision blend in real time to translate the game into a symphony for their audience. Differences are not flattened; they are woven together. What unites everyone is this - a love for something within the game whether it is a player, a team, a flag, a storyline, competition, community or something more personal.
Brad Mertel (Producer, MLS on Apple TV) and Jim Daddona (Director, MLS on Apple TV).
"Our main goal is to document what's happening on the field," Director of MLS on Apple TV, Jim Daddona offered. "That's our most important thing, document it thoroughly and give people at home a great seat to watch what's going on and give them pertinent information. Everyone here is all tied together. We're all one big team that does that."
At the core of it all is trust—the trust viewers place in what they are watching, and the trust the people behind the broadcast place in each other. That trust is the backbone of the production teams behind Sunday Night Soccer.
“We’re like a family,” Production Coordinator Rob Gaertner said as the post-match interviews wrapped up. It’s a phrase that can feel overused—until you see it up close.
Production teams don’t just work together; they move together. Hours are spent in tight windows—preparation, execution, troubleshooting, reset—repeated week after week. They learn each other’s rhythms. They anticipate decisions before they’re spoken because there is often little time to speak when a millisecond can make all the difference in a live broadcast. Each member knows when to step in, when to step back, when to expand and when to let the moment breathe. Theirs is a spoken and silent language.
"Everything gets into a real rhythm," Daddona said.
Trust, in that environment, isn’t an abstract concept. It’s a living multicellular organism.
Rob Gaertner (production coordinator), Jillian Sakovits (host and sideline reporter), and Antonella González (host and sideline reporter), MLS on Apple TV pre-game
It shows up in the small things: a glance across the room, a hand signal, a nod, a decision made without hesitation, a spatial and temporal awareness. It’s built in the in-between moments too—shared meals, travel days, quiet pauses before going live, the laughter that breaks tension after a long sequence.
And when the time comes, this production team family dynamic is thrust into a role of delivering a product that is consistently trustworthy and dynamic. Unlike many families, instead of mayhem and chaos under the pressure of a live setting, it is surprisingly collected and systematic.
Sammy Sadovnik Spanish-language Play-By-Play Announcer, MLS on Apple TV
It’s 13 minutes into the second half of an electric matchup between two top-tier Western Conference rivals. Veteran play-by-play announcer Sammy Sadovnik barely takes a breath. “¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol de San José!”
The call stretches and stretches—long past what feels human—his voice refusing to break as the play completes. His face turns a deep reddish purple, the effort visible, physical, almost defiant. He holds it. This is his third such call in the last six minutes, yet each time feels energetically unique.
It arrives in waves—“viene el remate, viene el rebote… a ver quién le pega…”—phrases that anticipate the play before it resolves. The sentence is never quite finished because the moment isn’t either—each one flowing into the next, a kind of freestyle form.
There is urgency in his repetition, but also trust. Trust that the listener will follow, that they will feel the sequence even if it is not fully explained. Because the human brain operates in similar emphatic fragments—few of them fully formed sentences.
A perfect cross is not just described—it is remembered in real time. “El centro era perfecto… había ganado la posición… se lo perdió.” The miss carries as much weight as the goal.