At Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles on May 23, the visiting Major League Soccer team, the Houston Dynamo, went past the goalkeeper and almost scored before a defender from the home team LA Galaxy kicked the ball at the last second. Fans at home saw it in a new way: from the iPhone 17 Pro Max placed behind the goal. For the first time in major sports history, a professional game was shot entirely with iPhones.
Fifteen iPhones were placed around (all iPhone 17 Pro Max models), eight of which were shooting with their native lenses, like the one behind the goal. Seven others were shooting directly with large external zoom lenses attached to iPhones. Zoom lenses were similar to those people used to seeing in high-profile sports arenas that allowed camera operators to capture games from across the field.
There were two or three more cameras than have been used in past games, senior vice president of Media for Major League Soccer Seth Bacon told reporters during a pregame preview. But the best value is being able to replace iPhones by using their standard lenses in areas where larger lens cameras won’t fit, such as behind goals and facing teams on the sidelines.
“Those bench cameras you saw, we can’t get shutter cameras, usually. What we’re going to do is, we’re going to shoot across the field to get reaction shots,” Bacon said. “The kind of compactness of the iPhone and being able to put it right is a big, big step forward for us.”
Of the 15 iPhones that took photos of the May 23, 2026 MLS game, eight used the phone’s native lenses. This one is placed behind the goal in the field, an area that can be very dangerous for an expensive camera.
That proximity of players and coaches could provide exciting opportunities to catch players on iPhone microphones at some point, but for now MLS wants to consider their privacy. And remember, let’s say, the colorful language they might use during heated moments in the game. iPhones elsewhere on the field pick up game audio.
People watching the game on Apple TV probably couldn’t tell the difference, and that’s entirely the point. It showcases the recording capabilities of Apple phones, suggesting that viewers can capture videos at the same level of quality as the iPhone 17 Pro Max in their pocket.
“Our native [iPhone 17 Pro Max] lenses, the quality they’re able to produce is as good as traditional broadcast,” said Royce Dickerson, senior producer of live sports at Apple. “You can’t tell the difference between traditional lens cameras and cameras with zoom lenses on them.”
Seven iPhones positioned around the world had external lenses attached to their cameras and attached to professional video setups like this one. Although it’s hard to see from this angle, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is inside the rig between the hands of the camera operators.
It is not so easy for a photographer to reproduce the images of that broadcast, as the external lenses shot with are expensive. Apple declined to say how much they cost, but they look like the Fujinon Duvo 25-1000 Cinema Box Lens that was announced with an introductory price of $265,000, according to YMCinema. The video is then run through Blackmagic’s video processing software. Consumers can get their own version through the company’s Blackmagic Camera iOS app.
Inside the arena before the game, I saw one of these camera setups installed by an experienced cameraman. Sitting in a chair with precision controls, he smoothly zoomed the camera up and down, zoomed in and out and panned around in practice to capture action shots during the game. It looked like I’ve seen camera operators play at other pro sports events — but instead of an expensive-looking camera receiver, the lens was locked to an iPhone on a stick.
A close-up of the setup that MLS used to film the May 23 game. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is seen in orange in the center of the setup, with an adapter attached directly to its lens, allowing it to record videos with a large external lens.
As the teams file into the field in the minutes before the game, I close the other cameras on the field, thinking about all the videos from all the iPhones. Then I saw where everything was combined into one stream.
The iPhone, seen in the middle of the rig between the operator’s hands, has its screen duplicated by a clear monitor above it that is easily seen by the cameraman.
In the room where the iPhone pro sports broadcast is done
The iPhone 15 setup video collection is designed to reduce the delay of video recording from the field to viewers watching the game on Apple TV at home. Each iPhone 17 Pro Max captured video in 1080p at 60 frames per second, which was transmitted from the phone via a USB-C cable to an HDMI converter connected to a fiber cable to the broadcast center. From there, it is treated like any other video, managed by a large team that sends it around the world to reach viewers’ screens.
Like any other sporting event, the footage was collected and compiled in real time within the broadcast center. In the case of the LA Galaxy’s home stadium, the center is a portable headquarters that can be pulled by a semi-truck, parked deep under the fan seats in the bowels of Dignity Health Sports Park.
The broadcast center for MLS games at Dignity Health Sports Park is an expandable trailer that is connected by cable to all iPhones for instant transmission of game footage.
I walked into the broadcast center to find a dense setup with three rows of switchboards and screens, all facing a front wall of displays showing everything captured by 15 iPhones simultaneously. About a dozen people were sitting in front of these boards, watched over by a guide wearing earphones who was shouting down the road. As the countdown began at the beginning of the broadcast, the conversation began to link, moving from one camera to another as I watched the images from all the iPhones I had seen on the field being carefully compiled in real time.
Inside the broadcast center’s trailer, operators switch between video feeds from all the iPhones placed throughout Dignity Health Sports Park for the May 23 MLS game.
As Bacon told us, the broadcast center was treating the game just like they do every other MLS game – the only difference being that the incoming footage was coming from off-the-shelf phones. While some were shot with expensive external lenses, they were first processed with a $1,200 phone.
“The fact that you can use what’s in your pocket — the iPhone 17 Pro Max — to shoot your kid’s soccer game, you’re going to get great broadcast quality that you can use using professional grade equipment with an affordable device,” Dickerson said.