The Union’s game at Atlanta on Saturday will be streamed in a video game

The Union’s game at Atlanta United on Saturday night will be streamed in Apple TV’s subscription package as usual, but that won’t be the only place where it’s available.

It will also be streamed live for free in the mobile version of Electronic Arts’ EA Sports FC soccer video game, which is popular in the U.S. and even more popular worldwide than the company’s famed Madden NFL game.

Anyone with an account in the game can watch the broadcast, and accounts can be created through Facebook, Apple (for iOS), Google (for Android), and the game’s own login platform.

Notably, the broadcast is only available in the game’s mobile and tablet version, not the full-scale version for PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Nintendo’s Switch, and Windows PCs.

Saturday’s game kicks off at the usual time of 7:30 p.m. Both the English and Spanish feeds will be available. Chris Wittyngham and Lori Lindsey will have the call in English, and Diego Pessolano and Daniel Chapela will have the call in Spanish.

Earlier this month, Electronic Arts struck a deal with MLS and Apple to carry four matches within the video game. The first was last weekend, a New York Red Bulls-Los Angeles Galaxy contest that was a rematch of last year’s MLS Cup final. This will be the second. The remaining two will be in September, with the games to be determined later.

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This is the first time that EA has broadcast real-life action in its game. That might not always be easy to pull off with more famous leagues around the world, but MLS was happy to do it.

“The platform and the reach that EA FC offers is enormous,” MLS’s executive vice president for its Apple partnership Camilo Durana said. “So it was a way that I think worked well for all parties involved, and something that everybody was interested in. We put content in front of new people, and EA gets a lot of value for its users.”

The broadcasts are only available in countries where MLS Season Pass is available through Apple, but that’s still over 100 countries worldwide. Durana said the top five countries for viewership for Red Bulls-Galaxy were the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and Thailand. Time zones are favorable in all those countries, as the kickoff was at night in the Americas and in the morning in Asia.

“Our target audience is our global community of EA Sports FC Mobile players, as we’re focused on meeting fans where they are and providing expanded access to the world’s game through our platform,” EA’s vice president for the game Lawrence Koh said. “Integrations like these take time, but when all parties have a shared vision of showcasing the beauty of global football, it makes the process incredibly rewarding.”

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Why pick the Union? Durana said EA wanted “clubs that they thought they could market effectively, players that they thought they could market effectively.”

That’s a nice compliment to a team that hasn’t always had such players. But it does right now, starting with teen phenom Cavan Sullivan. His older brother Quinn is having a great season — some observers have even called for him to make the U.S. men’s national team’s Concacaf Gold Cup squad this summer — and Tai Baribo is the league’s leading scorer. Quinn Sullivan and Baribo have been featured in marketing for the broadcast.

The Union beat Atlanta United in their last meeting, 3-0 at Subaru Park last month.

There has been skepticism among some fans about whether the Apple platform is drawing big audiences — especially in Philadelphia, where traditional cable TV is still a popular way to watch sports. But Durana said a deal with EA would appeal to MLS no matter the circumstances.

“I think there’s always going to be an ambition to continue to grow,” he said. “We’d be doing this if we had 10 times more or 10 times less the number of viewers or subscribers. We always want to continue to innovate and do things differently, and if you were to tell us you have an opportunity to put a game on one of the most utilized sports apps on the planet, we’d do it.”

MLS and Comcast announced on Thursday that Xfinity subscribers with X1 cable boxes can now watch the league’s “Sunday Night Soccer” broadcasts for free, without needing MLS Season Pass.

Earlier this year, the league and Philadelphia’s biggest company struck a deal to offer MLS Season Pass subscriptions through X1 boxes, with games available as if they were on extra TV channels. Xfinity customers can also watch the Saturday night “MLS 360” whiparound show for free.

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The fastest way to get to the game broadcasts is to use the voice remote function and say “MLS” or “Soccer” into it. Broadcasts are also available through the Xfinity stream app for mobile devices and tablets.

The Union currently have only one Sunday Night Soccer game scheduled, June 29 at the Columbus Crew. There isn’t flex scheduling as of now.

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami has two games left in the package, Sunday vs. Orlando City and Aug. 10 at Orlando. This Sunday is a doubleheader, with Miami-Orlando at 7 p.m. and the always-popular Los Angeles Galaxy-LAFC rivalry at 9 p.m.

Miami’s next game after Sunday is May 24 against the Union at Subaru Park. It’s expected to be Messi’s first visit here since 2023.