Wednesday's slate of Major League Soccer games suddenly became unavailable to soccer fans as Apple TV services experienced intermittent outages, making the streaming platform unwatchable.

Multiple Apple TV subscribers suddenly began experiencing streaming issues, with others unable to load the application and instead encountering an error message. This became a significant issue for those watching MLS games live, with the action streamed exclusively on Apple's platform.

Lionel Messi, who recently retired from the Argentina national team before returning to Inter Miami, was in action during the blackout. There were 15 MLS games scheduled on Wednesday, but Apple TV went down during the peak, with most underway.

Apple TV began trending on Wednesday night when users were blocked from watching their favorite series, movies, and MLS teams. Soccer fans were furious, sparking a fresh debate over whether MLS games should be exclusively streamed on a single service.

Amid a stream of complaints, MLS released a statement. "We are aware of an issue that disrupted the broadcast for some users. We are working to resolve it and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

However, the statement didn't ease the frustration. "Bravo, way to go Apple, you did it again," one fan wrote on X.

"Considering @AppleTV is about to raise the monthly price again there should be some kind of free month or something, we shouldn’t have to pay more for worse service," another posted.

"My 8 yr old son is devastated. He missed two goals from the Crew," a third fan wrote.

Another said, "Apple TV is down and I can't watch Messi. I can't wait until @MLS gets off of @AppleTV."

Apple and MLS announced an unprecedented partnership on June 14, 2022, following a 10-year deal that included global broadcasting rights. With MLS one of the highest-grossing soccer leagues in the world, Apple sensed an opportunity.

Initially, MLS fans had to pay a $99 annual fee to access all regular-season and MLS Cup Playoff games. When Messi signed for Miami in June 2023, the league soared in popularity, but the placement of MLS games became a common talking point.

Apple TV announced ahead of this season that the $99 MLS Season Pass had been scrapped, instead allowing all subscribers to watch the action at no additional cost. However, the partnership has changed considerably, with Apple agreeing to end the broadcasting deal prematurely.

The MLS-Apple partnership will now end in 2029, three-and-a-half years early. MLS has also regained the ability to offer select games to linear broadcast partners beyond 2026, allowing for potential simulcasts or cable/network television partnerships.