Over the past two decades, Apple has evolved from a luxury computer maker to a hardware, software, and entertainment giant. Live sports could be next on the agenda – according to a report from Front Office Sports, Apple is considering a multibillion-dollar bid for the National Football League’s Sunday ticket package.
In addition to selling the rights to the Sunday Ticket, the NFL is also seeking an investment partner for NFL Media, which includes the league’s website, the NFL Network, and the NFL RedZone. Apple will also become a minority shareholder in NFL Media in addition to gaining streaming rights to NFL games that are not on the market.
Last year, the NFL signed new contracts with its current broadcast partners totaling $9 billion a year. Amazon also secured the rights to release games on Thursdays for another $1 billion a year.
Apple will have to pay dearly to take part in some NFL action. Not only is the expiring Sunday ticket deal costing Directv $1.5 billion a year, some of the league’s rights holders have nearly doubled their spending under new contracts that run through the 2033 season. Add a 49 percent stake in NFL Media to that equation, and Apple is likely to pay more than $3 billion a year to partner with the most popular professional sports league in the United States.
That’s small change for a company with over $200 billion in cash and securities.
While Apple is also in talks with Major League Baseball to broadcast regular season games on weekdays, the NFL or MLB deal would be its first foray into live sports. With the likes of Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime constantly releasing new scripted programs, live sports will give Apple another way to stand out from the competition, resulting in more subscribers and more money.