After inking a deal to carry live Major League Baseball (MLB) games on Friday night, Apple on Tuesday announced an exclusive global media partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS) and, according to one Wall Street analyst, this is just the beginning, with the National Football League (NFL) up next.
Josh Schafer for Yahoo Finance:
“They’re doubling down on live sports content, and that’s a big strategy for Cupertino on the content front,” Wedbush Securities Managing Director Dan Ives told Yahoo Finance, referring to Apple’s headquarters in California. “MLB, now MLS, that’s just the start of what we see as much more aggressive content initiatives with the NFL Sunday Ticket being front and center.”
Apple’s new 10-year contract with MLS begins in 2023. While no official purchase number has been released, Sports Business Journal reported Apple spent a minimum of $250 million per year on the partnership which will make the Apple TV app the one-stop destination for every MLS game… Earlier this spring, Apple began its first live sports streaming venture with “Friday Night Baseball” MLB games, reportedly spending nearly $600 million for about 350 games over the next seven years.
Wedbush Securities stated Apple is “in the winner’s circle” for NFL Sunday Ticket. Previously owned and operated by DirecTV, the NFL’s premier streaming package for out-of-market fans is rumored to be worth more than $2 billion per season.
Apple, long known for its technology products, has plenty of capital to deploy in up-and-coming areas of the business. Wedbush is predicting Apple to nearly double its content spend to an estimated $12-15 billion next year.
Most of that spend is expected to be on sports.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple bidding for and winning rights to exclusive live sports is an idea of pure, blinding, stupefying brilliance 😉:
Cook should consider bidding for and winning NFL Sunday Ticket away from DirecTV, buying rights to Premiere League and La Liga games, etc. and making them Apple TV exclusives. Go directly to the sports leagues with boatloads of cash. — MacDailyNews, May 6, 2014
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