It may be too early to judge the success of Apple’s partnership with Major League Soccer — but the tech giant reportedly already has a contingency plan in place.

According to The Athletic, the league’s deal to broadcast its games on Apple TV+ contains an “opt-out” clause that would allow Apple to walk away from the agreement if a certain number of subscribers have not added MLS Season Pass within a set timeframe.

MLS commissioner Don Garber didn’t confirm or deny the existence of such a clause to The Athletic. MLS did not respond to Front Office Sports’ request for comment.

“We’ve never talked about what the specific terms [of the agreement] are,” Garber said, “and we’re not going to talk about it now. It’s a 10-year partnership. We’re both very, very committed to that.”

While Apple has mostly received praise for its broadcasts through the first two weeks of the MLS season, it’s not immediately clear how many people are watching, as Apple hasn’t released any viewership statistics.

The league and tech company seem content with their partnership: Last week, they announced that the producers of “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” would be making an MLS docuseries to stream on Apple TV+.

MLS also drew 380,502 fans to its games on opening weekend — the most in league history.

Dick’s Sporting Goods has pulled off a third consecutive record year.

The sporting goods giant topped itself yet again with full-year net sales of $12.37 billion, a 0.6% year-over-year increase and a 41.3% increase from 2019. Net income for the year fell to $1 billion from $1.5 billion in 2021.

Fourth-quarter net sales reached $3.6 billion, a 7.3% year-over-year increase, beating analysts’ estimates of $3.45 billion. Net income fell to $235.6 million from $346.1 million for the same period last year.

Same-store sales jumped 5.3% for the 13 weeks ending Jan. 28, beating analysts’ estimates of a 2.1% increase, according to StreetAccount.

Footwear, athletic apparel, and team sports products helped boost the company’s successful quarter and year, per CNBC.

As of Jan. 28, net inventories were $2.8 billion, a 23% year-over-year increase.

“As planned, we continued to address targeted inventory overages, and as a result our inventory is in great shape as we start 2023,” CEO Lauren Hobart said.

During the quarter, Dick’s Sporting Goods announced the launch of DSG Ventures, a $50 million house fund that invests in companies holding the “belief that sports make people better.”

The fund has invested in several companies including Courtside Ventures, Moolah Kicks, and SidelineSwap.

Even without its flagship Euro competition, UEFA enjoyed a successful season. 

European soccer’s governing body generated $4.3 billion (€4.05 billion) in revenue for the 2021-22 season, a decline from the $6 billion reported the year prior but a significant increase from the $3.2 billion posted for 2019-20.

It marked the first time that non-Euro competitive revenue has exceeded €4 billion thanks to a new club competition, the UEFA Europa Conference League, and a new format for the UEFA Women’s League — the knockout round of 16 was replaced by a group stage with four groups of four teams.

Media revenue accounted for 84.5%, or $3.6 billion, of the total. Commercial revenue reached $564.9 million, and ticket revenue hit $38 million. Hospitality revenue brought in $29.5 million, and other revenue reached $31.3 million.

With no men’s Euro tournament and fewer national team matches, club competitions generated 89% of total revenue.

The UEFA Women’s Champions League generated $16 million in revenue, an increase from $1.48 million the year prior. Of the total, 53.3% was generated by media rights sales, with 44.7% brought in from commercial rights. 

UEFA posted a net loss of $80.7 million for the season, which is financed from UEFA’s reserves — which have now dropped below $528.9 million.