NFL Reportedly Prefers Apple for ‘Sunday Ticket’

The NFL already has media deals with every major traditional U.S. broadcaster and an e-commerce giant, but it would like to add another household name.

The league is hoping to sell its “Sunday Ticket” package to Apple, per The Athletic, creating a partnership with the leading phone maker and world’s largest company by market cap.

Amazon was reportedly in the lead for the out-of-market games package, for which the NFL is seeking $2 billion to $2.5 billion per season. Disney is interested as well.

The league is considering offering different versions of the package, allowing fans to purchase all the games of a single team, or even individual games.

• AT&T-owned DirecTV has offered “Sunday Ticket” since 1994, and currently pays $1.5 billion per season for it. AT&T is reportedly uninterested in renewing when its deal expires after next season.
• The next “Sunday Ticket” deal could include an equity stake in NFL Media.
• The NFL hired Goldman Sachs to find potential investors in its media properties, including the NFL Network and NFL RedZone.

On the heels of its breakout hit “Ted Lasso” — a sports-comedy series about a football-turned-soccer coach — Apple is ramping up its presence in the streaming wars.

The company invested $6 billion in AppleTV in 2019, and the media operation is a major component of the company’s $430 billion domestic spending plan over the next five years.