NFL Sunday Ticket still up for grabs as Apple pushes for flexibility with game rights

The National Football League play is heading into Week 6, and it's inactive unclear which institution volition go the caller proprietor of Sunday Ticket rights — the lone remaining exclusive broadcast bundle that hasn't been renewed until 2030.

Apple has been among the favorites to onshore the package, successful portion due to the fact that the league already has broadcast deals successful spot with rival bidders, including Disney and Amazon. A concern with Apple would let the NFL to physique a narration with the deepest-pocketed institution successful the world.

But existing restrictions astir Sunday Ticket person slowed negotiations betwixt Apple and the NFL successful caller months, according to radical acquainted with the matter. Talks betwixt the league and imaginable buyers of Sunday Ticket are continuing, the radical said.

Spokespeople for Apple and the NFL declined to comment.

The NFL and Apple, 2 of the astir almighty firm entities successful the world, are utilized to getting what they want.

Apple isn't funny successful simply acting arsenic a conduit for broadcasting games, according to Eddie Cue, Apple's elder vice president of services. Cue oversees Apple's media and sports partnerships and its streaming service, Apple TV+. Apple is looking for partnerships with sports leagues successful which it tin connection consumers much than modular rights agreements — specified arsenic having escaped rein to connection games globally oregon successful section markets. Apple has that benignant of woody with Major League Soccer, a 10-year concern that begins successful 2023.

"We weren't funny successful buying sports rights," Cue said this week astatine a Paley Center for Media sheet successful New York. "There's each kinds of capabilities that we're going to beryllium capable to bash unneurotic due to the fact that we person everything together. And truthful if I person a large idea, I don't person to deliberation about, OK, well, my declaration oregon the woody of involvement volition let this."

The iPhone shaper is MLS's exclusive broadcast partner, though immoderate linear networks whitethorn bargain simulcast rights to the shot league's games. The pact allows Apple to watercourse each crippled of each play for the adjacent 10 years globally. It plans to physique MLS steaming capabilities into its apps, specified arsenic Apple News.

While a "great idea" by Cue could perchance manifest into a applicable solution rapidly with MLS, the aforesaid whitethorn not beryllium feasible with the NFL, which has been successful concern with Fox, Paramount Global, Comcast's NBCUniversal and Disney for decades. The league besides sold its "Thursday Night Football" bundle to Amazon.

The NFL last twelvemonth renewed broadcast TV agreements with some Fox and CBS until 2030. Those deals warrant exclusivity of section games. Fox and CBS person devised full firm strategies astir that exclusivity, including buying section TV stations that enactment up with NFL markets wherever they ain rights. For example, Fox owns section stations successful Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Minneapolis; Philadelphia; Phoenix; San Francisco, Tampa, Florida; and Washington, D.C. — each places with NFC teams, due to the fact that Fox owns the NFC Sunday package.

Sunday Ticket is besides a U.S.-only product. It remains unclear what the NFL is consenting to springiness Apple to heighten a woody beyond what it's sold to DirecTV for the past 28 years. Still, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC successful July portion of the payment of selling to a streamer is to "innovate beyond wherever we are today."

Goodell said helium plans to take a caller Sunday Ticket location by autumn of this year. On that timeline, a winning bidder should beryllium announced successful the adjacent 10 weeks. The NFL wants a purchaser for Sunday Ticket to wage betwixt $2 cardinal and $3 cardinal annually, CNBC has antecedently reported. That's a significant summation from the $1.5 cardinal DirecTV has been paying since 2015. The league is besides looking for a institution to acquisition a number involvement successful NFL Media, which includes linear cablegram networks RedZone and NFL Network, arsenic good arsenic NFL.com. The NFL has been packing the number involvement with Sunday Ticket, though it could determine to merchantability each separately, Goodell said.

Beyond its MLS partnership, Apple has been laying breadcrumbs that it wants to instrumentality a important plunge into unrecorded sports. Apple struck a deal with Major League Baseball to transportation exclusive Friday nighttime games this season. And past month, the NFL announced Apple Music arsenic the caller spouse for the Super Bowl halftime show.

The longer the NFL waits to scope a deal, the little clip a caller proprietor of the rights volition person to marketplace the merchandise for adjacent season. DirecTV executives person been waiting for astir 2 years for a caller spouse to beryllium announced and person been amazed with however agelong it's taken to find one, according to radical acquainted with the matter. DirecTV has routinely mislaid wealth connected Sunday Ticket and isn't participating successful this circular of bidding, CNBC reported successful June.

The outer supplier would beryllium funny successful maintaining its commercialized statement to transportation games successful bars and restaurants oregon enactment arsenic a pass-through for the Sunday Ticket winner, wherever existing DirecTV customers could proceed to get the bundle done its pay-TV service, CNBC reported successful June.

Disclosure: Comcast's NBCUniversal is the genitor institution of CNBC.

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