No Apple deal with NFL for streaming Sunday Ticket yet, CNBC reports

Apple has been interested in acquiring rights to stream NFL games for years. Recent deals with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer show its appetite for streaming sports, and this year, the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package has been seeking a buyer. Now CNBC has a detailed report of the current status of the NFL’s most wanted streaming package.

Background

DirecTV has owned NFL Sunday Ticket rights for years, but that deal ends with the 2022-2023 season. The satellite TV service has reportedly sat out of the bidding process for scoring a new deal. Instead, three tech and entertainment companies have been competing for Sunday Ticket rights: Apple, Amazon, and Disney.

In April, it was reported that Apple was NFL Media’s likely choice and that a deal could already have been signed behind-the-scenes. The idea was that Apple would not want to announce the agreement going into the 2022 NFL season since it would be for the 2023 season.

New reporting from CNCB, however, sheds new light on the ongoing bidding process. According to the latest report, Apple has not yet sealed the deal with the NFL.

NFL Sunday Ticket

NFL Sunday Ticket includes access to out-of-market football games that aren’t available from local networks. DirecTV currently charges between around $300 per season for access to Sunday Ticket.

According to CNBC, NFL Media has indeed received bids from Apple, Amazon, and Disney. However, NFL Media reportedly has not made a decision about where the football package will go next season. The report adds that whichever company wins Sunday Ticket rights won’t have much room to lower the package cost per season due to broadcast contracts with CBS and Fox.

All three companies continue to work with NFL Media to negotiate an agreement, and NFL mobile rights previously exclusive to Verizon could also be part of the new deal. CNBC says that NFL Media is seeking $2 billion per year for the football package as well as a stake in NFL Media – that’s up from $1.5 billion paid by DirecTV, which reportedly lost money on the agreement.

Challenges

Amazon already has experience with streaming live NFL games, but Sunday Ticket would be new territory for Apple. The iPhone maker picked up Friday Night Baseball from the MLB this season, and a 10-year agreement with MLS to carry soccer was recently signed. The report notes that it’s unclear if Apple would be interested in owning a minority stake in NFL Media.

Other hangups involves Apple’s global ambitions for sports streaming. Apple is seeking global rights that were previously sold separately from the DirecTV deal.

Timing wise, it sounds like much more work is left to be done before an agreement is reached with any company. Global streaming rights and a stake in NFL Media are complicating what would otherwise be a straightforward package for NFL to sell.