Amazon, Apple Join Hunt for College Football Playoff Rights
The two tech and retail companies join NBCUniversal in showing interest in the bigger CFP slate.
The competition for the broadcasting rights to the expanded College Football Playoff may get more fierce than the games themselves! Front Office Sports reports that Amazon and Apple have held preliminary discussions with the CFP regarding acquiring the rights to some of the 11 games that will make up the expanded playoffs starting in 2024.
Amazon would house any CFP games it wins the rights to on Prime Video, though it’s unclear if Apple would create a new streaming service for any games it gets or simply place them on Apple TV+. Both outlets already have at least one competitor; NBC has also reportedly met with CFP about some of its new games.
CFP executive director Bill Hancock has confirmed that there is mutual interest in allowing a streaming platform access to at least a few of the games, but FOS also reports that the semifinals or championship game will be streaming exclusives. Top cable sports networks might be losing viewers fast, but they’re still the most profitable way for the CFP to offer its biggest contests.
Neither Amazon nor Apple confirmed their interest to FOS, but it’s logical that both companies would have some interest. Amazon already streams “Thursday Night Football” every week, and has its eye on a package of NBA games as well. Apple shows a select package of MLB games, and launched a new streaming platform called MLS Season Pass earlier this year as a dedicated platform for its 10-year deal with Major League Soccer to be its exclusive broadcaster, apart from a handful of games shown on Fox.
Apple, however, has recently indicated to other sports leagues that it wants exclusivity and international reach in its contracts. It may well wave those concerns if it does win some CFP rights, however, especially since American college football is not internationally popular as NFL football is.
The CFP is expanding to an 11-game, 12-team slate starting in the 2024 season, though FOS reports that rights to those matchups reside with ESPN until 2026. Fans can expect new broadcasters for this larger slate of games to be lined up by then, but for new there’s plenty of time for new bidders to throw their helmets into the ring, so don’t be surprised if a competitor like Paramount Global is also showing interest before long.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.