Apple Seemingly No Longer Interested in Premier League UK Rights; Company Wants International Reach for Sports Deals
It appears that Apple is out on the English Premier League. The tech giant had reportedly been interested in logging a bid for EPL rights in the United Kingdom, but in discussing such a bid with the Daily Mail, Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue indicated his company wasn’t interested in pursuing sports rights unless they were able to present them to a wider audience.
“We’re a global company, we have customers in every country in the world, a large number of customers, and it’s not exciting for me to have something that [some] can have but [some] can’t have,” Cue told the Daily Mail. “I can’t justify throwing what I think are the best engineers in the world on a small subset product.”
Customers in the United States won’t have to worry about EPL rights shifting to a new entity for another few years. Domestically, the British soccer league airs on NBC and its corporate cable networks and streams on Peacock. That deal is set to run until the end of the 2027-28 season.
Cue stopped short of explicitly denying that his company would go after EPL rights, but explained, “In general, are we going to sign something, any league, that is to a specific country or a small subset of countries? I highly doubt we would ever do that.”
That argument is reminiscent of the line of thinking that caused Apple to lose out on the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, despite having been considered the odds-on favorites to secure the out-of-market package. When entering discussions with the NFL, Apple assumed they’d be able to market the product internationally as well as in the United States. Being disabused of that notion, and also realizing that it would still have to share NFL games with CBS, Fox, and NBC soured Apple on the Sunday Ticket, and the company eventually pulled out of negotiations. NFL Sunday Ticket will stream on YouTube TV beginning in 2023.
Exclusivity and internationality are the hallmarks of Apple’s deal with Major League Soccer, which launched earlier this year at the start of the 2023 season. That 10-year, $2.5 billion deal allows Apple to show more than 95% of all MLS games every season exclusively on MLS Season Pass, the new streaming platform set up to house the league. Both MLS and Apple are pleased with that deal so far, especially since international superstar Lionel Messi has now joined the league.
Cue’s comments also explain why Apple has reportedly been hesitant to jump into bidding on the NBA with both feet. The basketball league wants to sell a streaming-only package of games in its next rights deal, but if Apple isn’t allowed to show those games internationally, and it still has to share NBA coverage with other broadcasters and streamers domestically, it may decide that a bid isn’t worth the trouble.
MLS Season Pass
MLS Season Pass is a video streaming service that offers every match—including Leagues Cup and the entire Audi MLS Cup Playoffs—with no blackouts. It offers both English and Spanish announcers. MLS Season Pass also offers pre-match coverage, post-match analysis, highlights, player profiles, interviews, club content, match replays, live MLS NEXT Pro and MLS NEXT matches, and more.