NFL Sunday Ticket is valuable commodity, especially within the streaming world. With upcoming TV deals wrapped up and announced, Sunday Ticket is the lone football property up for grabs and potential suitors have been reportedly in discussion about the out-of-market NFL service.
One company reportedly discussing Sunday Ticket is a relative outsider to live sports streaming. According to a report at The Information, Apple has been in “early talks” with the NFL about Sunday Ticket. SBJ’s John Ourand elaborated on that report to say that while “preliminary discussions” have been taking place among companies, the NFL “hasn’t officially started” negotiations.
Roger Goodell is at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, which is where @sizpatel says a lot of these discussion have taken place.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) July 9, 2021
It’s important to note that it’s very early in the process and no one is quite sure exactly what Apple’s interest in Sunday Ticket even is. Having said that, the idea that Apple is even having preliminary discussions with the NFL about Sunday Ticket shows that they’re getting more and more serious about live sports.
Last year, Apple hired James DeLorenzo to be its “Head of Sports.” DeLorenzo had the same position at Amazon where he helped spearhead Amazon’s original NFL Thursday Night Football deal, along with various other sports rights deals.
If Apple brought on someone to be in charge of a sports division and they don’t yet have live sports, chances are Apple will get into sports streaming at some point. Obtaining Sunday Ticket would be a big splash in the sports streaming pool.
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
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