It has been weeks since reports emerged that broadcast rights for Formula One are almost certainly headed to Apple, but no deal has been officially announced.
That shouldn’t be cause for concern, Derek Chang, CEO of Formula One’s parent company Liberty Media conveyed during an appearance at a Goldman Sachs conference.
“I think it’s been pretty well-documented in terms of the negotiations, we are pretty far along, and we’re pretty happy and comfortable with sort of where we’re going to end up,” Chang said before adding, “Hopefully we’ll have something to talk about relatively soon.”
According to initial reporting, Apple has offered the glitzy racing circuit between $120 million and $150 million per year for U.S. broadcast rights, significantly more than the $85 million ESPN currently pays to telecast races.
While Chang never mentioned Apple by name, how he described what F1 was looking for in a new partner would strongly suggest the two sides will officially tie the knot soon.
“Is your media partner even just a media partner, or are they also a sponsor?” he asked rhetorically. “[If they’re a sponsor] they have other ways that they’re going to monetize and commercialize the relationship,” something Apple can clearly do with its massive cell phone business. “Bringing in a partner who amplifies a lot of that for us on an overall holistic basis and driving that engagement with fans is what’s important,” Chang said.
In finalizing a deal with Apple, Formula One is making the choice to trade some of the reach of ESPN for the revenue it can earn by signing on with Apple and putting its product behind the Apple TV+ paywall. It’s a tradeoff that Major League Soccer made several years ago when opting for a $250 million annual deal with Apple to launch MLS Season Pass.
And while the ubiquity of Apple devices in the United States is an attractive aspect of a potential rights agreement for a sports league, the company has shown little eagerness to utilize its reach to aggressively promote its live sports properties.
Perhaps Apple will treat F1 differently, especially after the commercial success of the F1 film. Liberty Media clearly feels comfortable taking its product off of linear television and putting it all on streaming. But just like with MLS, the deal will test how many fans truly value the programming, and how many simply think it’s nice to have along with their traditional pay TV subscription.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.