Live Collegiate Sports Could Come to Apple TV+ by 2024

Although online streaming services offer a ton of prime-time content, one thing that consistently keeps many from fully cutting the cord is the relative dearth of live content, such as sports and local news. While there are some dedicated services like ESPN that offer sports coverage, these require separate, and often expensive subscriptions, and few streaming providers have really integrated live sports into their existing packages.

So it’s probably not surprising that Apple has been trying to strike sports content deals for years — since long before its Apple TV+ streaming service launched. It was in negotiations four years ago to bring Thursday Night Football to the Apple TV, but that deal fell through, likely at least partially because Apple had no streaming service available to run it on at the time. It went to Amazon instead.

Near the end of last year, a report came out that Apple was in negotiations with the Pac-12 conference to obtain rights to college sporting events, which would presumably stream on Apple TV+, and now a new report from Sports Business Daily suggests that this could be moving ahead in Apple’s favour.

Apple Is ‘Most Intriguing’

According to the report, Mark Shuken, the president of Pac-12 Networks, said that although most of the big players have come to the table, his conversations with Apple have been “the most intriguing.”

What’s particularly interesting is that Apple isn’t just going after a digital rights package here. Apple has told the Pac-12 school presidents that it wants “primary media rights” which are presently held by ESPN and Fox, to the tune of $250 million a year. This would presumably give Apple exclusive rights to the content, thereby making Apple TV+ more attractive to college sports fans.

It would also seem that the Pac-12 may appreciate the fact that it would be breaking new ground with Apple, which hasn’t locked down a financial model around sports rights. Apple execs have reportedly told conference and school officials from the Pac-12 that they “see live sports as a programming genre that can set its direct-to-consumer business apart from its rivals.”

Shuken also acknowledged that Pac-12 does have an existing, albeit small, relationship with Apple in the form of the standalone Pac-12 app on the Apple TV, and added that “We’ve also been working with them on experimenting with different products that we have.” Apple, on the other hand, has admitted that it’s still learning more about the business, according to Shuken, “to determine whether or not they’d be a viable partner,” come 2024, when the rights will once again be up for grabs.

So far, the Pac-12 conference has been moving forward on its own, despite having established relationships with several digital companies over the past year, and seems to be taking its time to observe how some of the other direct-to-consumer models are playing out. As Shuken implies, they’re also expecting that by the time the bidding for the 2024 rights rolls around, there will be newer and bigger bidders coming to the table.

So although it seems like it may be a while before Apple gets on board with live sports for Apple TV+, it’s clearly playing the long game here. Getting the Pac-12 deal would be a pretty big coup for Apple, as it would be the first time live collegiate sports landed on any third-party digital service.

NFL Sunday Ticket

However, Pac-12 isn’t the only angle that Apple is pursuing to bring live sports to Apple TV+, with another rumour suggesting that Apple may be preparing to enter talks with the NFL about acquiring the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. While these are currently held by DirecTV, there have been reports that the satellite provider is “widely expected to walk away” from the deal due to AT&T’s changing priorities. Of course, the NFL can’t start negotiating with other firms just yet, but there have been multiple reports that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Apple CEO Tim Cook are already on friendly terms, and have undoubtedly floated the idea around.

It’s also likely that Apple will take another stab at acquiring Thursday Night Football this year, since it’s coming up for bids as well, as Amazon’s $130 million contract runs out.

NFL Sunday Ticket has been under pressure in recent years to expand its potential audience, especially since it’s been confined to a satellite service, although the NFL may still be looking for a package deal, and as with the Pac-12, Apple’s insistence on controlling as many of the pieces as it can means that it will likely come to the table looking for primary rights here as well.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]