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Apple Inc. is considering bidding for the streaming rights to a range of English football games. According to people familiar with the situation, it’s a move that would step up its sports ambitions and increase competition with Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video.
The rights under consideration would allow Apple to show Premier League games in the UK, as well as lower league matches run by the English Football League, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
Such a move would build on Apple’s recent expansion into live sports in the US, where it forged a $2.5 billion 10-year deal with Major League Soccer (MLS) to show games on its TV+ platform. An EFL spokesperson, meanwhile, said the league is currently reviewing potential bidders for its upcoming sale of rights.
Apple has enlisted sports media veterans Jim DeLorenzo and Frank Uddo in building its streaming platform, and they will “know the value that international football can bring to the system,” said Peter Hutton, who previously served as a media partnerships executive at Meta Platforms Inc.
Offering the games may be a more effective way to attract viewers overseas than other fare, he said.
“Apple will be looking closely at their early data on MLS and MLB experiments, but the unique ability of sport to change a predefined audience’s behaviour means it’s a safer bet than entertainment content to grow the Apple TV international market,” said Hutton, who’s also the former head of the Eurosport network.
The EFL is offering the rights to seasons starting in 2024. In addition to winning Premier League rights in the UK, it’s showing the US Open tennis tournament in the UK and Ireland, as well as the Champions League tournament in the UK, Italy and Germany. Many of its users watch TV+ for free through trials that come with buying other Apple products.
Apple also hasn’t invested heavily in a back catalogue of programming, a key way that Netflix keeps its 230 million-plus subscribers happy.
With sports, Apple began in a similarly measured way but has become gradually more aggressive.
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