According to a new report from Sportico, Apple is the front-runner for the Sunday Ticket deal, but there have been some speedbumps in the negotiations with the NFL. For instance, the report says that the talks “have been complicated by the amount of cash Apple’s customers may be expected to throw down for a macOS-based Sunday Ticket product.”
At one point in the negotiations, Apple also apparently became “fixated” on including NFL Sunday Ticket as part of Apple TV+. This would mean, apparently, that Apple would offer NFL Sunday Ticket at “no additional charge” to Apple TV+ subscribers. The NFL, however, wasn’t a fan of this idea:
In a bid to drive subscribers to its Apple TV+ platform, which is a relative steal at $6.99 per month, the tech giant is said to be fixated on offering Sunday Ticket via its streaming service at no additional charge. That’s a far too magnanimous gesture for the NFL; it needs to protect the interests of its Sunday afternoon broadcast partners at CBS and Fox, which under the terms of the 2021 rights renewal will pay the league a combined $40 billion through the end of the 2033 season.
Today’s news follows a report from the New York Times last month, which also said that negotiations may drag into early 2023. That report, however, said that Google has emerged as a potential front-runner for an NFL Sunday Ticket. Google reportedly wants to use Sunday Ticket as a way to boost its YouTube TV streaming service.
