Apple recently announced a deal with the MLS soccer authorities to show exclusive coverage of MLS matches for the next decade. While the announcement only made a few headlines during Apple’s busy month of June 2022, it is nonetheless an important one for sports and entertainment. There are some aspects of the deal that make it completely unique, including the fact that it is the first US sports broadcasting deal in history that ensures every single game in the league will be available without regional blackouts.
The deal for Apple TV will probably just be a footnote in the history of television, but it also comes at what feels like a tipping point for sports broadcast deals. While so much of the focus of the television industry has shifted to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and so on, sports remains the last jewel that can be robbed from the crown of traditional broadcasters. Slowly but surely, the pendulum is beginning to swing.
So many options to watch sports
We can, of course, view sports online in many different ways. You can break this down into two camps: There are many legal ways to watch sports online, ranging from catching a Premier League game on Amazon Prime to free streaming of sports provided by a sportsbook for those live betting on the event. But there are also legal gray areas, like using a VPN to stream action from another country or using a chipped box to access illegal streams.
An all-in-one sports streaming service would be something very alluring to fans. Consider it something like a Disney+ for sports. However, is such a thing possible? Probably the closest we have gotten to it so far is with DAZN, the global sports streaming service that has gotten a lot of traction lately. DAZN has been on something of a spending spree of late, picking up the rights to everything from huge boxing matches in England to La Liga football in Spain.
The price points of DAZN vary, mostly depending on the amount of sports coverage it has rights to in the country. In the US, for example, where it aims to challenge the traditional powerhouses like ESPN, a subscription can cost around $20 per month. In the UK, where DAZN has yet to gain a foothold beyond boxing content, it’s around half that price.
A super service seems unfeasible
DAZN has ambitious goals to become a ‘super’ sports streaming service, but they are not likely to be met. Why? Because the math simply cannot work. The NFL’s latest broadcast deal, for example, cost $105 billion and will run from 2023 to the 2033 season. The money involved is so vast that it could only feasibly be paid by multiple broadcasters: Amazon, Disney+, Fox, ESPN, and others were involved in the deal.
That example of the NFL showcases why all-in-one sports streaming services probably won’t be possible, at least at a decent price point. For context, the deal for the NFL was 25 times larger than what Disney paid for the rights to Star Wars. Sports, therefore, operates in a different galaxy from other television content.
But what happens next could be problematic. Over the years, we have been used to accessing sports services on terrestrial and cable services, but now sports rights are being sold to multiple broadcasters, both traditional and streaming services. If you follow MLS, you might be happy to sign up to Apple TV, but what if you like MLS and NFL? As these huge deals get signed around the world for larger and larger sums of money, we must acknowledge that it is us – the fans – who must pay for them.
