The NFL Is Hoping Apple Will Acquire The Sunday Ticket Package In 2022

The Athletic - The NFL’s much-discussed Sunday Ticket package is in the news of late, with one report having Amazon as the lead contender to acquire the out-of-market games that are up for bid, while another touts Disney’s ESPN empire as interested.

All fair, but it’s still early in the process, and sources say the NFL wants — or perhaps, better termed, hopes — Apple gets the out-of-market package. And that package could look a lot different structurally than the one DirecTV has shopped since its inception in 1994, charging a basic rate for all the games. Under consideration is adding choices like allowing fans to buy just one team’s out-of-market games, or perhaps even stand-alone games, sources said.

“Everything is on the table,” one source said, but nothing is set in stone.

DirecTV is paying on average $1.5 billion a year in a deal that stretches through the end of next season. All indications are the satellite carrier’s parent AT&T has no interest in renewing, especially at the $2 billion-plus per year fee the NFL is reportedly seeking. AT&T has struggled financially, and talks with the NFL in recent years have proved unproductive.

Big rumors floating around this weekend regarding the NFL's long standing partnership with DirecTv now that it's coming to an end.

The NFL reportedly wants more than $2 Billion per year for Sunday Ticket rights...

That's $500 million more than DirecTv is currently paying. 

And with DirecTv already losing their ass, it looks as though they’re walking away from this ransom amount and washing their hands of it.

It’s no secret the league already has a good partnership with Amazon, which provides stats through Amazon Web Services, and will pay $1 billion annually starting next year for exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football after carrying the midweek games non-exclusively since 2017.

And the league has been in bed with ESPN (lies) forever. ESPN could definitely use the Sunday Ticket to help boost its streaming service, ESPN+.

There are also rumors the Sunday Ticket deal could be paired with an equity position in NFL Media, so aligning with a company like Apple could be viewed favorably by the NFL owners.

Don't believe the haters, and critics, since the season started: the 14 most-watched shows on TV are either NFL games or pregame shows. Nobody is watching live tv much these days, aside from sports. The leagues, networks, and advertisers know this better than anybody.

I couldn’t dream of a better place for Sunday Ticket to wind up than Apple. Everything that company touches they improve. And I don’t think it’d be any different for their handling of the NFL.

First off, they’d no doubt can that clown Andrew Siciliano on the phantom Red Zone channel and condense the two into one, with Scott Hansen.

Next, they’d probably push for more 4pm kickoffs on east coast games so we don’t have 15 early games followed by being treated to 2 late afternoon games featuring the Cowboys and Cardinals.

Then they’d stipulate that the league's kickoff weekend tactic of stacking two Monday night football games back to back, early and late, was becoming a standard full season practice. Yes, they’d lose a featured game on their ticket but they’re not in it for the short sightedness, Apple is always ten steps ahead. The league will see the success of the dual Monday night games, and realize they’re stretched too thin running 3 game days a week, with awful football being played on Thursday nights, and can the Thursday night charade. Leaving competitor Amazon holding their dick with no games to feature.

Also, allowing fans to purchase only the games they want, as in just Patriots games when living in Chicago, without having to drop $400 for extra Bills and Jaguars games is so common-sense it will probably never happen. But if anybody will get it done, it will be the company that built an empire on minimalism.

Get this deal done Tim Apple.

Apple Inc. Shutterstock Images.