Apple is a natural home of football, but the reason why is more complicated than most of people have considered. Global Football might be a huge industry but in financial terms it pales in comparison next to a company like apple. In fact, the sports industry as a whole compared Global Tech exists on an entirely different scale, which all begs the question when Apple already makes much more money in other industries, why are they actually interested in Football? Apple Inc, by mid-January 2024, had the largest market cap of any company on the planet, the 2,9 Tri Dollar.
The market cap being the total value of all of its shares. Only fellow Tech Giant Microsoft is vying to be bigger. For the context, the world's largest oil and gas company Saudi Aramco was way back in third with ha market cap of a mere $2,1 Tri, and in SES of product areas Apple is already a dominant force or intends to become one. Sport Falls within the entertainment sector. Football is the is the world's most popular sport and that is why Apple wants to buy football and has already done so in North America.
Apple bought the global broadcasting rights to show live major league soccer matches on its Apple TV plus streaming service in a 10-year deal that started in 2023 and is worth $2.5 billion or $250 million a year. MLS previously earned $90 million per year via its deals with FOX, ESPN and Univision, and if Apple can persuade millions of people, people worldwide to tune into MLS its pay TV platform not only will Apple make money but it could be a precursor to a move for the biggest leagues in Europe. Because $2.5 billion over 10 years is not a risk for Apple, the company across all of its sectors had revenues of nearly $400 billion in 2023. A net income effectively profits of $97 billion. In November 2023, Apple had $162 billion cash in hand, now a one-month subscription to Apple's MLS coverage costs $14.99 in the USA or $99 a year, in UK that's £14.99 a month or £99 per year and it's the same figure in Euros in Mainland Europe, there are occasional deals to buy it cheaper but Apple makes tens of millions a year more from sponsors of its MLS coverage.
The company needs roughly 2.5 million paying fans per season to recoup its 250 million annual rights fees and could almost be there already in year 2 of 10 ahead of further interest induced by the North American World Cup in 2026. Yet the truth in this venture is more about feeding an Apple Ecosystem with the new customers for all Apple products over time, it is also about content for a streaming service that is growing and broadening. Apple TV+ was launched in 2019 but has already had a string of critical hits. It started later than the biggest streamers so it remains behind some of them in paying subscribers, Netflix has around 250 million now, Amazon Prime Video around 220 million And Disney+ at around 150. Apple has 25 million paying subscribers but some of 50 million more can access it via third party offers or for trial periods having bought Apple hardware. And arguably, Apple's first major foray into football already happened in August 2019 when it began screening its original comedy drama Ted Lasso. It won back-to-back Emmys and become a monster hit.
A study by nelson rating in early 2024 found that Ted Lasso was the most watched original show from any streaming service in 2023, racking up 16.9 billion minutes of viewing on Apple TV+ in the year beating every other show on every other streamer. The channel made its first move into live in march 2022 after doing an 8-year deal worth £85 per year or 595 million in total for the rights to show two live major league baseball games each Friday. In June 2022, Apple and MLS announced their 10-year tie-up would start in 2023.
Now of course, other Tech Giants are already involved in Major League Sport live rights , Amazon Prime Video are paying $1 billion a year to show NFL game of Thursdays, YouTube were paying $2 billion a year to show NFL games on Sundays , but in a Philip for Apple in their first season of broadcasting MLS into Miami signed arguably the greatest footballer of all time Lionel Messi , and in June 2023 just shy of his 36th birthday , Messi announced his intention to move to Major Soccer , formerly joined in July 2023 .
At that point, it is understood Apple has already almost 1 million subscribers to their MLS offering. In the week that Messi actually joined Miami, Apple signed up 110,000 more, and by Mid-August 2023, Inter Miami Co-Owner Jorge Mas tweeted the Messi effect it real. Subscribers to MLS season pass on Apple TV have more than doubled since Messi joined, this was retweeted by Apple CEO Tim Cook. On this basis, the MLS offering was at or around 2 million subscribers by summer 2023. And there a myriad benefit to Apple TV + to be gained for Messi, they will make a four-part documentary series with him which will be publicized to his 500 million social media followers, Apple will also have access to dozens of clubs and star players for feature programming, and all of those benefits are before you consider the potential ramifications of the $3,500 mixed reality headset called the Apple Vision Pro. Apple markets the vision Pro as a spatial computer.
Users wear a Google type headset which allow the integration between the real world including physical inputs via motion gesture eye tracking and speech recognition to facilitate work projects, meetings and interactions with every Apple App. It also opens up a new way of consuming entertainment when a fully immersive experience might include an Apple TV + drama or a live sports event filling your vision effectively in wraparound, Apple started taking pre orders in January 2024 and had sold out or its entire inaugural inventory of 200,000 units within a Fortnite. Units started shipping in February with forecasts of 500,000 to a million sales in year 1. The price tag for the consumer is huge but the tech is nent .
Will MLS games soon come to Vision Pro? Who knows but having secured MLS rights until 2032, Apple are in a unique position to develop it and grow it. If it takes off one day in the not-too-distant future, you could be watching Messi if not on your iPhone or MacBook then via Apple Vision Pro, having paid your subscription by using Apple Pay and being reminded of the kickoff time by your smartwatch and you could then listen to your parents rave about the whole thing via FaceTime on their iPads.
Ali Amadghous
Sport management expert