Real Life 'Ted Lasso'? Apple May Get Into English Football - Just Not AFC Richmond - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple Inc AAPL weighs bidding for the streaming rights to a range of English football games.
The rights would allow Apple to show Premier League games in the U.K. and lower league matches run by the English Football League, Bloomberg reports.
The move could pit the iPhone maker against the likes of Comcast Corp's CMCSA Sky, Warner Bros Discovery Inc WBD, which has a deal with BT Sports, and Amazon.Com, Inc's AMZN Prime Video.
Apple had forged a $2.5 billion 10-year deal with Major League Soccer to show games on its TV+ platform. Apple also streams Major League Baseball on Friday nights.
Apple tapped sports media veterans Jim DeLorenzo and Frank Uddo in building its streaming platform, who can evaluate 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 META.
He said that offering the games may be a more effective way to attract viewers overseas than other fares.
The EFL has a deal with Sky, BT Sport, and Amazon for live games that runs through the 2024-2025 season. The Premier League sold domestic rights for 2022 to 2025 for $6.3 billion.
Amazon has rapidly expanded its sports broadcasting franchise with Premier League rights, U.S. Open tennis tournament, the Champions League tournament, NFL.
Apple had been relatively passive in winning subscribers versus Netflix Inc NFLX and Walt Disney Co DIS.
Apple gradually started monetizing its sports services. It forged its baseball deal in 2022, agreeing to show Friday night games for free. This season, Apple began to charge to watch the coverage.
Apple started showing MLS games last month and tapped the deal to expand into the TV advertising market.
Price Action: AAPL shares traded higher by 1.86% at $160.77 on the last check Thursday.

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