Apple is reportedly doubling down on its live sports activities through a unique deal with global football governing body FIFA, which would give it global television rights for a new tournament.
The TV deal could be announced as early as this month, while the tournament will be held in the US next summer, the reported New York Timesciting three people familiar with the matter.
The agreement with Apple would be unique for FIFA, which typically makes deals with various TV providers in different countries for global tournaments such as the World Cup.
In contrast, the Apple deal could reportedly forego free-to-air rights, meaning the tournament could only be available to Apple TV+ subscribers – a point that FIFA says has raised concerns among some of FIFA’s senior executives . Time.
“As a general practice, FIFA does not confirm or deny commercial discussions,” a FIFA spokesperson said Fortune.
Apple struck a similar exclusive 10-year deal last year to secure the streaming rights to Major League Soccer for a price tag of $2.5 billion. The deal, which Apple called MLS Season Pass, was progressive for the tech company. Apple TV+ subscriptions jumped by more than 100,000 in a single day, up from about 6,000 the day before, after World Cup winner Lionel Messi played his first match with MLS Club Inter Miami CF in June. Wall Street Journal reported.
While Apple doesn’t disclose revenue for Apple TV+, the services segment it belongs to will have netted the company $85.2 billion in 2023, up 9% from $78.1 billion the year before, according to the latest The company’s 10K filing with the Securities. and Exchange Committee.
Competition for live sports has become fiercer recently as streaming companies strive to grow live sports. Peacock streamed its third exclusive National Football League game in March, and Amazon Prime just completed the second year of a $1 billion per season deal to stream the NFL’s Thursday Night Football programming. Apple has also recently increased its interest in live sports deals.
The tech company is competing with other streamers such as Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube and Netflix to secure the rights to some NBA games. Athletic reported Monday. Apple also signed a streaming rights deal with Major League Baseball in 2022.
The new World Cup-style tournament, which FIFA previously said would be called the Mundial de Clubes FIFA (although that name is reportedly under review), will feature 32 teams. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has long pushed for a competition in which some of the world’s best football clubs would play against each other every four years. Major clubs such as FC Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain FC and Serie A champions Inter Milan are already qualified to participate, according to FIFA.