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Closing Shot: Still Waiting For Apple to Bite

Fifteen years ago, the tech giant unveiled its video iPod, leading to bold predictions that it would go after sports media rights. But since then, Apple and other tech companies have largely remained on the sidelines.

As soon as Apple’s Steve Jobs showed off the video iPod in 2005, sports properties started courting the company to see if it wanted to bid on media rights.getty images

When the PGA Tour signed its media rights deals earlier this spring, it stayed with traditional media companies. MLB’s media rights are staying with traditional media companies through at least 2028. The NFL’s top packages are going to stay with traditional media companies, according to several sources.

For the past 15 years, sports leagues have talked about the possibility of deep-pocketed tech companies bidding for their rights. Leagues continue to have conversations with companies including Amazon, Facebook and Google. So far, they have not been able to get these tech companies to buy a significant package.

This has been a recurring theme since 2005, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs stood on a stage in San Jose, Calif., and unveiled a video iPod featuring a 2.5-inch color screen. Within weeks of its launch, executives from the top sports leagues descended on Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters to test Apple’s appetite for acquiring sports rights.

The head of MLB Advanced Media at the time, Bob Bowman, was quoted in these pages as saying, “I would assume they’re talking to just about every content provider out there and expect we’ll be talking to them soon, too. It’s a great device.”

Those talks have yet to bear fruit. 

The Pac-12 garnered headlines last fall when its executives revealed that they had been talking with Apple about a potential rights deal. Sources said Apple had talked with the conference about setting up a multiple feed approach, with separate feeds devoted to each school. In one meeting, Apple executives said they would be interested in a primary media rights package, which does not become available until 2024.

Those talks have cooled, but the Pac-12 continues to harbor hope that they will pick up as its current deals with ESPN and Fox Sports come to an end.

It makes sense that leagues and conferences want tech companies to become more involved in the bidding process. After all, multiple bidders translate to higher rights fees.

But traditional media companies have been aggressive at keeping tech companies at bay, at least as far as sports programming is concerned. Disney, CBS and NBC have launched their own streaming services in ESPN+, Paramount+ and Peacock. All three have been active in putting sports programming on those services.

When the PGA Tour starts its deal with ESPN+ in 2022, it will have four live feeds covering up to eight groups — an offering traditional television can’t touch.

The PGA Tour had conversations with tech companies about those rights. But as tour Chief Media Officer Rick Anderson said, “At the end of the day, as we’ve seen with a lot of properties … you just haven’t seen them get across the line yet in a big way.”

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