Apple is in “substantial talks” to broadcast Major League Baseball (MLB) games next season, according to the New York Post. Games would be shown via TV+.
Apple TV+ Could Broadcast Weekday MLB Games
The package up for discussion is weekday national games. Until recently these were aired by ESPN. While MLB is understood to have discussed broadcasting games with the likes of Amazon and Barstool Sports, it seems Apple TV+ is going to win out. Neither party had commented publicly at the time of this writing.
There have long been rumors about Apple TV+ making a live-sports play and it seems a very likely next step. Baseball would be a good entry point. The financial commitment would not likely be huge – smaller than the one between Amazon and the NFL, which is valued at over US1 billion per year. Furthermore, Apple and MLB have a long-standing relationship. The sports league’s app was amongst the first available on the App Store when it launched in 2008.
Charlotte:
Having been stranded in the USA since the pandemic, I have come to appreciate the game of baseball (the Ken Burns series was a tremendous education, for anyone interested in the game), and have since become a fan of baseball’s two most storied teams, the NY Yankees and the Dodgers (formerly Brooklyn cum LA). I even subscribed to the MLB in order to watch games of choice wherever played, beginning with the 2020 World Series (Dodgers over Tampa Bay).
It would be great to see Apple TV hosting this quintessentially American sport (it’s definitely nothing like Cricket or a variant of stick ball – thoroughly debunked by Ken Burns’ series), although it is not clear what is exactly on offer.
Your write up suggests that other games could be pursued down the road. My son, who used to be an avid Chelsea fan, and followed the English Premier League when we lived in Asia, now is a huge Baltimore Ravens (American football) fan, along with his mum (yours truly cannot get there – I used to play rugby for my school, but American football is way too slow and boring – advertisements and on-field committee meetings interrupted by a few seconds of violence). American football, the USA’s most lucrative sport, would be a huge win, were Apple to go that route.
Looking forward to hearing/seeing more about Apple and the MLB.