Apple has its first sports rights deal secured. Tim Cook announced today that the company has a deal with Major League Baseball that will put two games on Apple TV+ every Friday night. The multi-year deal will begin whenever the 2022 season finally starts. John Ourand reports that the financial terms of the deal remain private.
The Friday night games will be Apple exclusives. They will not air on the team’s local RSNs. The league is reportedly working on a similar deal with Peacock.
“We’re prioritizing reach — we need to reach our next generation of fans and people that find themselves outside of the bundle,” said MLB Chief Revenue Officer Noah Garden. “That is the most important aspect of this deal.”
It isn’t just live games included in the deal. Apple TV+ is adding plenty of baseball shoulder content too. The streaming service will launch a nightly show called MLB Big Inning featuring highlights and live look-ins on games around the league. There will also be a streaming channel on the service featuring content 24 hours per day.
Apple has been the subject of rumors in rights negotiations for a long time. The company has plenty of money to spend if it wants to become a real player in the space. Every league across every sport has to be happy to finally see evidence that the the company’s interest in sports is real.
Friday night baseball doubleheaders will be available across the world. Apple users in the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the U.K. will have access to the games.
