Apple In 'Winner's Circle' For NFL Sunday Ticket Rights Versus Amazon, Says Analyst

Apple Inc AAPL analyst Dan Ives said the tech giant snagging the NFL Sunday Ticket Package could be a landmark deal.

The Apple Analyst: Ives maintained his “outperform” rating on Apple with a 12-month price target of $200.

Apple’s Golden Ticket: Ives said in a recent note, seen by Benzinga, that by not choosing to purchase a movie studio, Apple is clear that it is opting to bet on live sports programming for future success.

Ives pointed out that Apple has already snagged the Major League Baseball “Friday Night Baseball” packages games for the coming years, the announcement surrounding NFL Sunday Ticket Package could come as early as next week or sometime this summer.

“Apple looks potentially in the winners circle for the NFL Sunday Ticket Package in what would be a landmark deal for Cupertino,” said Ives.

Head to Head With Amazon: Ives noted that Apple is competing with Amazon.com, Inc AMZN for the NFL Sunday Ticket. He said the deal is valued above $2.5 billion. 

Amazon already has Thursday Night Football NFL games, which Ives said it acquired for nearly $1 billion per year. However, the Sunday NFL Ticket package is the “crown jewel” for streaming live sports content, according to Ives.

Ives tweeted on Thursday that live sports is “front and center” for Apple CEO Tim Cook and his company. 

Apple vs Amazon on this NFL deal. Be a huge win for Apple on streaming content front. Live sports front and center for Cook & co.

— Dan Ives (@DivesTech) June 2, 2022

Ives said Apple’s strength includes having roughly $200 billion of cash on its balance sheet and it could bid on upcoming sports packages besides NFL.

Apple Price Action: On Thursday, Apple shares rose 1.7% to $151.21 in the regular session and gained 0.2% in the after-hours trading, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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