Apple’s new Apple Sports app provides live scores, stats, betting odds, and direct streaming access for various sports
Key Takeaways from Apple Sports App Launch 🚀
- New App Alert 📱: Apple unveils “Apple Sports”, a one-stop app for scores, stats, and betting odds across major sports leagues.
- League Coverage 🏀⚽🏒: Features NBA, NHL, NCAA, Premier League, MLS, and more. Future updates to include MLB, NFL, and others.
- Stream Integration 📺: Seamlessly connects with Apple TV Plus and other streaming services for live game watching.
- Betting Odds, No Bets 📊❌: Offers betting odds but stays clear of actual betting functionalities. Option to hide betting info available.
- Apple in Sports 🍏🏟️: Marks Apple’s deep dive into live sports, adding to MLS Season Pass and Friday Night Baseball.
Here’s a breakdown of the most important and useful iPhone apps right now.
Apple’s new sports-focused venture, an app called Apple Sports, is designed to bring everything a sports’ fans want and need inside a single application for iPhone.
The Apple Sports App Does Not Allow Betting
The only caveat? While there is plenty of betting odds, the app DOES NOT support actual betting.
Unlike in the UK, betting is still something of a faux pas in many states in the USA, so Apple’s focus is on data, odds, scores, and access to live streaming of major sporting events, either through Apple TV+ or other streaming platforms.
At launch, the app covers a wide range of leagues including NBA, NHL, NCAA, Premier League, MLS (which Apple has exclusive streaming rights to), Bundesliga, LaLiga, Liga MX, Ligue 1, and Serie A.
Reports suggest Apple has plans to include MLB, NFL, NCAAF, NWSL, and WNBA inside future updates, although no specific timelines were given. And you can now download the app for free here.
Apple Wants To Become A Player In The Sports World
The release of the app bulks out Apple’s expanding reach into sports. Back in 2022, Apple launched its MLS Season Pass for soccer streaming and Friday Night Baseball broadcasts.
The Sports App forms part of Apple’s larger plan to take a more active role in the multi-billion dollar world of live sports which is currently dominated by cable networks and, in the UK, Sky TV.
Apple has also been linked to a deal with Liberty Media, the current owners of Formula 1 (F1), to bring F1 exclusively to Apple TV+.
And this is said to be a “global deal” too which, given Sky’s current stake in the sport, creates a whole range of questions that currently have no answers. Especially since Sky has now inked a deal with Liberty for exclusive rights to F1 until 2029.
The alleged deal between Apple and Liberty Media, said to be worth $2 billion a year is not yet officially official, although sources close to Apple confirm the company is keen on securing F1 for Apple TV+ – whether it gets “global exclusivity” remains to be seen.
Given Sky’s 2029 deal, though, it doesn’t seem likely – Sky pays a reported $28 billion a year for Formula 1. This means one of two things: Apple’s deal is a no-go or Apple is pushing for US-exclusive rights to Formula 1 races.
Bottomline? Apple wants a bigger piece of the global sports market. It has the cash reserves to do it, and with Apple TV+ it has a platform on which to stream it. The only problem? Breaking apart decades-old relationships between sports companies and broadcasters.
