On December 22, 2022, Google announced a deal that shocked traditional sports broadcasters. YouTube would pay the NFL $2 billion annually for seven years to exclusively stream NFL Sunday Ticket, the out-of-market package that DirecTV had controlled since 1994.
Total deal value: $14 billion. For a product most analysts predicted would lose money.
Six months earlier, Apple signed a 10-year deal with Major League Soccer worth $250 million annually, making Apple TV+ the exclusive global home for every MLS match. Total investment: $2.5 billion for a league that averaged 343,000 viewers per match.
Combined, Google and Apple committed $16.5 billion to sports rights between 2022-2023. Neither company had ever operated as a primary sports broadcaster. Both deals looked financially insane.
Then the results came in. YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket gained 1.3 million subscribers in its first season, generating $450 million in revenue while costing $2 billion annually. Apple’s MLS Season Pass attracted fewer than 300,000 subscribers at $15/month, losing an estimated $150-200 million per year.
On paper, both deals failed spectacularly. In reality, they’re reshaping the entire $76 billion sports broadcasting industry.
This is why the world’s largest tech companies are pouring billions into sports despite losing money on every game they stream.
The YouTube NFL Sunday Ticket Strategy: Losing $1.5 Billion to Win Streaming
The Deal Structure:
- Cost to Google: $2 billion annually (2023-2029, 7 years total)
- Total investment: $14 billion
- Product: All out-of-market NFL Sunday games on FOX and CBS
- Distribution: YouTube TV (add-on) and YouTube Primetime Channels (standalone)
- Previous owner: DirecTV ($1.5 billion annually, required satellite subscription)
Pricing (2024 Season):
- YouTube TV Base Plan + Sunday Ticket: $349/season (early bird pricing)
- YouTube TV Base Plan + Sunday Ticket + RedZone: $389/season
- Standalone Sunday Ticket (no YouTube TV): $449/season
- Standalone + RedZone: $489/season
- YouTube TV Base subscription: $72.99/month
For context: DirecTV charged $293.94 for Sunday Ticket in 2022. YouTube raised prices 19% while removing the satellite TV requirement that previously limited distribution.
The Economics Don’t Work (On Purpose)
Year 1 (2023 Season) Financial Performance:
- Subscribers: ~1.3 million (reported by industry analysts)
- Average price paid: ~$340 (mix of early bird, full price, standalone)
- Revenue generated: ~$442 million
- Cost to Google: $2 billion
- Net loss: $1.558 billion
Google lost $1,198 per Sunday Ticket subscriber in year one. That’s worse than most startup burn rates.
But here’s why Google didn’t care:
YouTube TV Subscriber Growth:
- YouTube TV subscribers before Sunday Ticket (June 2022): 5 million
- YouTube TV subscribers after Sunday Ticket launch (December 2023): 6.5+ million
- New subscribers driven by Sunday Ticket: 1.5+ million
- YouTube TV monthly price: $72.99
- Annual revenue per subscriber: $875.88
The Real Math:
- 1.5 million new YouTube TV subscribers x $875.88/year = $1.314 billion in recurring annual revenue
- Sunday Ticket loss: $1.558 billion
- Net first-year impact: -$244 million
But those 1.5 million YouTube TV subscribers don’t cancel after football season. They stay subscribed year-round, paying $72.99 monthly for access to 100+ channels. Over the seven-year Sunday Ticket deal, those 1.5 million subscribers generate $9.19 billion in cumulative revenue.
Google spent $14 billion on Sunday Ticket and expects to generate $9-11 billion in new YouTube TV revenue, plus advertising revenue, plus YouTube platform engagement benefits.
The loss shrinks from $1.558 billion in year one to break-even or profit by years 5-7.
The Apple MLS Strategy: Building the Sports Ecosystem
Apple’s Major League Soccer deal looked even worse than Google’s NFL investment. At least NFL Sunday Ticket targets 20+ million hardcore football fans. MLS averages 343,000 viewers per match, competing against NFL, NBA, MLB, and international soccer leagues.
The Apple-MLS Deal (Signed June 2022):
- Original term: 10 years (2023-2032)
- Annual payment to MLS: $250 million
- Total investment: $2.5 billion
- Exclusive rights: Every MLS match globally
- Product: MLS Season Pass ($15/month or $99/season)
- Some matches simulcast on: FOX Sports, Univision (select games)
Revised Deal (November 2025):
- New term: 7 years (2023-2029, shortened from 10 years)
- Apple waived contractual opt-out after 2027 season
- MLS Season Pass discontinued as of 2026 season
- All MLS matches now included free with Apple TV+ base subscription ($9.99/month)
Why Apple Restructured
The MLS Season Pass failed commercially. Industry estimates suggest fewer than 300,000 subscribers at peak, generating $27-45 million annually against Apple’s $250 million payment to MLS.
Annual loss: $205-223 million on MLS rights alone.
Instead of cutting losses, Apple doubled down by making MLS free with Apple TV+, betting that soccer fans will subscribe to the $9.99/month base service for far more than just MLS matches.
The New Strategy
Before (MLS Season Pass, 2023-2025):
- MLS Season Pass: $15/month (separate from Apple TV+)
- Apple TV+ base subscription: $9.99/month
- Total cost for MLS + streaming service: $24.99/month
- Result: ~300,000 subscribers = $4.5 million/month ($54 million/year)
After (Integrated Model, 2026+):
- MLS included free with Apple TV+ ($9.99/month)
- All Apple TV+ subscribers get every MLS match
- MLS becomes content library alongside Ted Lasso, Severance, Foundation
- Apple bets MLS drives new subscriptions and reduces churn
The Math Apple Is Banking On:
If integrating MLS into Apple TV+ adds just 500,000 new subscribers at $9.99/month, that generates $59.9 million annually, more than the $54 million MLS Season Pass generated. If it reduces subscriber churn by retaining an additional 1 million subscribers who would have canceled, that saves $119.9 million in annual revenue.
Apple’s betting MLS content is worth more as an included Apple TV+ benefit than as a standalone $15/month product nobody wants to buy.
Apple’s Failed MLB Bet: When Sports Streaming Goes Wrong
Not every tech company sports bet succeeds. Apple learned this lesson with Major League Baseball.
Apple-MLB Deal (2022):
- Term: 7 years (2022-2028)
- Annual payment: $85 million
- Product: Friday Night Baseball (exclusive doubleheader every Friday)
- Distribution: Free with Apple TV+ subscription ($9.99/month)
- Production: Apple handles entire broadcast, no commercials
What Went Wrong:
In August 2025, reports emerged that Apple would lose MLB rights three years early, with NBC acquiring both Friday Night Baseball and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball for the 2026-2028 seasons. Apple’s deal included an opt-out clause after years 1-2, but that window passed.
Why NBC Took Over:
- NBC wants Sunday night sports year-round (NFL in fall/winter, NBA in winter/spring, MLB in spring/summer)
- Apple’s Friday Night Baseball generated minimal viewership (estimates: 200,000-500,000 per game)
- MLB prefers traditional broadcaster with promotional capabilities across NBC, Peacock, USA Network
- NBC reportedly paying $100-150 million annually for Friday + Sunday packages
Apple’s $85 million annual MLB investment generated effectively zero subscriber growth. Baseball fans already had Apple TV+ subscriptions or weren’t interested in the service beyond watching Friday games for free.
The lesson: Sports content must either drive subscriptions or provide retention value. Apple’s Friday Night Baseball did neither.
Amazon’s Thursday Night Football Blueprint
While Google and Apple experimented with niche or expensive sports packages, Amazon perfected the streaming sports model with Thursday Night Football.
Amazon-NFL Deal (2023-2033):
- Term: 11 years
- Annual payment: ~$1 billion ($11 billion total)
- Product: 15 Thursday Night Football games annually (regular season)
- Distribution: Prime Video (included with $14.99/month Prime membership or $8.99/month Prime Video standalone)
- Additional: 1 preseason game, 1 Wild Card playoff game annually
The Results (2024 Season Performance):
- Average viewership: 15.7 million per game (up 11% from 2023)
- Median viewer age: 47.5 years (8 years younger than NFL’s TV audience at 55.3 years)
- Ad revenue: $575,000 per 30-second spot
- Advertisers: AT&T, Wingstop, Mercedes-Benz paying premium rates
Why Amazon’s Model Works
Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football doesn’t need to convert new Prime members. Amazon already has 200+ million Prime members globally who get access to NFL games as part of their existing membership. The NFL content serves three purposes:
- Retention: Prime members watching TNF are less likely to cancel Prime
- Engagement: More time on Prime Video means more exposure to Amazon’s content library and shopping features
- Advertising: Amazon generated $433 million in Prime Video ad revenue in 2024 (first year with ads), projected to double in 2025
Amazon loses money on the $1 billion NFL rights, but gains immeasurably through reduced churn, increased engagement, and advertising revenue that traditional broadcasters can’t match.
The Real Reason: It’s Not About Sports, It’s About Subscriptions
Google’s YouTube TV, Apple’s Apple TV+, and Amazon’s Prime Video aren’t sports broadcasters. They’re subscription services that happen to include sports.
The Traditional Sports Broadcasting Model
ESPN’s Business (Cable Era):
- ESPN receives ~$9.42 per cable subscriber per month (carriage fees)
- 74 million cable subscribers (2024, down from 99 million in 2018)
- Monthly revenue: $697 million from carriage fees alone
- Annual rights costs: $8+ billion (NFL, NBA, MLB, CFP)
- Model: Charge cable companies, who charge subscribers, who subsidize sports for everyone
This model is collapsing. ESPN lost 25 million subscribers in six years (2018-2024), representing $283 million in monthly revenue, or $3.4 billion annually.
The Streaming Sports Model
YouTube TV:
- Base price: $72.99/month (100+ channels including ESPN, FOX Sports, NBC Sports)
- Subscribers: 6.5+ million
- Monthly revenue: $474 million ($5.69 billion annually)
- NFL Sunday Ticket: Add-on generating $450+ million/year
- Total: $6.14 billion annual revenue
YouTube TV isn’t competing with ESPN. It’s replacing cable television entirely. The Sunday Ticket deal legitimizes YouTube TV as a sports destination, driving subscriptions that dwarf Sunday Ticket losses.
Amazon Prime Video:
- Prime membership: $14.99/month or $139/year
- Prime Video standalone: $8.99/month
- Prime members: 200+ million globally
- Thursday Night Football: Retention tool, not revenue generator
- Advertising: $433 million (2024), $800 million (2025 projected)
Amazon’s spending $1 billion annually on TNF not to sell NFL broadcasts, but to keep Prime members subscribed and engaged with content that drives shopping behavior.
Apple TV+:
- Base price: $9.99/month
- Subscribers: 25+ million estimated (Apple doesn’t disclose)
- MLS, MLB (formerly), NCAA: Retention and differentiation tools
- Apple’s goal: Reach 100+ million subscribers at $9.99/month = $12 billion annual recurring revenue
Apple isn’t trying to profit from sports. It’s using sports to compete with Netflix ($247 million subscribers), Disney+ ($150 million), and Amazon Prime Video for streaming dominance.
The Amazon NBA Strategy: The Next Evolution
Amazon’s 11-year NBA deal (2025-2036) reveals where streaming sports is heading.
Amazon-NBA Deal (Starts 2025-26 Season):
- Term: 11 years
- Annual payment: Estimated $1.8-2 billion (part of NBA’s $76 billion total deal)
- Regular season games: 66 games on Prime Video
- Includes: Opening week doubleheader, Black Friday game, NBA Cup (all knockout rounds), Play-In Tournament
- Playoff rights: First and second-round games, Conference Finals (6 of 11 years)
- International: Worldwide rights except China and select European countries
NBA’s Total New Deal (2025-2036):
- ESPN/ABC: $2.6 billion annually (80 games)
- NBC/Peacock: $2.5 billion annually (100 games)
- Amazon Prime Video: $1.8-2 billion annually (66 games)
- Total: $76 billion over 11 years ($6.9 billion annually)
Amazon’s paying $1.8+ billion for just 66 regular season games plus select playoffs. That’s $27.3 million per regular season game.
Why Amazon Pays This:
The median NBA viewer age (42 years) is significantly younger than NFL (50+ years) or MLB (57+ years). Amazon targets the 18-49 demographic that traditional advertisers pay premiums to reach.
Amazon’s NBA Ad Revenue Projections:
- 66 games per season
- Average 3 hours per game (pregame, game, postgame)
- 40 minutes of ads per game at $575,000 per 30-second spot
- Revenue per game: $23 million
- Season total: $1.52 billion in ad revenue alone
Amazon’s NBA deal nearly breaks even on advertising before accounting for subscription retention, engagement, and international reach.
Google’s Next Target: MLB and NBA Digital Rights
Google isn’t stopping with NFL Sunday Ticket. The company’s exploring additional sports investments targeting younger demographics.
Rumored Google Interests (2025-2026):
- MLB.TV streaming package (out-of-market games): ESPN reportedly acquiring for integration into ESPN+ app
- NBA digital rights: Google bid but lost to Amazon’s $1.8B annual offer
- Formula 1: Reported $2 billion deal exploration (would start 2025 or 2026)
- College football: Potential Big Ten/SEC conference deals as media rights come up for renewal
Google’s advantage: YouTube’s 2.7 billion monthly active users globally provide built-in distribution that traditional broadcasters can’t match. Sports content on YouTube TV drives subscriptions while highlights, analysis, and fan content on free YouTube generate billions of ad impressions.
Why Tech Companies Will Win Sports Broadcasting
Traditional sports broadcasters are trapped in a dying business model. ESPN, FOX Sports, NBC Sports, and CBS Sports pay billions for sports rights, then monetize through cable carriage fees and advertising. As cable subscribers flee (25 million lost since 2018), the model collapses.
Tech companies operate on completely different economics:
Traditional Broadcaster Model:
- Pay $X billion for sports rights
- Monetize through: (A) Cable carriage fees, (B) Advertising
- Profit = Revenue – Rights Cost – Production Cost
- Result: Declining as cable dies
Tech Company Model:
- Pay $X billion for sports rights
- Monetize through: (A) Subscription acquisition, (B) Subscription retention, (C) Advertising, (D) Ecosystem engagement
- Profit = (Subscription growth value) + (Reduced churn value) + (Ad revenue) + (Platform engagement value) – Rights Cost
- Result: Break-even or profit even with “losses” on rights
The Math That Changes Everything
ESPN spends $3 billion on NBA rights (hypothetically):
- Must generate $3B+ in revenue from NBA content alone to profit
- Loses money if NBA viewership declines
Amazon spends $1.8 billion on NBA rights:
- Needs to retain 750,000 Prime members who would have canceled ($14.99/month x 12 months x 750,000 = $134 million/year)
- Needs to add 1 million new Prime members ($14.99/month x 12 months x 1M = $180 million/year)
- Needs to generate $1.5 billion in advertising revenue ($575K per ad spot across 66 games)
- Total value: $1.814 billion, covering the rights cost
And that’s before accounting for increased engagement with Prime Video content, shopping behavior changes, and international subscriber growth.
ESPN can’t compete with this model because ESPN is only a broadcaster. Amazon is an everything company.
The same applies to Google (advertising, cloud services, hardware, Android ecosystem) and Apple (iPhones, services, hardware, ecosystem lock-in).
What Happens Next
By 2030, tech companies will control majority of major sports rights:
Current State (2025):
- Amazon: NFL Thursday Night Football, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, NWSL
- Google/YouTube: NFL Sunday Ticket
- Apple: MLS (former MLB)
- Netflix: WWE, occasional events
- Traditional TV: Still dominates NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college sports
Projected 2030:
- Amazon: Expands NBA/NFL packages, targets MLB or NHL
- Google: Adds MLB.TV, targets college football, international soccer
- Apple: Rebounds with NFL or NBA package, FIFA tournaments
- Netflix: Occasional mega-events, avoids weekly programming
- Traditional TV: Loses NFL Sunday packages, secondary NBA/MLB rights
The Tipping Point:
When ESPN launches its standalone streaming service (ESPN+/ESPN App integration in 2025), it will compete directly with YouTube TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+ for monthly subscription dollars.
Consumers choosing between:
- ESPN standalone: $20-25/month (sports only)
- YouTube TV: $72.99/month (sports + 100 channels)
- Amazon Prime: $14.99/month (sports + movies + free shipping)
- Apple TV+: $9.99/month (sports + originals)
ESPN’s standalone service will face the same problem cable faces: why pay $20-25 for only sports when $14.99 gets you sports, movies, shows, and free shipping?
Tech companies aren’t entering sports broadcasting to compete with ESPN. They’re using sports to kill cable television, and ESPN dies with cable.
That’s why Google and Apple are spending $20 billion on sports they’ll never profit from directly. They’re profiting from everything else.
