Wedbush Sees MLS as Stop on the Road to NFL for Apple

17 JUNE 2022 - Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives is seriously stoked over Apple’s deal with Major League Soccer. Earlier this week the two organizations announced a deal that’ll make the Apple TV app the home for Major League Soccer for ten-seasons, from 2023 through 2032. And Mr. Ives thinks we’re just in early innings as far as Apple’s sports plans.

A Yahoo Finance piece (via AOL, which I seriously didn’t know was still a thing…) has the Wedbush analyst saying:

They're doubling down on live sports content, and that's a big strategy for Cupertino on the content front… MLB, now MLS, that's just the start of what we see as much more aggressive content initiatives with the NFL Sunday Ticket being front and center.

Ives seems to see Amazon in Apple’s crosshairs. The report says the Prime Video proprietor:

…will start streaming Thursday Night Football this fall. On top of paying hundreds of millions to broadcasters, the company is shelling out $1 billion per season for the exclusive rights.

But NFL Sunday Ticket is the big ticket, and Ives thinks Apple will go for it. According to the analyst:

There's been a clear DNA change within Apple the last 18 months about live sports content… They recognize they have to be aggressive because of what Amazon has done with Thursday Night Football.

“…with live sports,” the analyst says, “there’s a huge window for them to expand.”

Tip Ranks lists Ives’ rating on Apple shares a “Buy.” His price target on the shares is $200.