More football might be coming to Apple TV, but not the one you want

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Dutch soccer could be the next live sport to arrive on Apple TV, according to a new report. The company is said to be bidding for the broadcasting rights to the Dutch Eredivisie.

The Eredivisie is the Dutch equivalent of the English Premier League and plays host to all of the best teams and players in the Netherlands. The news also comes after Apple confirmed a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal to stream Major League Soccer and is in talks to pick up NFL streaming rights, too.

All the sport

iCreate reports that Apple is in discussions about picking up Dutch soccer from 2025. The current broadcasting rights sit with ESPN, but Amazon and Netflix are also thought to be keen on getting involved as well.

Apple's signing of rights to stream MLS games shows that the company is willing to spend big money to get what it wants. It's thought that one company has already proposed a deal that would cost up to 200 million euros per year, with Apple likely to have to better that proposal.

Beyond soccer, Apple is in continued talks about signing NFL Sunday Ticket, with other companies including Disney, Amazon, and even Google involved. It isn't yet clear how far Apple is willing to go in its pursuit of spots, but we can only imagine that the MLS, NFL, and Eredivisie would just be the start. Apple would likely also look to pick up the streaming rights for other international soccer leagues, potentially including the lucrative Premier League.

Apple recently announced pricing for its MLS streaming service, with Apple TV Plus subscribers getting a slight discount. MLS Season Pass will cost $14.99 per month or $99 per season with that falling to $12.99 and $79 for those subscribing to the Apple TV Plus service.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.