Apple is the next sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show.
The National Football League announced a new partnership with Apple on Thursday night that includes the rights to the 12-Minute show, one of music’s biggest annual events. The tech giant (Nasdaq: AAPL) is paying nearly $50 million a year over a five-year period, according to a person familiar with the terms, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the details are private.
Apple takes over from Pepsi, which declined to renew its part-time deal after a decade as title sponsor. The news comes as the NFL continues to buy its Sunday Ticket broadcast product, with Apple as one of the main contenders.
An NFL representative declined to comment on the terms. An Apple representative did not immediately respond to an after-hours email seeking comment.
“We couldn’t think of a more appropriate partner for the world’s most-watched musical performance than Apple Music, a service that entertains, inspires and motivates millions of people around the world through the intersection of music and technology,” Nana-Yaw Asamoah, senior vice president of NFL partner strategy, said in a statement.
The nearly $50 million annual fee is what the NFL was looking for when it started buying the rights. It is unclear what Pepsi paid during its 10 years with the rights (the company remains a league partner outside of the halftime show). Ameriquest Mortgage Co. paid $15 million in 2005 to sponsor the halftime show after Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s infamous performance. Bridgestone was paying around $10 million a year before Pepsi.
Apple’s rights will kick off this season with the Feb. 12 Super Bowl in Arizona. A halftime act has yet to be announced. Recent performances have included The Weeknd, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Dr. Dre and Eminem.
The show, which one marketing pundit called a “show inside another show,” is enjoying eyeballs drawn to the game, as well as interest from non-football fans. The performance earlier this year drew more than 120 million viewers, according to the NFL.
The league entered 2022 with more than 30 league-wide sponsors, a group that includes Pepsi (Nasdaq: PEP), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD), Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).
The NFL is the richest sports league in the world and its business continues to grow. Last season, the league’s domestic revenue – from media, sponsorships and other royalties – topped $11 billion for the first time ever. And that’s before the NFL’s new $105 billion broadcast deals take effect next season.
Each team received a check for $345 million as a share of this national revenue. That share is expected to exceed $400 million when the new media deals begin.