Apple has made a deal with the NFL, but the one announced early Friday morning wasn’t the kind of partnership most expected.

Apple Music will become the NFL’s new Super Bowl Halftime Show partner in the multiyear pact. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Apple Music replaces Pepsi, which had the rights to the halftime show for the prior 10 Super Bowls.

Super Bowl LVI’s halftime show had 120 million viewers with performances by Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Kendrick Lamar. The performance won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special in early September.

Apple has had previous talks with the NFL as it looks to expand its sports portfolio.

• The tech giant has shown interest in acquiring a minority stake in NFL Media, which includes NFL Network, NFL RedZone, and NFL.com.
• Apple is also a frontrunner for NFL Sunday Ticket, the package of out-of-town games that will become available after the season. The NFL is seeking $2.5 billion per season, $1 billion more than DirecTV — which has had the package exclusively since 1994 — pays in its current deal.

Next season, MLS will make its debut on Apple TV+ as part of a $2.5 billion, 10-year deal. Apple TV+ also has a deal with MLB.

Apple Shuffle 

“Music and sports hold a special place in our hearts, so we’re very excited Apple Music will be part of music and football’s biggest stage,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s VP of Apple Music and Beats.

No acts have been announced yet for Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12.

Within a day of Robert Sarver’s announcement that he is selling the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, an assortment of billionaire former CEOs have emerged as potential buyers.

Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos could reportedly consider a bid, as might former Disney CEO Bob Iger, former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and Laurene Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs.

The market for NBA teams has been active in recent years.

• The Suns were valued by Forbes last year at $1.8 billion.
• The Houston Rockets were sold to Tilman Fertitta in 2017 for $2.2 billion.
• Last year, Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore bought the Minnesota Timberwolves for $1.5 billion.

While only three people in the world can match Bezos’ net worth of $140.7 billion, per Forbes, Ellison — the seventh-richest person with $93.5 billion — would have no trouble matching a bid. Iger showed interest in buying the team last year.

Still Sarver’s Team

While Sarver owns approximately 35% of the Suns, he reportedly has the authority to sell the team in full due to his status as managing partner. He will also be in control of the sale process and the selection of bids, though the incoming owner will need to be approved by the other NBA team owners.

The sale process is expected to take several months.

While the city of Oakland is fighting to keep one team, it’s lobbying for another.

The city council passed a resolution on Tuesday calling for the WNBA to add a team in Oakland. The 12-team league is looking to add two new teams as soon as the 2024 season.

• The resolution cited the city’s existing basketball-ready arena, vacated by the Golden State Warriors before the 2019-20 season, and its shared values with the WNBA.
• The arena is situated near a train station and a highway, and has ample parking.
• The Oakland A’s play on the same site but will be leaving within the next few years, either for a new development on the Oakland waterfront or Las Vegas.

Retired WNBA legend Alana Beard is heading an effort to bring a team to Oakland.

San Francisco, Nashville, Philadelphia, Portland, and Toronto are all believed to be contenders for expansion.

A Visit From Washington

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured Oakland with mayor Libby Schaaf and Rep. Barbara Lee to see the city’s Reconnecting the Town project targeted by the $4 billion RAISE program, which supports municipal infrastructure.

The Department of Transportation is considering an additional $182.9 million funding request from Oakland to support infrastructure improvements related to the A’s proposed $12 billion stadium development. The city is not expecting to receive the full amount, after initial feedback.

Some of the Reconnecting the Town work may be close enough to the A’s proposed site to benefit the team’s project.

Everton FC is looking for a naming rights deal for its new stadium.

The Premier League club has entered an agreement with Elevate Sports Ventures to work on a revenue program that includes naming rights to the $566 million stadium, which Everton claims is the largest single-site development under construction in the U.K.

With a seating capacity of 52,888, Everton’s home in the Bramley Moore Dock area of Liverpool should garner as much interest as its current stadium.

• Goodison Park, which seats 39,572, has the maximum number of season-ticket holders allowed in the league.
• More than 20,000 fans are on a waiting list.

The waterfront stadium and “associated developments” could create around 15,000 jobs, bring more than 1.4 million visitors to Liverpool, and boost the nation’s economy by nearly $1.5 billion, according to estimates from real estate and investment firm CBRE.

The team is expected to move in time for the 2024-25 season.

In March, Everton suspended sponsorship arrangements with Russian partner USM, which held an exclusive option on the naming rights to the new stadium after its founder, Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, paid $40 million for the option in 2020.

Usmanov’s assets were frozen when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Euro 2028

England is reportedly including Everton’s new stadium in its bid with Ireland to host the Euro 2028 as the countries compete with Turkey and Italy.

UEFA is expected to make a decision on the host by September 2023.