Apple released a new app today, Apple Sports, for real-time scores and stats and, likely, to promote live sports broadcasts including Major League Soccer on Apple TV. North American sports leagues currently included are MLS, NBA, and NHL, plus NCAA basketball. The app includes a mixture of European soccer leagues, but at the moment there is no NFL, MLB, UFC, or Formula 1.
Only available in the U.S., UK, and Canada, the app quickly shot to the top of its category and is currently the most-downloaded sports app in the iOS App Store. But it’s also unlike every other sports app I’ve ever used.
Part of the reason is that while Apple says new leagues will become available over time, including the NFL and MLB, there’s no car racing sports like NASCAR or Formula 1, and no combat sports such as boxing or MMA. Another part of the reason is that Apple Sports has absolutely no editorial content or commentary: just the bare bones datapoints you can get off a stat sheet like scores, team rankings, box scores, and play-by-play notes.
That’s why there’s no NFL or MLB in the Apple Sports app at the moment: those leagues are not in season. It’s an open question whether Formula 1, NASCAR, UFC, or other sports will be added at some point.
The complete lack of editorial content is an odd choice, because sports fans still follow the teams they love and the players they watch in the offseason, looking for trades, contracts, and other news about the team’s preparation for the coming year. Leaving this out is a big miss: it’s unlikely the average sports fan will switch from their current sports app to get less value.
There’s one exception to the no editorial content policy, in a sense: betting odds do appear for each game.
Interestingly, the fine print at the end of Apple’s press release says you can turn betting odds off in the settings, but that appears to be incorrect. The app has no settings capability itself (”Manage” is only for leagues and teams you wish to follow), and the phone-wide Settings app in iOS, which also offers app settings for installed apps, does not list the Apple Sports app.
(I’ve asked Apple representatives about the seeming oversight, and will update this article when they comment.)
It seems clear that Apple released this app to complement the company’s live sports push on Apple TV. Fans can “tap to go to the Apple TV app to watch live games from Apple and connected streaming apps,” Apple says.
And it’s probably not a coincidence that the app’s icon is a soccer field (sorry, Europeans: football pitch). Apple signed a 10-year deal with Major League Soccer in 2022 that reportedly costs Apple $250 million a year. Anything the company can do to promote customer engagement with MLS content, then, is probably a win.
One good thing about the Apple Sports app being so barebones: there’s no advertising, and it’s very quick to load. Without much content keep people in the app, however, it may struggle to maintain an active user base.
