According to Front Office Sports, fans could be viewing the College Football Playoff on a streaming service in the foreseeable future.
While ESPN and FOX appear to be the only other major competitors for TV rights, college football could look to expand where it's broadcast. The current College Football Playoff TV deal ends in 2026 and will most likely need multiple TV partners with the playoff expanding to 12 teams.
Amazon and Apple have each separately discussed acquiring a portion of the streaming rights held for the CFP. These companies would produce the broadcast on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+, respectively. Both of these streaming giants also already have experience streaming live sports events.
FOS estimates that the cost of the total streaming rights for the College Football Playoff would be around $2 billion. It remains to be seen if Amazon or Apple would be willing to purchase the entirety of the rights, though that seems unlikely.
Amazon and Apple discussing bid for College Football Playoff TV rights
It should be noted that these discussions are very much in the preliminary phase. Neither Amazon nor Apple has purchased any right for the CFP just yet. Moreover, the earliest that either service would broadcast a College Football Playoff game would be in 2026, so still a long time away.
Given that ESPN+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Peacock and more have already struck deals to broadcast live sports, though, it figures that college football, the Playoff in particular as it expands to 12 teams, would be an enticing piece of the pie. With all of these services requiring subscriptions, this would surely boost the numbers.
The end has long been coming for cable, but the demand for live sports remains as high as ever. Streaming is already a part of college football fandom now, and that could only be furthered in the near future.
