Apple Reportedly Makes Behemoth Bid For F1 TV Rights, But Would It Be A Good Deal?

Formula 1 is still in need of a US TV deal for the 2026 season onward, and this week it was reported that Apple — the company that produced the blockbuster F1 movie — was interested in snagging those rights.

Well, now it's being reported that Apple has made an offer, and it's a big one.

According to Sportico, Apple's senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, is reported to have presented a formal offer to Liberty Media, which owns the commercial rights to Formula 1.

That bid is thought to be in the neighborhood of $180 million per year, which is about double what the series currently gets from ESPN and Disney on its current TV deal (F1 also does still have its streaming platform, F1TV, that fans can pay for to stream races).

This is, of course, a huge increase and shows that Apple wants to get in on F1 more after the success of the movie, but this deal could be a double-edged sword at best.

Apple TV is reportedly making a big offer to Formula 1 to bring the series to Apple TV+. (Getty Images)

Obviously, Liberty Media wants the most money it can get, and if this reporting is accurate, Apple wants to give a lot of it.

However, is it worth sacrificing eyeballs by making F1 races available only via streaming for more money, or should Liberty consider taking less money from another suitor that could allow the series to have a presence on cable or even broadcast TV?

Sure, streaming is becoming the norm, and traditional TV deals are becoming rarer, but not unheard of. IndyCar is in the first year of its deal with Fox Sports that puts every single race on broadcast TV (though a deal like this wouldn't work as well for F1, given how races take place around the world and sometimes at odd hours).

I think the smart move would be to play the long game and continue to fuel this growth the sport is seeing in the states… but then again, I'm not being offered a reported $180 million.