The Streaming Revolution Begins: How Apple Took A Chance On Broadcasting Sports

Courtesy: Apple

This is a follow up to the feature story: “Streaming: How Digital Technology Has Taken Over Broadcasting From A Fan, Business, and Broadcasting Perspective”

Our prior story took a look at how streaming has affected many people, from the fan, business, and broadcasting perspective. Now, we take a look at one of the giants of streaming, and how they are faring broadcasting sports.

Apple first began to broadcast sports beginning in 2022, with the launch of Friday Night Baseball. This series was brought on by ESPN reducing their schedule at that time of Major League Baseball games. Apple seen this as their first foray into sports, as the NFL was coming up for negotiations later that year. Unfortunately for Apple, the NFL decided on a Thursday Night package with Amazon’s Prime Video platform for Thursday Night Football. There was talk that Apple may wanted to stream the Pac 12 Conference for football, that never came to pass, and the conference ultimately restructured in 2026 with only two original teams and eight teams from the Mountain West.

Later on that year, Apple was able to get its biggest get yet, a 10 year deal with Major League Soccer to broadcast every match for the league, making it the first time a professional league putting all of their content digitally. When the package began in February 2023, every match was available on Apple TV for a separate price of $99, or $12.99/month. This pricing angered many of the loyal fans that the league had, considering there was no local option for any team and everything was behind the Apple wall. The league and Apple scrapped this pricing at the beginning of the 2026 season, making all of the matches available to all Apple TV subscribers at no additional price.

Formula One racing is the newest league to get into the Apple game. The racing giant signed on to Apple after leaving longtime home, ESPN. The deal comes after the success of the F1 movie, which would ultimately head to Apple TV after showing in theaters around the world. While every race of the league has been on Apple, there has been some concessions. Netflix, which aired the popular documentary series Drive To Survive, negotiated a deal with Apple to simulcast the Canadian Grand Prix, while also giving Apple an opportunity to air the next season of Drive To Survive in conjunction of the F1 coverage that they already have.

Ultimately Apple has been more laid back than both Prime Video and YouTube when it comes to rights. Apple main mantra has been wanting to have everything under their umbrella, but hasn’t been able to make that happen with other sports. Regardless of how many may feel about Apple, the tech giant will continue to have a footprint in the sports streaming world.

Streaming: How Digital Technology Has Taken Over Broadcasting, From A Fan, Business, And Broadcasting Perspective

Streaming has become a fabric of our everyday lives. From downloading our favorite podcast, to watching our favorite shows nightly, the odds of someone not streaming now are highly unlikely. But how has streaming affected fans of sports teams, local bars, and even the broadcasters that brings fans the action daily?

This report goes in depth on how streaming sports has become so large, that it has indeed has an effect on everyone, good or bad. Whether you are a huge fan of sports that watch or listens to every one of your teams games, work in establishments that show sports and bring in business because of it, or if you’re a local play-by-play broadcaster, the role that streaming has taken in the last six years cannot be denied, and the technology just continues to grow.

From The Fans’ Perspective

“I feel like streaming has provided access more than I’ve ever had”

For close to a decade now, streaming has made content easy to consume, and for fans of sports, it has created a bigger outlet to watch and listen to their favorite teams of sports. In a Nielsen survey back in May of 2022, nearly 17% of Sports Talk Radio’s audience listen to shows via the station’s online stream, which is only third behind talk shows and news. Here in 2026, the streaming audience looks now to become even bigger, and it’s primarily because of the detriment of the Regional Sports Network. Early in 2026, Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of the FanDuel Regional Sports Network, announced plans to shutter their business, leaving numerous Major League Baseball, NBA, and NHL teams looking for new homes. Major League Baseball was well prepared, as they started their own local media department back in 2023 as what was Bally Sports San Diego, the home of the San Diego Padres, filed for bankruptcy. Since then, the League has produced not only the Padres, but for 15 other teams and distributed those games via their website, MLB.tv, as well as local tv stations that would simulcast the stream.

That doesn’t seem to bother some fans. Stephen Rogers, a fan from San Antonio, Texas, feels like the acres that streaming has given is more than before. “I feel like streaming has provided access more than I’ve ever had,” Rogers said. “We have apps now that allows us to have more access to sports, and we have things like YouTube that gives us more access on demand.”

Mike Wesley, another sports fan in San Antonio, agrees with Rogers, as he thinks streaming has added a bit more for the fan. “It has offered a different form of variety,” said Wesley, “But it really hasn’t changed on how I view my teams.” While streaming has been largely praised, there are some that think it is becoming too much. This season, the NBA began what is an 11-year deal with broadcast partners ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime to broadcast a good chunk of the league’s games. In it, Amazon Prime because the exclusive home to the league’s NBA League Pass, where all out of market games are shown.

This has been a huge change in the landscape of sports, and some fans noticed. Throughout the year, there were some who complained about where the games were broadcast. NBC also put all of their games on their streaming platform Peacock, which added to some confusion on where games were. Fans did adapt, as the rise in streaming and the drop in cable continued. For fans like Rogers and Wesley, they are more than ok with the concept. “Just the availability,” said Wesley when talking about sports on the radio. “And the vast access you have with the streaming platforms is nothing compared with what it used to be with the landline stations.” “We now how more in-depth coverage than we do instead of just the game or the local broadcaster,” said Rogers, “And now that we have things like social media platforms like Twitter, I’m able to see what they’re saying in real time.”

From The Business Perspective

While fans have been fairly happy with streaming, some businesses feel otherwise. There are bars and restaurants across the country that could lose up to $20,000 just by a move to streaming. However, there are others who are encouraged by streaming, and hope the trend continues. At a local Buffalo Wild Wings in New Braunfels, Texas, Kitchen Manager Linleigh Williams says, “We haven’t had any issues with streaming. We encourage (streaming), and we can show most games here.”

“We encourage (streaming), and we can show most games here.”

Then there is the other end of the spectrum when it comes to streaming and businesses. A business in Universal City, Texas, who didn’t want to be named told me that while business hasn’t been down, they’ve had to cut back on some of the events that they had shown in the past. NFL Sunday Ticket, which is one of the products that the business used to show, is no longer showed at the establishment because of the high cost.

Another sports league, the mixed martial arts promotion the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), was shown in bars and restaurants for years. In 2019, the company decided to go all streaming with their pay-per-views with ESPN, in which the unnamed business said they stopped showing because then the high costs of the UFC pay-per-views used to cost the business an upwards of $9000 per showing, and that was prior to the UFC going to Paramount Plus, where every event is now shown for free.

When some sports started going towards some streaming exclusives, there were concerns about how bars and restaurants could show games and events. Since Apple TV started airing Friday Night Baseball back in 2022, DirecTV for Bars has stepped in and aired the games for locals that are out at establishments enjoying their Friday night. Other platforms, such as Everpass has stepped up and aired games that airs on Peacock, as well as NFL Sunday Ticket, which moved to YouTube and YouTube TV in the 2024 season, replacing DirecTV and going completely digital. So, while it may have affected some businesses, for the most part, many places have adapted and have fully consumed streaming more than satellite or cable.

From The Broadcasters Perspective

For broadcasters, streaming. has become more helpful than anything. For the Voices of Texas Podcast, Play-By-Play Sportscaster David Roy talked about how streaming has not only helped him in his broadcast, but also, on the production as well. “My emphases, knowing that we are in a streaming world, I want this to feel like this is a VYPE production, says Roy. “I want you to feel like, ‘it’s not just a random school production, but my intent is I want you to feel like you just turned this on like it is a Saturday afternoon.

Long time broadcaster in Texas, Brad Cone, agrees with David Roy’s sentiment. “The biggest change we made was added a camera, so it became more of a television broadcast,” says Cone. “I’ve enjoyed that more because I don’t have to run my mouth as much (laughter).

For Roy and Cone, as well as other play-by-play broadcasters, streaming has made a huge difference in calling a game on streaming vs audio only. While some still enjoy calling a game on streaming like it is on the radio, streaming has given sportscasters now the ability to let the pictures do the talking, as though it is on traditional TV than on radio.

Speaking of radio, radio broadcast entities has also had to make an adjustment. In 2020, the (then) Oakland A’s of Major League Baseball moved their pregame and postgame shows to their audio only platform “A’s Cast”. The programs are available on all platforms via podcast. The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League has done the same for the upcoming 2026 season, as their pregame and postgame is now solely on their website.

Overall, there has been a concerted effort by many teams and leagues to switch to streaming only. The Hawaii Sports Radio Network, who was on terrestrial radio back in Hawaii, made the decision to go all-digital in February in 2026. The decision for them was the ever-changing landscape that is radio. Ahead of the 2024 Football season, the Big 12 Conference along with Tunein Radio, agreed to launch Big 12 Radio, an all-digital station on Tunein Radio that will have nonstop action from the Big 12. On the television front, because of the Regional Sports Network closing their doors in the Spring of 2026, the Atlanta Braves created “Bravesvision“. A new direct-to-consumer network that is airing just Braves games rat the moment but plans with shoulder programming in the future.

The evolution of broadcasting continues to prosper every single year. There could be a point in the next decade where streaming overtakes over-the-air television as the most viewed, and on the verge of overtaking radio locally as we speak. As technology continues to evolve, and as broadcasters continue to adapt, there’s no doubt that streaming may be a part of our world for the rest of time.

Inside Texas High School Sports – Episode 2

Welcome to the second episode of the Inside Texas High School Sports Podcast. Today, a feature story on one of the best baseball players in the state of Texas in Dripping Springs infielder Bobby Wilkinson. We talk about his transition to first base, playing with the many seniors from last season’s State Semifinalist team, and just bring in that experience to the 2026 campaign. So sit back and enjoy Episode 2 of Inside Texas High School Sports.

Dripping Springs’ Public Address Announcer Gives Historical Aspect to ’26 Team

For almost three decades, Jeff Goss has seen it all. From no-hitters to playoff glory, Goss’ knowledge of Dripping Springs Baseball goes deep. Now, with this 2026 Tiger team, Goss has an opportunity to compare this squad compared to years past. “2001 and 2025 are the two teams that are the best”, says Goss. “This team is definitely top ten though. 

Goss has been the Public Address Announcer for Dripping Springs since 2000, coming over as the “voice of the Jungle” the very same year that Coach Chris Payne took the nod as the head coach of the team. Now in his 26th season with Dripping Springs, Goss looks forward to how far this 2026 team can go, and where they can be historically when it comes to Tigers teams of the past. “I’ve only seen two teams that didn’t make the playoffs, so a lot of great teams,” Goss says, “(This team can be) top ten maybe.”

Goss has also been there from the very first game that Chris Payne has been coach at Dripping Springs. Payne, who is also in his 25th year with the team, and 20th as the coach, currently sits at 418 wins for his career, is only the third coach in school history to reach the mark of 400 in any sport. Goss describes Payne’s impact as “is not the way he coaches, but the way he treated his players. He’s got them all in his heart the whole time.”

Goss also talks about Blake Cox, who has had an outstanding year this year, going undefeated in the regular season, including a one-hitter over District Champion Lake Travis, and a no-hitter over Westlake, both teams that will leave the district beginning next season. Goss thinks very highly of Cox and his play this year. “He’s in the top five, that’s no doubt.” Says Goss, “he’s a guaranteed victory.” 

Goss contributions to the program did not go unnoticed. During a surprise celebration, Goss was giving an award by Coach Payne for 25 years as the public address announcer of Dripping Springs last April, in front of his entire family, in which he had no clue it was coming. Ask why he continues to come to the ballpark, Goss’ response is exactly what many expect from him, “I love baseball. It’s my favorite sport.” 

Dripping Springs begins the 2026 State Playoffs Thursday night on the road against the Rangers of Vista Ridge, and then will host Vista Ridge Friday and, if necessary, Saturday afternoon, where Jeff Goss will take his normal spot, in the press box, as the voice of the Jungle. 

The Death of The RSN: How Main Street Sports Group is Winding Down Operations

Local professional sports teams have relied on the Regional Sports Networks (RSN) since the late 1970’s, but in a few weeks, that model will change and no longer exist. Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of the Fanduel Sports Networks, has said that it will fold up shop and cease to exist in mid May, corresponding to the end of the first round of the NHL Playoffs. Main Street has been battling financing for several years, dating back to when the company was known as Bally Sports Network, and was owned by Sinclair Broadcasting. Now, 13 NBA teams, and eight NHL teams will look for new broadcast partners for the 2026-27 season. Eight Major League Baseball teams decided to go with their own station (Atlanta Braves, Anaheim Angels) or go with the League and their new streaming packages, where the league will help the teams with their production. 

The traces of the RSN dates back to 1979, when Sportschannel was created in the New York market. In 1985, Dr. Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, created Prime Ticket to house all of the Laker games throughout the Los Angeles market and beyond, making it the first RSN to make the channel as a basic cable channel. In 1996, Fox Sports bought Prime Channels as well as all of the Sportschannels (with the exception of Sportschannel Florida and the original Sportschannel in New York, which later became a Fox Sports Net in 1998) to create Fox Sports Networks, a new RSN with one branding under the FOX umbrella. 

In 2019, FOX would sell many of their assets, including their studio and the RSN’s to Disney. However, Disney had to sell off the RSN’s to Sinclair in order to receive government approval for the other assets. Sinclair would take over in 2020, and Bally Sports Net would come true. Sinclair would go on to have many financial problems with the networks, with many Major League Baseball teams started to leave the network following missed payoffs in 2023. Sinclair would file for bankruptcy, and ultimately, would see Sinclair end their naming convention with Ballys, and switch over to Fanduel. What started off as a promising partnership, started to go south once again in 2025.

Reports in mid 2025 had streaming service DAZN as a potential buyer of the Fanduel Networks. DAZN wanted to take the networks, but give teams a lower payout. When the networks would not go with that, DAZN pulled out, with the fate of Fanduel and Main Street Sports up in the air. In the early part of April of this year, Main Street sent out a notice to their employees under the WARN Act, that the network would be shutting down at the conclusion of the first round of the 2026 NHL Playoffs. 

Social media has been buzzing since the word of DAZN possibly buying the Networks. 

Recently as early as middle of April, Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal sent out a tweet about FUBO (which is coincidentally owned by Disney now) possibly coming to an agreement with the 13 NBA teams about possibly streaming their games next season. 

There has been a solution in Detroit for the Tigers (and subsequently, the Red Wings) as the Illict family, which owns the Tigers, entered into an agreement with MLB to create the Detroit SportsNet, with the network also being the home of the Red Wings under a special agreement with the Tigers and the NHL team. 

While these new agreements have solidified homes for many teams, it is truly the end of an era where the RSN’s where the only place to watch local teams. With the advent of streaming, many have cut the cord and streaming has been the only type of viewing, in which many teams have adapted. But for almost five decades, the Regional Sports Networks have been the catalyst of how many viewed their team. With the end of the RSN’s, a new era now begins for fans of local teams. 

North Dominates South: How Dallas-Fort Worth Schools Took Home 6A State Championships

The UIL State Basketball Championship wrapped up on Saturday, March 14th, and it went out with a bang. The 6A Division One and Division Two titles capped out what was a fantastic three days at the Alamodome in San Antonio. And on this night, the North dominated the South, as both teams from the DFW Metroplex handled teams from San Antonio and Austin respectively. In the second to last game of the night, the local Brennan Bears was challenged by the Panthers of North Crowley out of Fort Worth. In a very anticipated championship game, North Crowley jumped out early on Brennan and never looked back. 

In the first quarter, North Crowley controlled the entire quarter, led by Alex Barther II, North Crowley took a 14-6 lead into the second quarter, but that wasn’t the true story of the quarter, and wasn’t the story for Brennan. One of Brennan’s top guards in Jacob Padilla left the game with a knee injury, and Brennan wasn’t the same after that. ” Just some unfortunate stuff, with Jake going down in the first quarter really hurt, ” Brennan Coach Koty Cowgill told the press after the game. Before he left the game, Padilla had four of the six points early for the Bears, and he was the catalyst of the offense before the injury. After that Brennan could not find any flow on the offensive side of the ball. And it showed, as North Crowley started the second quarter scoring the first five points, to take an 11 point lead 19-9. They would continue the onslaught, as the Panthers would go on a 12-3 run to end the half and take a 31-12 into the locker room. 

The second half began and Brennan came out looking to get back into the game. Without Padilla in the game, Sean Mondragon became the primary scorer for the Bears, scoring nine of his 13 points in the quarter to cut the Panthers lead down to 13 headed into the fourth. But it was too much North Crowley, as Isaak Hayes led the charge for the Panthers, with 22 points and six assists in route to game MVP, and the Panthers of North Crowley took home the Division I title 65-52. After the game, an ecstatic Panther team came into the post game press conference elated about the championship. ” We’ve worked so hard this year, these guys put in an incredible amount of time, but it hasn’t been just about that, it’s been about them, sacrificing individual for the team.” Winning Coach Tommy Brakel said after the game.

The final game of the night, the 6A Division Two title game featured another North vs South matchup as Little Elm, representing Dallas-Fort Worth, took on Westlake out of Austin, and this game was just like the previous game, a complete domination from the team up in the North as Westlake could not get it’s footing at any point during the game. Little Elm jumped out on Westlake quickly 11-6 at the end of the first, and extended the lead into the half 26-10. Defense was the name of the game for Little Elm, and they had their sights on Westlake’s Bo Ogden all night. “I don’t think you guys know, but they have a good guy on the other side in Bo, ” Little Elm Coach Damon Barnett said after the game.

In the second half, it was more of the same for the Lobos of Little Elm. They took a 40-20 lead before cruising to a 57-35 victory and brought another trophy back to the Metroplex. Josh Weems was the games MVP, registering 16 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Afterwards, the team talked about how this was four years in the making, as they built the team up from the ground up since they were freshmen. “It feels great, ” said Kensington Candler, Guard for Little Elm. “We had early success, which sometimes isn’t good, so we put in the hard work.”

After three days and 12 games, the 2026 UIL Boys State Basketball Championships came to an end with Dallas-Fort Worth standing on top. While it may not have been the results the teams from the South was looking for, it’s something to be motivated for. To get back to the Alamo and a shot at a State Championship. 

Dripping Springs Senior Infielder Looks To Help Lead The Tigers Back To State

Bobby Wilkinson carries a quiet demeanor through the locker room of Dripping Springs Baseball. Yet, for some, even the coaches, that quiet demeanor is what brings out the leadership skills in Wilkinson. The Second-Year varsity player is one of the key catalyst in Dripping Springs success to start the 2026 season. Coming off of a year where he sat behind many seniors, including those who has gone on to play baseball at a higher level, Wilkinson is looking to translating those leadership skills into a State Championship. 

“It feels good (with the start). Coming off last year, I sat behind some really good seniors, you get a chance to learn from guys like that.“, says Wilkinson. “I think it’s definitely good for me to take the expectations from last year and carry them on to this season.” Dripping Springs has started off red hot. After finishing the preseason with a 12-4-1 record, and a Comal ISD Invitational Preseason Tournament victory, Dripping Springs has started off the district season 4-0, scoring a total 57 runs in those four games. Last Monday Night, Wilkinson went only one for four, but with that he also had four runs batted in, hit the ball in the right spots in order to bring runs across the board. Wilkinson’s leadership has also caught the eye of his head coach, Chris Payne. Coach Payne says that the evolution of Wilkinson is helping spur the Tigers team. “It’s fun to watch Bobby evolve,” says Coach Payne. “He’s constantly coaching himself. Game to Game adjustments, bat-to-bat adjustments, and then the in-bat adjustment is where he’s at right now. And that’s where you want to be at a high level. To be able to diagnose yourself and get better.” 

This year, Wilkinson has remained an everyday starter for the Tigers. Either at third base or first, defensively, he has rose to the occasion. Although he’s used to playing at third, Wilkinson believes that he can turn into an outstanding first baseman. “I’ve always played third, but with the way that our team is shaping up, first base is looking like where it’s going to be. 

Currently, Wilkinson has 17 hits on the season. While driving in 13 runs on the season. He has placed himself well within the cleanup spot and hopes to continue his hitting success for the rest of the district season. Dripping Springs resumes district play against Bowie on Tuesday and Friday of this week, with Anderson coming to Dripping Springs on Saturday.