Apple debuts Apple Sports app with real-time scores, betting info

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Apple has released a new iPhone app for sports fans to easily follow live scores, game stats, and betting odds all in one screen.

The app, called Apple Sports, is available to download for free from the Apple App Store in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, with the app likely expanding to more countries in the future.

At the moment, Apple Sports allows fans to get real-time data from major professional sports leagues. The list is long, but it includes:

• Major League Soccer (MLS)
• National Basketball Association (NBA)
• National Hockey League (NHL)
• NCAA basketball
• Premier League
• Bundesliga LaLiga
• Liga MX
• Ligue 1
• Serie A.

The app will support other professional sports franchises like the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), and the WNBA in the future.

Eddie Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Services, said the company wanted to make it easy and convenient for sports fans to get quick access to scores and other stats from the games that matter to them:

“We created Apple Sports to give sports fans what they want — an app that delivers incredibly fast access to scores and stats. Apple Sports is available for free in the App Store, and makes it easy for users to stay up to date with their favorite teams and leagues.” 

Some features within Apple Sports will be familiar to users of the Apple TV app, which has offered real-time scores from in-progress games for a while now.

Now, many of those features are moving over to Apple Sports, though it appears they will still be supported within the Apple TV app for at least the foreseeable future.

Apple Sports expands on Apple’s delivery of real-time scores by offering similar data sets, including team standings, play-by-play information from supported games and even live betting odds, the latter of which is provided by FanDuel.

All of this comes as Apple continues to express an interest in the sports business

Over the past few years, the company has inked deals with MLB and MLS to provide live games through the Apple TV app (Friday games from MLB are included with a subscription to Apple TV+, while MLS events are sold through a separate subscription called MLS Season Pass).

The new Apple Sports iPhone app makes following your favorite teams and leagues fast and simple. I can’t wait to use it during the 2024 @MLS Season, which kicks off tonight between Inter Miami CF and Real Salt Lake on #MLSSeasonPass! pic.twitter.com/ZwMApjyKv7

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 21, 2024

It isn’t hard to see why Apple wants to be in the sports business: A survey conducted last year by Siena College Research in partnership with the Jandoli School of Communication found 70% of Americans are self-identified sports fans, including 80% of men and 61% of women.

Dedicated smartphone and tablet apps are helping to fuel that fandom, according to Nielsen, which showed young people expressed a high interest in following sports.

But that same group also found it hard to stay on top of their favorite teams because the sports landscape is becoming more fragmented.

“The need for sports properties to continue broad technology development and data analysis to stay on top of changing fan behaviors and capitalize on the interest of younger groups,” Nielsen said.”

Knowing that, it makes sense that Apple would want to offer a one-stop shop for real-time sports information for its iPhone users.

That said, the app is currently only available for iPhones — there’s no word on when it might expand to iPads and other devices in the future. 

To download Apple Sports to your iPhone, click or tap here.

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