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New York — Apple Music will be the new sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show, the NFL announced early Friday morning.
The multi-year sponsorship will begin with this season’s Super Bowl on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona.
Apple Music replaces Pepsi, which sponsored the show for the past 10 years.
Terms weren’t announced, but analysts had expected the league to get at least $50 million per year for the rights.
“We are proud to welcome Apple Music to the NFL family as our new partner for the iconic Super Bowl Halftime Show,” Nana-Yaw Asamoah, the NFL’s senior vice president of partner strategy, said in a statement. “We couldn’t think of a more appropriate partner for the world’s most-watched musical performance than Apple Music, a service that entertains, inspires, and motivates millions of people around the world through the intersection of music and technology.”
Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, Oliver Schusser, said in a prepared statement cited by Variety that, “Music and sports hold a special place in our hearts, so we’re very excited Apple Music will be part of music and football’s biggest stage. We’re looking forward to even more epic performances next year and beyond with the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show.”
Apple is also negotiating with the NFL for the rights to the “NFL Sunday Ticket” package of Sunday games that don’t air in a viewer’s home market. Amazon, Google and the Walt Disney Co. are also competing for the package, which has been on DirecTV since 1994.
Over 120 million viewers watched last February’s halftime show, which featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar.
