Wow. Not only a lack of knowledge of how Nielsen works, but a lack of understanding what market cap means.
Anyway, the NFL rights are signed, sealed and delivered through 2030 to NBC, CBS, Fox, and ABC/ESPN. They are not for sale. Apple can want a deal like it got with the MLS all day long. Those rights are sold.
BTW, the MLS is, generally, the lowest national broadcast in the ratings every week, getting something like a 0.15, which is infomercial level. Even Euro soccer does way better at odd hours. The RSN ratings for soccer are likewise nothing like MLB, NBA, or even NHL ratings.
What is left is ST. A niche product that provides games produced by Fox and CBS, including their commercials, not shown on the local affiliates. Required to be sold at a premium price as to not cut too deeply into local affiliates. That is what is up for bids. If Apple wants more than that, it needs to deal with the rights owners, not the NFL.
What is happening here is pretty clear, if you understand the broadcasting business. The NFL would prefer to be in business with Apple because, one, the ST package cannot make money and must be predicated and Apple TV is far less "we already have that anyway" than Amazon, making ST more valuable to Apple than Amazon Two, because the NFL wants to be in business with "everybody" so there is no "out group" that can work against it. And, three, because Apple has the money to lose on this money losing package.
But Apple has figured out where its comfort zone is, and the NFL wants more than that. Of course, every one with bid was prepared to lose money, everyone who knows the first thing about the business understands that ST cannot make money on a cash basis, but Apple, like everybody else, has limits, and, before walking away, is taking a last stab at "thinking outside the box" by asking for things that have already been sold to the linear networks. Those are simply not for sale. The linear networks' deals are about a thousand times more important to the NFL than ST.