Despite the day belonging to ESPN and its reporters, it was Mark Maske of The Washington Post who broke the news first. Per Maske, the NFL and Disney-owned ESPN have completed the long-rumored deal, giving ESPN NFL Network and certain other media assets (including RedZone and NFL Fantasy) in exchange for 10 percent equity stake in ESPN. The second non-binding agreement, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic, sees the NFL license to ESPN certain NFL content and intellectual property to be used by NFL Network and other assets. 
“Today’s announcement paves the way for the world’s leading sports media brand and America’s most popular sport to deliver an even more compelling experience for NFL fans, in a way that only ESPN and Disney can,” CEO of The Walt Disney Company Roger Iger said in a statement released by ESPN’s Lily Blum.
He continued, “Commissioner (Roger Goodell) and the NFL have built outstanding media assets, and these transactions will add to consumer choice, provide viewers with even greater convenience and quality, and expand the breadth and value proposition of Disney’s streaming ecosystem.”
Given ESPN’s streaming abilities — through multiple streaming apps such as ESPN Watch, ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+ — the agreements should make available lots of content exclusive to the NFL and NFL Network available in multiple formats in addition to the usual cable and satellite options. The statement also cites an additional platform in what they’re calling “ESPN’s upcoming direct-to-consumer service.”
While YouTube TV still owns the rights to air NFL Sunday Ticket and ABC/ESPN/Disney/NFL Network, FOX, CBS/Paramount/Nickelodeon, NBC/Peacock, Amazon, and Netflix all have individual rights to air certain games, ESPN gets “broad rights to the RedZone brand and will distribute the NFL RedZone Channel to pay TV operators for continued inclusion into their sports packages.” Though ESPN gets broad rights to the brand and TV distribution rights, the NFL will continue to own, operate, and produce NFL RedZone and retain the rights to distribute it digitally. ESPN’s platforms will now license an additional three NFL games per season (all to air on NFL Network) and will adjust its overall NFL game schedule with four games shifting to NFL Network, as well.
The league will continue to own and operate its retained media businesses such as NFL Films, NFL+, NFL.com, the NFL Podcast Network, the NFL FAST Channel, and the official sites for all 32 teams. The two parties’ fantasy applications, NFL Fantasy Football and ESPN Fantasy Football, will merge, “creating the official Fantasy season-long game of the NFL and one best-in-class digital experience,” whatever that means.
While much of the news is being presented by the parties involved as a shiny new present for NFL fans, there are some perceived negatives to the agreements. While Iger calls the transactions additions “to consumer choice,” in reality this is a step closer to a monopoly. At the moment, existing contracts keep the NFL readily available from several different streamers and television channels, but when those contracts expire, how willing will the NFL be to dole out games to networks other than the one it has a 10 percent stake in?
ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio offered his usual candor in making another relevant point about ESPN’s reporting responsibilities. When issues such as the ownership collusion ruling we’ve seen this summer break on the NFL news circuit, how critical will ESPN be towards its minority owner?
Ultimately, the transactions are still subject to the parties’ negotiation of definitive agreements, various approvals (including those of NFL team owners and federal regulators), and customary closing conditions. There’s still quite a ways to go, but today’s agreement gives a peek into what the NFL media future will look like. Per Maske, changes are not expected to take place in 2025, since “the regulatory approval process…is expected to take months to a year or more.”
Sure, hitch your wagon to Disney. I’m sure everything will work out just fine. LOL.
Is it just me or did anyone else see the parallel between this deal and old man Bellechik and his gold digger girlfriend?
More Stephen A yapping propaganda
Billionaire’s are going to ruin our great game of football 🥺
It’s been on the decline for about 10 years
Since 2010.
“While Iger calls the transactions additions “to consumer choice,” in reality this is a step closer to a monopoly.”
Thank you for stating this truth that the NFL believes its majority of fans must be idiots.
No no, trust Iger, Goodell, and the owners, it’s for our benefit 😂
The majority of NFL fans are idiots.
They already put ads on Redzone last season with this I can only imagine how much worse it’s going to get. Please protect Scott Hanson at all cost
Replaced by Stephen A
Did they also agree to continue manipulating game flow on a weekly basis in order to advance storylines in the interest of revenue? Pssst…..the product is fake. Once it goes mainstream and all that money is at stake, the reality fades away.
Need people to start thinking through the logistics of their conspiracies…
So, 106 players (many of them young, undisciplined, etc.) are in on the script but the only evidence we have are the feelings of certainty you have…?
Do they get paid to take the fall or do they just nobly watch their career earnings evaporate when they are chosen to lose, fail, etc…?
The owners just get their copies of the script and say “hey, Bob, congrats, I see you’re about to win your 6th Super Bowl and I have none, but I’m happy for the extra hundreds of millions you’ll make, wish I’d won the coin toss this year”…?
…and NOBODY talks or slips up or leaves their email with the scheme open…?
Or are you saying that a ref here and a plant there is enough to manipulate a game with 22 players and a million variables on any given play…?
The NFL can never get enough money
This is legitimately a bummer for me as a consumer. Obviously, I’m just one guy (so huge wanking motion) but I fear what this merger will do to NFL Redzone, of which I’m a huge fan.
So when do all the individual streams get packaged together to make cable 2.0
If ESPN jacks up the price of RedZone, I am gonna storm the Capitol building.
So now we get to choose between beach volleyball and flag football content on ESPN? Sounds pretty exciting.
Just rename this site to the Florio blog ffs.
This ought to lead to a better product. I’m sure that the NFL having a stake in ESPN will lead to better reporting.
I’d expect a reduction in personnel, myself, including on-air personnel. Maybe it’ll be more studio analysts who get axed than reporters, but we’ve seen ESPN layoff bunches of reporters in the past. Sooner than later, some suit is going to say, “Why don’t we have just one beat reporter covering each team (or each division) for both networks, instead of one on each network?”
Most mergers end up making workers and consumers poorer, while enriching executives and (not quite as often), shareholders.
Only thing i got from that article is: we are all going to be paying more, a lot more for the same product.
Let Disney pay for all these new or updated stadiums. Quit asking for taxpayer money.
Hey now, have some pity on the Mouse. We should pay for those stadiums; after all, it’s really us who owes them for giving us the opportunity to get our children hooked on their products like psychoactive drug addictions.
By the year 4000 all corporations will be merged together into one giant corporation known as AOL Time Warner Amazon Coca Cola Disney Facebook McDonalds Starbucks Tesla Wal Mart.
2100, not 4000. The human race won’t make it to 4000 at the current rate. Maybe not even 2100.