When the NFL Network launched in November of 2003, there were many questions. Could a league-owned entity be able to provide coverage about a sport whose regular season and playoffs lasted less than 50% of the year? Is the passion for football-specific content going to garner an audience to compete against the traditional sports networks such as ESPN? Will coverage be slanted to protect the league since the real estate is owned and operated by the NFL?
Twenty-one years later, with access to less than 50 million homes, the NFL is waving the white flag on the NFL Network. This week, reports surfaced that the NFL and ESPN are in talks for the worldwide leader to take ownership of some of the NFL’s media arms, including the NFL Network and NFL RedZone. The reports state this is part of a deal where the NFL would own up to a 10% stake in ESPN.
While analysts are speculating that this deal could signal a potential spin-off of ESPN away from Disney, I’m more concerned about a league investing in a media company that covers the league. Does this benefit the viewer, and will this change how ESPN covers the league?
Let’s look at the playing field. ESPN is currently owned by two entities. Disney owns 80% of ESPN, while Hearst owns the remaining 20%. If the NFL becomes a 10% partner in the ownership of ESPN, you can see that it will still be the lowest minority owner of the network.
How an NFL Investment Benefits ESPN
This would provide Disney—or ESPN—a leg up in any broadcasting rights negotiations with the NFL. It’s a smart play for ESPN, as the league has opt-out provisions with most of their rights deals following the 2029 season. These include Amazon, CBS, FOX, NBC, and of course, ESPN.
According to reports, while these agreements all last through the 2033 season, Commissioner Roger Goodell considers the league’s media deals undervalued because of the mass viewership that NFL games bring to these networks.
If you look at 2024’s most viewed programs, 72 of the top 100 telecasts in the country belonged to the NFL, including the top 11 broadcasts—all belonging to football. Only three broadcasts from the NBA made the list, and five games of the Dodgers vs. Yankees World Series made the list.
Sorry NHL, you didn’t make the list.
For comparison’s sake, this year the NBA is set to begin their new media rights deals with Walt Disney (ESPN/ABC), Amazon, and NBCUniversal for a reported $76 billion, which represents a 165% change from their previous rights deal, according to Sportcal.
Think of what the NFL’s asking price could be based on what the NBA gained in their last media rights deal.
That’s why ESPN giving up a percentage of their business makes sense. You earn cash off the purchase from the league, only to turn it around and reinvest in rights to showcase the league. Currently, ESPN already pays $2.7 billion per season for 25 games a year, mostly on Monday Nights. It will have ESPN’s first Super Bowl on its platforms, including its sister network, ABC, in February 2027.
Do you think that the NFL will charge the going rate to a network they have a percentage stake in? Common sense says no. You would think the NFL would indeed treat ESPN differently than FOX, CBS, NBC, Netflix, or Amazon because they need eyeballs to come to the product to get the return on their investment.
Does this benefit the viewer? With cord-cutting not slowing down anytime soon, this makes the pressure to perform on ESPN’s DTC product even more important. Would having the NFL as a minority owner provide more access or programming options to upsell the consumer to invest in ESPN (the DTC product)? Possibly, and it would be a signature piece of how ESPN could market ESPN if they could secure something that no other network can provide.
Would the NFL allow NFL RedZone to be streamed on ESPN’s DTC product and their NFL+ DTC product? Would ESPN want the consumer to have a choice, pitting partner against partner?
Will NFL fans have to pony up even more money to watch NFL games in a time where costs are rising across the nation on everything?
Does an NFL Investment Change ESPN?
The bigger question to ask about the NFL investing in ESPN is how the league will be covered by the network as a partner. In a time when journalism seems to be more questioned than respected, could the league have some influence on how their product is portrayed on the largest sports network in the country?
As I’m writing this on a Saturday morning, I decided to check out the top stories on ESPN.com’s NFL page and NFL.com. On ESPN.com’s NFL page, there are headlines such as “NFLPA doc: Financial actions could be criminal” and “Sources: Around 100 NFLers face SB-tix penalty.”
On NFL.com, neither of those stories are on the front page nor in the news section. However, if you’re interested in Manti Te’o’s top ten linebackers this season or 13 veterans who could lose their starting jobs at training camp, the NFL is right there for you.
What’s to say that investment leads to influence leads to suppression? It’s a fair question to ask if the most powerful sports league in the country could land their thumb on the scale of a network that they own a minority stake in.
This past month, when Pablo Torre and Mike Florio exposed potential collusion between the NFL and the NFLPA to keep player salaries down, networks with partnerships and investments in media rights with the NFL stayed silent. If the NFL is an owner in ESPN, does that story—or one similar—ever see the light of day on the network?
Who Benefits?
Does an NFL ownership stake in ESPN benefit ESPN? Yes.
Does ESPN taking over the NFL Network and NFL RedZone benefit the NFL? Yes.
Will fans have to shell out more money to watch NFL product if this purchase is made? Probably.
In the end, the only ones likely to benefit from this potential purchase are the NFL and ESPN. The consumer will likely be overlooked, asked to pay more for the same product they already enjoy which will require more hoops to jump through to find it—all in the name of business.
Proving once again that NFL football will continue to serve as the king of American sport.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
