ESPNFL

The long-teased inevitable deal between the NFL and ESPN is finally official.  ESPN now owns NFL Media, including NFL Network and NFL RedZone.  The NFL, meanwhile, is now an equity partner in the NFL, with the biggest league of them all owning a 10 percent stake in the Worldwide Leader.  It's a massive deal to say the least.

As soon as the deal was announced (and long before it was official), the biggest concern most fans had was what would happen with RedZone.  Don't worry.  They made sure to make it known RedZone isn't going anywhere and neither is Scott Hanson.  The only thing that's changing with RedZone is now that it's Disney-owned, it'll be included with the other Disney channels in carriage negotiations with cable providers.  Which is actually a pretty big win for the NFL.

ESPN, of course, is also launching its own standalone streaming service later this month (for $30 a month!).  They needed content for that streaming service.  Now they have access to the NFL Films library, as well as more NFL games.  (Plus a whole slew of WWE events that they also just picked up.)  Does that make it worth $30 a month?  That's what both sides are banking on.

NFL Films itself, however, will still be owned by the league.  So will NFL.com and NFL+, the league's direct-to-consumer streaming platform (which, I'm assuming, is so that they can retain those rights to stream games internationally).  NFL Fantasy, meanwhile, shifts under the ESPN umbrella.  The interesting thing, though, is that some of this falls under a second non-binding agreement, which presumably means the NFL can license more or less content to ESPN and NFL Network as it sees fit.  ESPN is also moving into NFL Network's former studio space in LA (which is probably why they got rid of their own LA studio a few months ago).

Another aspect of the deal involves actual NFL game coverage.  ESPN gained three more games, all of which it will sublicense to NFL Network.  They'll also move four games from their current package to NFL Network.  This presumably puts an end to the Monday Night Football doubleheaders and the simultaneous games on ESPN and ABC.  (I'd imagine the ABC simulcasts will stay, especially since Super Bowl LXI will air on ABC in 2027.)  Likewise, the ESPN+ exclusive game will be going away.

There are seven games per season on NFL Network.  This season, the in-house package includes the five international games in Europe and a Saturday afternoon doubleheader in Week 17.  Nothing was mentioned about additional games on NFL Network, though.  Just that ESPN games were being shifted over there.  And four ESPN games that are being moved, plus the three additional ones, gives you a full NFL Network package of seven games.  They just won't be all on Sunday mornings and Saturday afternoons.

That's notable because it leads right into the NFL's likely desire to add another media partner during its next media rights negotiations.  They've already sold single games to every streaming service imaginable, and they've created windows such as the Black Friday game (Amazon Prime) and Christmas doubleheader (Netflix), and this is the second year they're having a Week 1 game in Brazil, which will be broadcast on YouTube.

Everybody wants a piece of the NFL action, but there's only so much inventory to go around.  And carving out a new package for a new partner wasn't exactly going to be easy.  By moving some of ESPN's games to NFL Network, though, covers the NFL Network allotment while opening up a small package that the league will now be able to sell separately.  That likely means the Sunday morning international games in Europe will be their own separate package for potential new partners to bid on while everyone else (assumingly) maintains their current packages.  Another media partner, obviously, means more money for the league.

While I'm sure there are many details that remain to come out, it seems likely that we'll see NFL Network personalities on ESPN and vice versa.  Rich Eisen, who was at ESPN for years before joining NFL Network, has already teased that he's "coming home."  Although, it wouldn't be surprising if NFL Network, which eliminated most of its studio programming well in advance of the pending merger, simply phased out all original non-game content and all NFL Network personnel officially shift to ESPN.  That would free up their analysts to do college games on the ESPN networks, too, and increase the number of people who can appear on their studio shows.

In a separate deal, ESPN signed a multi-year extension of its NFL Draft rights, which now run until 2030.  What I'm curious about is how this new relationship affects NFL Network's coverage of the Draft.  They've always produced their own.  Will it just be a simulcast of ESPN's broadcast moving forward?  Ditto about the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.  And how about the events like the Combine that air only on NFL Network?  I'm assuming that's where they'll continue to air on linear TV, while also available on ESPN's streaming service.

With ESPN and the NFL now literally in bed with each other, it's a reasonable question to wonder how that will impact the network's coverage of the league moving forward.  ESPN has made assurances that it'll "maintain its journalistic integrity" and "cover the league fairly," while also insisting that the NFL didn't make any demands regarding ESPN's approach.  I guess we'll find out, but I just can't really see ESPN being critical of the NFL.  (Although, I can also see them being overly critical just to prove their point that they won't take it easy on the league.)

What this almost certainly means, though, is that we'll see even more NFL coverage on ESPN, especially with the streaming service launching.  There are only so many hours in the day.  Only 72 hours of content can air on linear TV across ESPN, ESPN2 and NFL Network on a given day.  But they can put an endless supply on the streaming service.  And that endless supply includes 28 regular season NFL games, plus the draft, plus some preseason inventory.  It's a lot of football.  Which is something people have a seemingly endless appetite for.  ESPN and the NFL are confident that will continue to be the case.

We all knew this deal was coming.  So, it's not exactly a surprise that they finally made it official.  The details of the deal are fascinating, though.  Both the NFL and ESPN clearly benefit from this expanded relationship.  It could completely change the landscape, too.  The NFL was the first league to launch its own network.  Now they've sold it and become partners with ESPN, instead.  Will the other leagues, all of which have their own network now, follow the NFL's lead again?

All of this needs to be approved and signed off on before the merger can officially go into effect, so it'll still be several months at least before everything is finalized.  Which means nothing will be different for the 2025 season.  That timing works out fine for ESPN, though.  Because, assuming everything's in place in time for next season, the first year of their expanded relationship with the NFL will coincide with their first Super Bowl.  Which, I'm sure, was just a coincidence.