ESPN, leaping to streaming, holds hands with the NFL
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ESPN will acquire the league’s traditional NFL Network and certain rights to the fan-favourite RedZone Channel. NFL will take a 10 per cent equity stake in ESPN.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Brooks Barnes
NEW YORK – As competition for sports streaming rights escalates, with YouTube, Netflix and Amazon challenging traditional media companies for game packages, Disney has found an innovative way to strengthen its grip on football.
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ESPN, and the National Football League (NFL) on Aug 5 announced a complicated deal for the NFL to take a 10 per cent equity stake in ESPN.
In exchange, ESPN will acquire the league’s traditional NFL Network and certain rights to the fan-favourite RedZone Channel, among other media assets.
NFL Fantasy Football, for instance, will merge with ESPN Fantasy Football.
“This is a gigantic leap forward for ESPN as it gets ready to launch its service,” Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive officer said, noting that the NFL Network would be “seamlessly integrated” with ESPN’s flagship streaming service, which is expected to be introduced later in August.
“We think that it will go a long way towards improving ESPN’s prospects when it migrates more and more into a direct-to-consumer product.”
ESPN’s new streaming service, which will cost US$30 (S$39) a month, will include all ESPN programming, including live events – some 47,000 a year.
For the first time, ESPN viewers will not need a cable or satellite subscription.
ESPN was Disney’s financial engine for nearly 30 years, powering the company through recessions, box-office wipeouts and the pandemic. In 2023, however, Iger and James Pitaro, ESPN’s chairman, started to explore a once-unthinkable sale of a stake in the division as a way to confront the turbulent economics of the streaming era.
In 2013, roughly 100 million households received ESPN. Today, as a result of cord cutting, that number is closer to 61 million. ESPN has raised its affiliate fees to keep profitability high, but its ability to continue doing so will be limited in the coming years. By 2027, fewer than 50 million homes will pay for a cable hook-up, according to PwC, the accounting giant.
To begin the transition away from cable, Disney introduced a limited streaming service called ESPN+ in 2018. It shows thousands of games annually, but very few are the biggest NFL, college football, National Basketball Association or baseball games. As of March 29, ESPN+ had 24 million paid subscribers.
Disney pays the NFL around US$2.7 billion per year for Monday Night Football, which jointly airs on ESPN and ABC, the Disney-owned broadcast network. Disney’s deal with the NFL, which includes the 2027 and 2031 Super Bowls, runs through 2033 but can be reopened in 2029.
The NFL’s ownership stake in ESPN would presumably give the channel a leg up in future negotiations with the league for media rights. YouTube, Amazon, NBC, CBS, Fox and Netflix also hold various NFL rights.
The no-cash deal that was unveiled on Aug 5, valued by analysts at US$2 billion to US$3 billion, is subject to regulatory approval, which could take nine months or more. If completed, Disney will own 70 per cent of ESPN, with the Hearst Corporation maintaining its 20 per cent stake, which it has held since 1990.
Iger and Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, also announced a second deal that will bring three additional NFL games per season to ESPN platforms, along with a wider array of NFL speciality content.
“Our fans are the ones who are going to benefit from this,” Goodell said. “They’ll get deeper, richer, more exciting content.”
As for parting with the NFL Network, which was started in 2003, Goodell said he was glad to put it “in the hands of a partner who is excited about growing not just the distribution but also the quality”.
The NFL will continue to own and operate the NFL+ streaming service, NFL Films and the NFL Podcast Network, among other media properties.
“The selling of assets, particularly assets as valuable as ESPN, takes time and requires a lot of thought,” Iger said. “It’s not ‘snap your fingers, here’s 10 per cent of ESPN and we get the NFL Network’.
“As we analysed it, it became more and more clear that a deal with the NFL would not only be accretive economically to Disney, but it would deliver the kind of strategic value that we were seeking.” NYTIMES
