Disney<\/a>‘s\u00a0ESPN has reached a landmark deal with the National Football League to acquire\u00a0NFL\u00a0Network and other media assets from the league in exchange for the\u00a0NFL\u00a0taking a 10% equity stake in the sports network, the parties said on Tuesday.<\/p>\nThe deal, which ESPN said would bolster the offerings on its upcoming ESPN streaming service, is subject to regulatory approval. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n
ESPN also will acquire\u00a0NFL\u00a0Fantasy, a digital offering, and will gain the rights to distribute the\u00a0NFL\u00a0RedZone television channel to its cable and satellite television customers.<\/p>\n
“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\u00a0NFL\u00a0fans, in a way that only ESPN and Disney can,” Disney CEO Robert Iger said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The Athletic, which first reported last week that a deal was imminent, said it could potentially be worth billions of dollars, according to sources. ESPN declined to comment on the reported figure.<\/p>\n
The ESPN streaming service, which Iger has said could launch as early as this month, will cost $29.99 per month.<\/p>\n
It will provide access to ESPN’s portfolio of professional and college sports, including the\u00a0NFL, the NBA and WNBA, MLB and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship, as well as studio shows such as “SportsCenter” and “Pardon the Interruption.”<\/p>\n
“By combining these\u00a0NFL\u00a0media assets with ESPN’s reach and innovation, we’re creating a premier destination for football fans,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The league launched the\u00a0NFL\u00a0Network in 2003, as it sought to tap into the revenue generated by cable and satellite subscriptions. While it gained traction, introducing Thursday Night Football, it never rose to become a rival to ESPN.<\/p>\n
Under the new agreement, ESPN would own and operate the TV and streaming rights to the\u00a0NFL\u00a0Network, which will continue to carry seven games a year.<\/p>\n
“The network’s sale to ESPN will build on this remarkable legacy, providing more\u00a0NFL\u00a0football for more fans in new and innovative ways,” said\u00a0NFL\u00a0Commissioner Roger Goodell.<\/p>\n
RedZone is a service that allows fans to watch scoring opportunities during Sunday afternoon\u00a0NFL\u00a0games.<\/p>\n
The league will continue to own, operate, and produce\u00a0NFL\u00a0RedZone and retain rights to distribute it digitally. The league also will retain ownership of certain media properties, such as\u00a0NFL\u00a0Films, and platforms such as the\u00a0NFL\u00a0Podcast Network and\u00a0NFL+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A detail view of an ESPN logo is seen on a broadcast tv camera at Q2 Stadium in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":122809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[104,9167,81,171,1232,62,67,132,68,14377],"class_list":{"0":"post-122808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breaking-news-business","10":"tag-business-news","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-walt-disney-co"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114980177034892125","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}