• Loading stock data...
Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Tuned In returns to NYC on September 16. Hear from the biggest names in sports media. Click here to get your spot
breaking
Tuned In

Disney Buying NFL Network, NFL Getting 10% Stake in ESPN

The sweeping deal has the potential to rewrite the playbook for how pro leagues do business with the TV partners that show their games.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The long-rumored sale of the NFL’s core media assets to Disney for a financial stake in ESPN is official, ESPN announced Tuesday evening ahead of parent company Disney’s 2025 third-quarter earnings results on Wednesday.

ESPN is acquiring NFL Network and the rights to distribute NFL RedZone to pay TV operators, in a deal the respective sides announced as “non-binding.” The NFL will continue to own RedZone and retain digital rights. ESPN is also taking over NFL Fantasy Football and will merge it with ESPN Fantasy Football.

The NFL gets a 10% ownership stake in ESPN. 

The league is also holding onto NFL Films, NFL.com, the NFL Podcast Network, the NFL FAST Channel, and the websites of the league’s 32 teams.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval, and if approved, it likely won’t take effect until at least the 2026 football season.

The sweeping agreement has the potential to remake the landscape of sports media and create a new template for leagues to own a piece of their TV/streaming partners. 

As part of the pact, ESPN will get an additional three NFL games per season to air on NFL Network. 

Taking control of NFL Network and the league’s fantasy football business, with the ability to weave in sports betting, amounts to a major coup for ESPN. All of those assets shape up as extra selling points for ESPN’s first direct-to-consumer platform, launching this fall for $29.99. The league gets to exit the crumbling cable TV business, which it entered with the 2003 launch of NFL Network.

The NFL and ESPN are also entering “a second non-binding agreement,” the announcement says, “under which the NFL will license to ESPN certain NFL content and other intellectual property to be used by NFL Network and other assets.”

The historic deal would be a win-win for both sides. Disney/ESPN would become true equity partners with the nation’s richest, most powerful, and popular sports league. As cord-cutting continues to hammer the cable industry, it would give ESPN the inside track to retaining Monday Night Football rights, scoring better game schedules and, potentially, more Super Bowls down the road. 

“It’s an expensive insurance policy for ESPN—but it’s worth it,” one industry source told Front Office Sports.

ESPN currently pays the NFL $2.7 billion a year for the rights to the Monday Night Football package. That’s more than any current media partner, including NBC Sports, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and Amazon Prime Video. Under the current NFL agreement negotiated by ESPN bosses Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Magnus, ESPN scored rights to its first Super Bowl telecasts after the 2026 and 2030 seasons. Both will be simulcast on sister Disney network ABC. Showing a Super Bowl has been a dream of ESPN since its founding in 1979. Disney telecast its last Super Bowl in 2006 under the aegis of the old ABC Sports, which was later subsumed by ESPN.

Meanwhile, NFL owners pocket so much money off the league’s 11-year, $111 billion media rights contracts that they’re losing interest in operating a costly 24/7 cable network, sources said. Especially since the NFL wrote in a clause that will allow the league to opt out of its current contracts in 2029 and 2030 rather than waiting for 2033. The league also held discussions with other possible buyers, according to sources, but only ESPN stepped up to the plate.

It has been an uphill climb for ESPN to reestablish a positive relationship with the NFL. Eight years ago, the network was gauging a plot to “abandon” the league, reporter Jim Miller wrote at the time

In the Pitaro era, ESPN dug deep into its wallet to poach Joe Buck and Troy Aikman from Fox Sports for Monday Night Football—in addition to continuing to air the ManningCast with Peyton and Eli Manning via a licensing deal with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. ESPN recently extended the contract of legendary anchor Chris Berman through his record 50th year with the network, so he will work ESPN/ABC’s coverage of Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027. The network has even erected a Countdown Clock on its Bristol campus that ticks off the minutes until its first Big Game.

The on-and-off negotiations between the NFL, Disney, and ESPN have lasted for four years. But the negotiating dance between top executives in New York, Burbank, and Bristol is done. 

One source told FOS the final hurdles were worked out during a face-to-face sitdown between NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Disney CEO Bob Iger.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

NFL Bans Smelling Salts Over Concussion-Masking Risk

George Kittle broke the news of the ban Tuesday.
Jul 28, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) and guard DiJonai Carrington (21) during the game between the Dallas Wings and the New York Liberty at College Park Center.

WNBA Trade Deadline Hits Ahead of Looming CBA Chaos

The trade deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.
Saquon Barkley

Saquon Barkley Rebuffs Trump As Other Athletes Line Up Behind Him

The White House has had a barrage of sports announcements in recent weeks.
NHL shooter police vehicle

NYC Authorities Will Examine Brain of NFL Shooter for CTE

Tamura claimed he had the disease, which can be diagnosed only posthumously.

Featured Today

Inked Under Anesthesia: Athletes Getting $50,000 Tattoos

High-end studios, elite artist teams, and hours under anesthesia.
Coco Gauff at New York Liberty
August 2, 2025

How the New York Liberty Became the Hottest Ticket in Town

Once banished to the burbs, the Libs are now Brooklyn’s marquee attraction.
Las Vegas sign
July 29, 2025

College Sports Embracing Vegas After Years of Cold Shoulder

The Big Ten became the latest newcomer to Sin City.
2000, Jupiter, FL, USA; FILE PHOTO; Montreal Expos pitcher Hideki Irabu in action on the mound against the New York Mets at Roger Dean Stadium during Spring Training
July 28, 2025

Dead Sports Franchises Are Alive and Well on Twitter

The Expos, Sonics, and Whalers have active social media accounts.
Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; President Donald Trump leaves the field after participating in a meet and greet with the honorary coin toss participants including family members of the victims from the terrorist attack, members of the New Orleans Police Department, and emergency personnel before Super Bowl LIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs at Ceasars Superdome.

Why the NFL-ESPN Deal Is ‘Political Catnip’ for Trump

The president has a history of using media mergers for leverage.
opinion
August 2, 2025

ESPN-NFL Deal Still Contends With a Wild Card: Trump’s Approval

Negotiations between the NFL and Disney have been ongoing for four years
August 4, 2025

ESPN’s Ryan Clark: Haters Are Viewers, Too

“Get them to hate what you say … enough that they’ll tune in.”
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
July 31, 2025

Comcast Bets Big on Sports, but NBA Price Tag Looms Large

The NBC Sports parent company is absorbing the impacts of adding the NBA.
opinion
July 31, 2025

Could Chad Ochocinco Be ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe Replacement?

ESPN moved on from Sharpe after he settled a sexual assault lawsuit.
July 30, 2025

Shannon Sharpe Out at ESPN Following Rape Suit Settlement

He’s been off-air since April, planning to return for the NFL season.
July 30, 2025

Sophie Cunningham Gets Podcast With Cowherd’s Volume, Continuing Breakout

Cunningham’s podcast deal is the latest in a breakout summer.