ESPN and the NFL stunned the sports world with a sweeping deal that sends NFL Network and RedZone to ESPN in exchange for a 10% stake in the four letters worth an estimated $2.5 billion. 

This complicated deal leaves a lot of unanswered questions. To get answers, Front Office Sports sat down with ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro, NFL chief operating officer Hans Schroeder, and Disney corporate development chief Justin Warbrooke on Wednesday.

Will anything change with RedZone? 

No. Anchor Scott Hanson, who just signed a new contract with NFLN, will host for the 17th straight season. And NFLN will continue to own, operate, and produce the popular whip-around channel. RedZone will not be included in ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer platform. However, fans will be able to order an ESPN DTC bundle with the NFL+ Premium subscription service that includes RedZone.

Could there be more RedZones?  

Yes. The NFL will produce RedZone and maintain its digital rights. But ESPN gets rights to the brand itself—as well as linear distribution through cable operators. So down the road we could be looking at ESPN’s NBA RedZone, College Football RedZone, NHL RedZone, and so on. 

Jimmy Pitaro: “We have the opportunity to expand the RedZone brand to other sports, other leagues. We would do that in partnership, and in concert, with the NFL. Of course the other leagues would need to agree to it. We’re starting to think about what we can do. We are very passionate about the RedZone brand. We think it’s very compelling and there’s a lot of value there.” 

Hans Schroeder: “ESPN is acquiring the RedZone trademark. … Certainly you could see different RedZones with different sports. They could certainly build out the RedZone channel to be more than seven hours a week if they wanted to.” 

Why is ESPN doing this deal? 

ESPN decided the chance to add more NFL content—under its own umbrella—was too good to pass up. Pitaro also thinks the deal will drive new business. The chairman believes more NFL content will fuel the new DTC business. And be a big selling point as ESPN negotiates with cable operators. 

Pitaro: “This is incredibly consumer-friendly. It will give the sports fan and the NFL fan and the football fan another way to consume NFL content. At the same time, we believe this content, from games to studio programming on the NFL Network side, is incredibly high-quality. It will help us grow subs.”

Why is the NFL doing this deal? 

The league talked to multiple potential business partners over the years but in the end decided ESPN was the “right” partner. 

Schroeder: “As we look out and think about how we try to engage fans, and try to give them a 24/7, 365 experience around the NFL, and do that across all our assets, the unique elements and resources and scale and programming expertise that ESPN brings to everything they do … we thought it was just a tremendous opportunity to partner with that—and bring that to the NFL Network. So the NFL Network could be as strong as it can be and as it has been for 20 years.”

When is the deal expected to close? 

The two sides still need to hammer out a final agreement and get approval from NFL owners as well as the federal government. Disney EVP of finance Justin Warbrooke tells FOS they are looking at “late” next year: “It has to go through the regulatory review process.” 

Will ESPN get more live games, and will NLFN still show games? 

The answer to both is yes. Under the deal, ESPN will purchase three additional games from the league. That will increase its offerings to 28 games versus 25 this season. To keep NFLN’s seven-game schedule whole, ESPN will shift three games that previously aired exclusively on ABC to NFLN. Plus, one that aired exclusively on ESPN+.

Is the NFL’s fantasy business included?

Big time. The deal merges NFL Fantasy Football with ESPN Fantasy Football. The NFL thinks the sky’s the limit by combining the two platforms. 

Schroeder: “Fantasy is still an incredible [business for the league], with tens of millions of people playing NFL fantasy. Looking at what ESPN could do to further evolve that? We were really excited about it.”

Does this give Disney/ESPN most favored nation status among NFL media partners?

Pitaro: “We do not expect any preferential treatment whatsoever from the league. As we move forward here, in terms of any future rights negotiations, those will be held at arm’s length, just like they always have been. Nothing changes as a result of this equity transaction.” 

Schroeder: “We’ve really learned and know how to balance that [equity] piece of the partnership as well as the arms-length aspect of the partnership. Especially in areas where we have multiple partners.” 

Any early read on President Donald Trump’s reaction? 

That’s still to be determined. Pitaro says he’s looking forward to touting the deal’s “pro-consumer, pro-competitive” benefits. 

Pitaro: “We expect this transaction to be reviewed on its own merits. But we are confident the deal is pro-consumer, pro-competition—and we are prepared to explain that.”

What will be left of NFL Media? 

The league will continue to own and operate NFL Films, NFL.com, NFL+ Premium, the NFL Podcast Network, NFL FAST Channel, and the official websites for the league’s 32 clubs.

WWE continues to lay the smackdown in the revenue growth department. 

WWE’s premium live events (PLEs, formerly referred to as pay-per-view) are migrating from NBC’s Peacock to ESPN’s new streaming service in 2026, the companies said Wednesday morning. The deal is for $1.6 billion across five years, a 78% increase over the previous five-year, $900 million agreement with Peacock. CNBC reported that “select” PLEs will also air on ESPN’s linear networks.

The move is significant as WWE has proved to be one of the few properties whose audience will follow the entertainment and sign up for new streaming services to watch it. UFC, which like WWE is under the TKO umbrella, is another, and has its own rights deal with ESPN expiring later this year. 

WWE was a pioneer in over-the-top streaming, launching WWE Network in 2014. It disrupted a model in which fans who previously paid upward of $50 for PPVs were now spending $9.99 per month on a subscription service. The PLEs moved to Peacock in 2021. 

This year, WWE has at least 10 PLEs, with WrestleMania and SummerSlam spread out over two nights apiece, meaning there are 12 WWE PLE windows. It is conceivable that other events, like the Royal Rumble, could expand to two nights in the future. 

The deal with ESPN does not include PLE rights for NXT, WWE’s developmental promotion, or the extensive WWE library, according to Lightshed Partners analyst Brandon Ross. 

WWE’s TV rights are with Netflix for Raw and USA Network for SmackDown. 

For ESPN, this is another gun in the holster for its upcoming streaming service, which is launching this fall for $29.99 per month. Tuesday, ESPN announced a non-binding deal to acquire NFL Network, and distribute RedZone on linear TV, in exchange for a 10% stake in ESPN. Industry sources have valued this stake at around $2.5 billion. The deal is subject to federal regulatory approval, and some industry insiders have speculated that President Donald Trump will not let it pass through easily. 

Subscribers to some cable companies and bundle distributors, including DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, Charter, Fubo, and Verizon Fios, will be able to watch the new streaming service at no extra cost. But ESPN doesn’t have deals yet with YouTube TV, Xfinity, or Optimum, meaning their subscribers would have to pay.

This story has been updated.

It’s good to be true financial partners. On the heels of ESPN selling a 10% stake to the NFL, the network announced a “multi-year extension” of its long-running draft coverage.

ESPN has extended its draft rights through the company’s 50th anniversary in 2030, say sources. Front Office Sports reported in April that the four letters were close to an extension with the league. 

Starting with the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, Disney+ and Hulu will also stream individual draft presentations from ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes. All offerings will also be available on ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer platform, which launches Aug. 21 for $29.99 a month. ESPN is also planning a new daily draft show for ESPN2, which will launch the day after the Super Bowl and air through that year’s event. 

Only a year after its founding in 1979, ESPN transformed the formerly sleepy NFL Draft into a television property. Legend has it that when the start-up network asked Pete Rozelle about broadcasting GMs sitting around talking on phones from a New York hotel ballroom, even the publicity-savvy commissioner asked, “Why?”

The annual NFL Draft is now a three-day traveling carnival—part sporting event, part reality TV, part fashion event. ESPN’s coverage over the decades—from Chris Berman, Mel Kiper Jr., and the late Chris Mortensen to Mike Greenberg, Louis Riddick, Pat McAfee, and Kirk Herbstreit—has helped turn it into the league’s marquee offseason event. While rival Fox Sports got its foot in the door via a simulcast with NFL Network in 2018, ESPN’s parent Disney counterattacked with a college-centric version on ABC hosted by Herbstreit starting in 2019 that’s been a big addition to the coverage.

But ESPN’s contract to simulcast draft coverage across the four letters and ABC expired after the 2024 season. The brass in Bristol and Burbank faced the almost unbearable prospect of waving goodbye to the property after 46 years. 

Even though the league’s own NFL Network added its own draft coverage in 2006, ESPN has been and continues to be the clear favorite among viewers. Looking forward, YouTube could still be in play for international draft rights. But Netflix declined to bid on rights, said sources. So in the U.S. market at least, draft coverage will belong to ESPN, ABC, and NFL Network.