After the New York Post reported last week that the NFL was in “advanced talks” to buy a piece of ESPN, the prevailing narrative has been that the NFL is about to nail down a minority investment. But we may want to pump the brakes. The NFL deal could still happen, but a possible NBA-ESPN deal is still very much in play, too, I’m told by sources inside both parties. As first reported this summer by CNBC, the Walt Disney Co. has talked to multiple sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, about becoming strategic partners in ESPN—and those talks, I’m told, continue.
The time could be right for the NBA to one-up the NFL. ESPN is currently locked in negotiations to retain NBA media rights into the 2030s. The Association is currently negotiating a billion-dollar deal with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports about extending the league’s U.S. media rights, which currently pay a collective $24 billion through the 2024-25 season. The NBA hopes to double its combined rights payout to $50 billion or more for its next long-term cycle of media rights.
My sources confirm that Disney/ESPN have been approached by a number of possible bidders. Those could include leagues already in business with ESPN, such as MLB and the NHL; giant streamers like Amazon and Google/YouTube; sports betting platforms trying to morph into media companies, a la FanDuel and DraftKings; plus private equity firms eager for a shot at ESPN’s constellation of live game rights.
ESPN’s long-term control of valuable NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and college football rights is attracting “widespread interest,” says one source. Another warns that there are a “bunch of options” still on the table for Disney and ESPN.
Of course, Disney chairman Bob Iger, who got the ball rolling by telling CNBC this summer that he was willing to sell ESPN and the Mouse House’s other linear TV properties, could decide to keep his favorite sports network after testing the winds.
The corporate vultures circling to pick up a broken ESPN on the cheap were disappointed when Disney released the cable giant’s hidden financials for the previous fiscal year for the first time on Oct. 19th. Yes, cord-cutting is an existential threat to the four letters. But those financials revealed a surprisingly powerful and profitable ESPN.
According to Disney’s fourth quarter reportings from the fiscal year ending Sep. 30, 2023 (which was released last November), ESPN’s operating income surged 16% to $987 million, off $3.5 billion in revenue. In a previous SEC filing, Disney revealed that Bristol delivered $2.9 billion in profits from $16 billion in revenue in fiscal 2022. That was more than Disney’s entire entertainment business that year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. They were the kind of numbers any sports broadcasters would lust after. Disney could fetch $24 billion selling ESPN on the open market, according to estimates from BofA Global Research.
Put it all together and my sources say a final decision by Iger is months away. Stay tuned.
Mike Tomlin To TV?
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ coach has long been the No. 1 draft pick for NFL TV partners looking for the next great analyst. His future took an interesting twist when Schefter suggested to The Pat McAfee Show earlier this month that the Super Bowl-winning coach, who has never had a losing season in 17 years, could take a year off.
Many coaches, such as Sean Payton and Bruce Arians, used TV jobs to recharge their batteries before returning to the sidelines. It worked out well in both those cases: Payton signed an $18 million per-year contract to coach the Denver Broncos after working as a studio analyst for Fox Sports last season, and Arians won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after calling games for CBS Sports during the 2018 season. Will Tomlin do the same?
“I don’t know what Mike Tomlin is gonna do, but I can tell you that there are people out there in the league who say that’s potentially an option,” said Schefter. “That after this season, maybe he could walk.”
It’s obviously a sore spot with Tomlin, who has one year left on his deal and who walked out of the room when a reporter asked about his future following the Steelers’ 31-17 wild-card loss to the Buffalo Bills last weekend. ESPN reported he later told his coaches and players he plans to return next season.
McAfee Plays Victim on MLK Day
Speaking of McAfee, ESPN’s afternoon star used the occasion of Martin Luther King Day to claim he was “canceled” by both Democrats and Republicans last week for his involvement in controversial Aaron Rodgers interviews.
McAfee has been a huge contributor to College GameDay. He lands great guests—Rodgers, Schefter, Nick Saban, Stephen A. Smith—and is an excellent interviewer. But, the moment unfortunately dredged up the worst elements of his TV persona, like his frequent whining about being a victim and making everything about himself—including a national holiday for a civil rights hero. “How does Pat McAfee turn MLK Day into a story about him being canceled,” one social media user asked, “while broadcasting his national show on Twitter?”
Hey, why not? Rodgers claimed he was being canceled after being given a national platform by McAfee to espouse his theories about COVID-19 vaccines and bash ESPN executive Mike Foss.
As McAfee’s ESPN colleague Sarah Spain tweeted: ‘We’ve officially removed all meaning from the word ‘canceled.’”
Mike Drops
NBC Sports says that its telecast of the Detroit Lions’ wild-card playoff win over the Los Angeles Rams was the most-watched TV show in prime time since Super Bowl LVII, averaging 35.8 million viewers. … Fox Sports’ 40 million viewers for the Green Bay Packers’ blowout win over the Dallas Cowboys was the network’s highest wild-card audience since 2015. … CBS Sports is planning seven hours of pregame programming leading up to the kickoff of Super Bowl LVIII from Las Vegas. That’s still less than Fox’s 7.5 hours of pregame coverage for Super Bowl LVII in February. …Retiring Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce is a natural for a TV career. He already has one of the country’s most successful podcasts, New Heights, with brother Travis Kelce. Ex-Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday has become a star on ESPN’s Get Up. … CBS’s No. 1 team of Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson, Jay Feely, and Gene Steratore will be in Orchard Park, N.Y., for the second straight week to call the Buffalo Bills-Kansas City Chiefs divisional playoff game. And before we move on: There’s nothing like an NFL snow game. I loved CBS’s snow globe-like footage of Bills fans throwing snow in the air like confetti on Monday night. For what it’s worth: Forecasters are eyeing snow every day in the leadup to the next game. … Former U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard has signed up to become a sports columnist for the Daily Mail. … And: NBC and Peacock will simulcast women’s National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark and No. 2 Iowa against No. 18 Ohio State this Sunday at noon ET.
Michael McCarthy’s “Tuned In” column is at your fingertips every week with the latest insights and ongoings around sports media. If he hears it, you will too.
