As of last May, rumors were rampant that a deal between the NFL and ESPN for a chunk of the league’s media assets was imminent. And then it wasn’t.
Now, they’re talking again.
Via John Ourand of Puck, negotiations have resumed. The fresh impetus apparently has come from ESPN’s looming launch of a direct-to-consumer product named “Flagship.”
Ourand reports that the pair has “discussed the parameters” of a deal that would give ESPN control of NFL Network and NFL RedZone. The move, as Ourand explains, could boost ESPN’s talks with distributors. It also will be useful to ESPN in the next wave of broadcast negotiations, which are likely coming in 2029 — and possibly sooner. With the very real possibility of more suitors than rights packages, it becomes hard to imagine Disney/ESPN/ABC being frozen out if ESPN has purchased NFLN and RedZone.
The league has been trying to sell NFLN, RedZone, NFL.com, and its fantasy-football operations for four years. Last year, as the league stripped the original programming on NFL Network to a skeleton crew, it seemed that it was putting the final pieces in place to dump the asset.
Per Ourand, previous negotiations reached “impasse” in the middle of the year. When the season started, the league tabled the project.
The overriding takeaway continues to be that, more than 20 years after the league thought that starting its own TV network would have an if-you-build-it-they-will-come impact on cable and satellite providers, the league continues to search in vain for a way to declare victory and retreat.
Read the full article here
