Four days after the first report emerged that a deal was close, the deal is done.
ESPN has announced that it “has signed Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter to a new multi-year agreement that will extend his tenure with the company beyond 20 years.”
Schefter is closing in on his 17-year anniversary at ESPN. This means (math) that he’ll be with ESPN for at least three more years.
Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported last week that the deal will run “several years into the ‘30s.” ESPN’s current broadcast deal with the NFL runs through the 2030 season.
With the NFL now owning 10 percent of ESPN, it’s hard to imagine ESPN not keeping a full-season broadcast package, including a spot in the Super Bowl rotation. Even without NFL games, however, ESPN would still cover the NFL extensively — and it would need to retain the centerpiece of its reporting infrastructure.
Terms of Schefter’s deal were not disclosed; terms of such contracts never are. He reportedly was making $9 million per year under his prior deal. Given the ever-changing (and growing) market when it comes to NFL content, the amounts on his W-2s likely will be increasing.
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