ESPN and the NFL are helping to rewrite the playbook for keeping sports-media sustainable.
In an unorthodox maneuver, the league will take a minority stake in the giant Disney sports outlet, which will gain control over NFL Network and the NFL RedZone highlights service, in addition to three pro-football games that were being shown via the NFL’s own cable assets. The tie-up is likely to boost the appeal of a new direct-to-consumer streaming service ESPN plans to unveil in the weeks leading up to the next NFL season — a service that would be turbo-charged over time if it included RedZone and more football.
“They have to come out of the gate for that launch with some big bang, and clearly, this is it,” says Daniel Cohen, executive vice president of media rights advisory at Octagon, a talent and sports advisory firm that is part of Interpublic Group. The arrangement will give Disney more heft at the negotiating table with distributors and new firepower in its effort to outmaneuver streaming rivals.
The pact is the most recent example of sports entities and media companies combining business. Fox recently took a 33% stake in Penske Entertainment, which owns the IndyCar motor racing series as well as Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fox also owns part of the nascent United Football League. ESPN in June took a stake in the Premier Lacrosse League, in addition to striking a new five-year rights deal with the organization. Warner Bros. Discovery is a part owner of the upstart women’s basketball league Unrivaled.
The deal with Disney will give the NFL a 10% stake in ESPN, which estimates from Octagon value at as much as $2.2 billion to $2.5 billion.
“Today’s announcement paves the way for the world’s leading sports media brand and America’s most popular sport to deliver an even more compelling experience for NFL fans, in a way that only ESPN and Disney can,” said Robert A. Iger, Walt Disney’s CEO, in a statement. “Commissioner Goodell and the NFL have built outstanding media assets, and these transactions will add to consumer choice, provide viewers with even greater convenience and quality, and expand the breadth and value proposition of Disney’s streaming ecosystem.”
Such alliances may throw a few flags on the field. ESPN could come under new scrutiny from sports organizations ranging from the NCAA to UFC, all of whom will no doubt analyze their own agreements with the network to determine if they are getting terms more favorable or less than the league that now co-owns the media property. And ESPN may be forced into more difficult situations when its journalists seek to report on hot-button issues tied to the NFL, such as the effects of game play on the brains of its athletes; the league’s growing sway over traditional media companies; or off-field behavior by prominent players. In 2003, for example, ESPN and the NFL were at odds with one another over “Playmakers,” an original ESPN drama series that showed football players coping with personal problems, injuries, drugs and more. The show got high ratings, but was scrapped under pressure from the league.
If other leagues take issue with ESPN’s new embrace of the NFL, they aren’t saying so out loud. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League declined to comment on any ramifications of the NFL taking a stake in ESPN. And within the NBA, however, there is a belief that the agreement will make ESPN stronger, according to a person familiar with the matter and are “comfortable” with the new alliance. The NBA declined to make executives available for comment.
These new types of team-ups make increasing sense in an era when sports rights have become critical for media companies that want to attract broad audiences — something advertisers and distributors still crave, even as consumers migrate to watching video favorites on demand, at times of their own choosing. At the same time, the price tag for keeping sports in the portfolio is soaring exponentially, even as many traditional media companies are grappling with dips in advertising and distribution.
NFL games are, at least so far in the streaming era, the most stable pieces of property a media company can get. The broadcasts are typically the most-watched of the last few years. Adding distribution of NFL Network and the RedZone service makes ESPN “the lion in the jungle,” says Cohen, and better monetizes the rights fees for Disney.
And yet, the economics of the cable networks showing the games aren’t so robust. Thanks to the widespread adoption of streaming, the ESPN and ESPN2 cable networks are each projected to see their subscribers drop to 57.9 million and 57.8 million respectively by the end of 2026, according to data from Kagan, a research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, compared with 61.4 million each at the end of 2025. The NFL Network, meanwhile, has seen its subscriber base drop steadily, according to Kagan. To 46.7 million in 2024, compared with 72.3 million in 2023.
The alliance may also serve Disney well in the not-too-distant future. In its last set of rights deals struck for a 11-year period starting with the 2022 season, the NFL won the right to overhaul its contracts and seek better terms after 2029. Owning a piece of ESPN is likely to keep the league from seeking a re-do of rights for “Monday Night Football.” “This ensures some longer-term stability in the relationship between ESPN and the NFL beyond 2029,” says Cohen. For its part, the NFL would have a piece of Disney’s future. Bob Iger, the CEO of the company has increasingly articulated a path that hinges heavily on reaching digital viewers.
Under terms of the deal, ESPN will merge its fantasy football properties with those from the league. The NFL will continue to The NFL will continue to operate properties such as NFL Films and the NFL+ subscription streaming outlet, as well as official sites for the league’s 32 clubs. The NFL retains the rights to distribute NFL RedZone digitally.
Disney and the NFL may need time to maneuver the deal into the end zone. Regulatory review could take a year, suggests Cohen, and the NFL Players Association may have concerns tied to whether the pact would affect revenue from media rights that is shared with players. But if the pact is completed, Cohen says, it could represent “an increasingly relevant blueprint for other leagues to look at.”
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