ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro hailed the sports network’s recent move to acquire NFL Network as a “unique deal at a unique moment in time” during an investor conference hosted by Bank of America on Thursday. But he’s also not ruling out striking similar deals with other sports leagues in the future.
“I would say to have it would have to make business sense,” he said when asked if ESPN would ever consider replicating the deal. “We’re always interested in ways to advance the business and, just as importantly, ways to serve the sports fan. So if someone comes to us and presents a compelling opportunity, we’re of course going to listen.”
Under the terms of the deal, ESPN will take control of the NFL Network, its linear RedZone Channel and NFL Fantasy in exchange for the league taking a 10% stake. Disney currently owns 80% of ESPN, while Hearst owns the remaining 20%.
The NFL will continue to own and operate NFL Films, NFL+, NFL.com, the NFL Podcast Network, the NFL FAST channel and the official sites for the league’s 32 clubs. It will also continue to own, operate, and produce NFL RedZone and retain the rights to distribute NFL RedZone digitally.
“I don’t want to speak for the NFL, but I believe that they have seen what we can do on the studio side. I think they have a lot of trust and faith in us in terms of continuing to operate NFL Network consistent to how it’s it’s been operated in the past. So there’s a ton of excitement there,” he added.
Pitaro said NFL Network would be included in its recently launched ESPN direct-to-consumer app once the deal officially closes, pending regulatory approval. The deal also gives ESPN the opportunity to expand the RedZone brand to other sports and leagues.
ESPN platforms will also license an additional three NFL games per season to air on NFL Network. It will adjust its game schedule to have four games, including some in overlapping windows, shift to the NFL Network, which will continue to present seven games per season.
Separately, ESPN and the league also reached a multi-year extension to license the NFL Draft, with Disney+, Hulu and ESPN DTC set to stream ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes’ trio of Draft presentations starting in 2026. Additional alternate NLF Draft presentations from ESPN will also be available, as well as a new daily show dedicated to the NFL draft that will air on ESPN2 most days and launch following the Super Bowl.
That deal will also see ESPN and ABC will each produce telecasts for rounds 1-3 on Thursday and Friday and ESPN continue to air rounds 4-7 with an ABC simulcast. ESPN can add other alternate telecasts across streaming platforms for rounds 1-7. Additionally, premier football shows “College GameDay” and “NFL Live” will continue to be on-site from the NFL Draft, and ESPN Radio will continue its live broadcast of the event.
The NFL Network deal comes as the league has the option of opting out of its current media rights deals and renegotiating with its partners starting in 2029. The NFL has expressed an interest in reaching the widest audience possible, including ambitions to expand internationally.
When asked about whether ESPN could participate in that, Pitaro replied: “I’ve read that there’s potential for them to put together another international package. From our perspective, we’re, we’re always interested in in growing our business. So if they were to put together an international package, we would, of course be interested in having the conversation.”
Despite recently opting out of its current deal with Major League Baseball, Pitaro confirmed that ESPN has had “healthy” and “positive” discussions with the league about another package of games and that he expects the MLB’s deals to close “relatively soon.”
When asked about the UFC striking a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount, he acknowledged that ESPN “can’t have everything” and that the company operates with a “ton of discipline.” He also pointed out that most sports rights are locked up over the next five to 10 years and that deep-pocketed big tech players are similarly being disciplined about the rights that they acquire.
“If you’re a league and you sit down with big tech, you have to ask yourself, how committed are they to sports and or said a different way, how distracted are they going to be? Whereas when we sit down with ESPN, this is what they do. They breathe this 24/7,” he said. “So I think we’re in good shape from that perspective.”
“We’re united in that this is the best set of rights that we have ever had at ESPN. That said, we’re never satisfied,” he added. “We’re always going to look for rights that makes sense and rights that we think can drive our drive our business. But I’m not sure how much there is to acquire over the next few years. We’ve made really smart acquisitions over the past decade. We’ve also walked away from things that did not pencil for us, that did not make sense for our business.”
