The National Football League is considering taking a minority stake in ESPN.
CNBC reported Thursday that the NFL is looking at taking a stake of around 10% in the Disney sports network. The media giant currently owns 80% of ESPN, while Hearst owns the remaining 20%. The outlet noted that discussions remain ongoing and that a final deal could result in a smaller stake.
As part of the deal, ESPN would take control of NFL Network and NFL RedZone, per CNBC. But it reportedly is not in talks to acquire all of NFL Media, which also includes assets such as NFL Films, NFL.com, the NFL app and NFL+, nor would it take an equity ownership stake in the league.
Representatives for ESPN and the NFL declined to comment.
The discussions about a minority stake come as ESPN is gearing up to launch its new streaming service this fall, which will package its programming with fantasy sports integrations, enhanced statistics, betting features and e-commerce.
ESPN, which will be available to both ESPN+ subscribers and the network’s existing pay TV subscribers at launch, will charge $29.99 per month for its Unlimited plan and $11.99 for its Select plan. Disney will also continue to market and sell ESPN+ in part due to contractual rights commitments with several leagues, both domestically and internationally. ESPN is also available as a tile in Disney+ available for bundle subscribers.
It also comes as the NFL has the option of exercising an opt-out clause in its current media rights deals beginning after the 2028-2029 season. In 2021, the league reached agreements with Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, FOX and NBC, collectively valued at over $100 billion.
“We really went a long way to put that into our contracts in the last agreement. I think having the option to do that will be valuable for us, but we haven’t made any decision on that,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC earlier this month. “We are very proud of our partnerships. We think that they’re doing a wonderful job for the NFL. We’ll look and we’ll have the ability to see how the media landscape changes.”
