ESPN And The NFL Are Crossing The Line From Partnership To Full On Marriage

ESPN has been calling itself the worldwide leader for years – a phrase taken from ABC, by the way – but things are going to be different now. Because ESPN has practically swallowed the world of professional football in a deal that has it eating up the NFL Network and the NFL RedZone channel.

As The Athletic first reported on Friday, ESPN and the NFL have agreed to a sale that will turn over the league's top media holdings – including NFL Network and the RedZone channel – to ESPN in exchange for the NFL getting equity in ESPN.

The NFL could end up owning between 8-15 percent of ESPN, per a source, so this would be a multi-billion deal once it closes.

Oct 6, 2024; London, United Kingdom; The NFL shield logo at midfield at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

ESPN will also get seven more regular-season games, and The Athletic said the NFL’s fantasy football business and potential to integrate other features, including betting, also will go to the network.

And this has wide-ranging ramifications and leaves us with questions:

Firstly, NFL Media, which for years has been trying to compete on some levels with ESPN, now becomes part of ESPN.

So we are now in a world where Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport, longtime competitors in the NFL scoop game, are now colleagues.

It's like cats and dogs sleeping together.

ESPN Monday Night Football Studio Analysts Adam Schefter 

Schefter And RapSheet On Same Team

The NFL has been looking to unload many of its NFL Media properties because, of course, money is always a consideration for the 32-team league. The NFL Network never developed into a successful alternative to ESPN and was bleeding money for the league which launched the venture in 2003.

There have been cutbacks at NFL Network the last couple of years, but it's possible ESPN will now pump resources into the entity to upgrade its production and programming.

This deal also calls into question some age-old journalism questions that apparently neither the NFL nor ESPN believe valid, or they wouldn't have done this deal.

With the NFL getting a stake in ESPN, the idea that it is covering the league as an independent, outside information source is no longer valid. Remember, the NFL will now hold equity in ESPN. So, it will hold sway.

GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN - APRIL 26: NFL Network's Scott Hanson speaks on stage during the during the third day of the 2025 NFL Draft on April 26, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)

Redzone Going To ESPN

Whether that will include editorial decisions on some level is going to be interesting to see.

The fact is, over the years, the NFL Network avoided certain stories because there were editorial orders not to cover what could potentially be harmful or embarrassing to the NFL. 

And since the NFL owned the NFL Network, the work there was meant to protect the brand when possible, and certainly not to ding the brand.

So now that the NFL will hold an equity of unspecified size in ESPN, will the league be able to wield similar sway over ESPN's editorial decisions? 

The chances are good that even if coverage is ultimately not fully tilted in favor of the NFL and toward only positive stories, the editorial discussions on potentially damaging stories could become more heated.

Those debates didn't really exist until now because the question the journalists at ESPN faced was never, "Will this hurt our co-owner?"

The most obvious proof this is already happening is that neither the NFL Network nor ESPN have mentioned this mini-merger yet, despite the independent reporting on the topic. 

So here we are: It's a whole new world for the NFL media landscape – one in which the worldwide leader is swallowing the world.