OT: ESPN to potentially take control over NFL Media

[203Pat]

I am kind of a nerd when it comes to football/sports media so maybe I find this more interesting than most but this seems like an insane idea. ESPN seems to be moving in the wrong direction for years now. Between some of the disastrous MNF crews/broadcasts and the tons of layoffs over the years they seem to be trying to figure out how to put things together and now they would be taking on all the media for the biggest sport in the country?

The National Football League (NFL) is reportedly in advanced talks to take an equity stake in US sports broadcasting giant ESPN. According to the New York Post, the proposed deal would see ESPN take control of NFL Media, the league’s media arm which includes NFL Network, RedZone, NFL+ and NFL.com.

 

[Steve102]

 

[holyredeemer]

I am kind of a nerd when it comes to football/sports media so maybe I find this more interesting than most but this seems like an insane idea. ESPN seems to be moving in the wrong direction for years now. Between some of the disastrous MNF crews/broadcasts and the tons of layoffs over the years they seem to be trying to figure out how to put things together and now they would be taking on all the media for the biggest sport in the country?

The National Football League (NFL) is reportedly in advanced talks to take an equity stake in US sports broadcasting giant ESPN. According to the New York Post, the proposed deal would see ESPN take control of NFL Media, the league’s media arm which includes NFL Network, RedZone, NFL+ and NFL.com.

The bigger question for me is why does the NFL want to give the control up? It seems like they have a good thing going.

 

[Hyped]

The bigger question for me is why does the NFL want to give the control up? It seems like they have a good thing going.

Cost cutting measure, IMO. ESPN already has the studios, cameras, talent, and etc.... and NFL Network no longer telecasts games just the draft, pre-season, and replays....

 

[Ross12]

Cost cutting measure, IMO. ESPN already has the studios, cameras, talent, and etc.... and NFL Network no longer telecasts games just the draft, pre-season, and replays....

Yeah this makes sense. They could likely lay off some of the NFL Network talent and utilize some ESPN folks to do some of the NFLN shows. Make NFLN an ESPN network. Also brings the NFL closer to parent company Disney.

 

[FCB02062]

great, even more political messaging during nfl programming

 

[signbabybrady]

Do we still hate ESPN?

 

[festy1986]

How does the NFL buy a portion of ESPN but ESPN will gain control of the NFL Network?

 

[ralmat55]

They’re using the value of NFL media to obtain their stake in ESPN.

 

[Steve102]

Do we still hate ESPN?

Do bears bear? Do bees bee? Does a picket fence ?

 

[Bill Lee]

Also brings the NFL closer to parent company Disney.

That seems like a risk. NFL has been successful playing media outlets off each other. Once they have a stake in ESPN/Disney they'll naturally favor their own investment, and the media partners will see that NFL spending works against their own interests.

 

[Bill Lee]

Cost cutting measure, IMO. ESPN already has the studios, cameras, talent, and etc.... and NFL Network no longer telecasts games just the draft, pre-season, and replays....

A side benefit is that ESPN will be the one doing the down-sizing of NFLN, not the NFL itself. Makes for better PR.

 

[Bill Lee]

For fans of the ATN podcast:

 

[h0c2000]

 

[XLIX]

Just another corrupt move by 2 corrupt organizations with zero integrity but they get away with it because the fans don't care about the conflict of interest involved.

And suddenly the NFL goes from a League endorsed by sportsbooks to a League which will have an ownership stake in a sportsbook. Convenient.

 

[Brandon_Cox]

As long as Scott Hanson is still hosting the RZC, I'm good

 

[signbabybrady]

Just another corrupt move by 2 corrupt organizations with zero integrity but they get away with it because the fans don't care about the conflict of interest involved.

And suddenly the NFL goes from a League endorsed by sportsbooks to a League which will have an ownership stake in a sportsbook. Convenient.

Wow that's super shady how is that legal?

 

[203Pat]

The bigger question for me is why does the NFL want to give the control up? It seems like they have a good thing going.

Cost cutting measure, IMO. ESPN already has the studios, cameras, talent, and etc.... and NFL Network no longer telecasts games just the draft, pre-season, and replays....

I think Hyped nailed it. NFLN already had a pretty large round of layoffs about a year ago and now without the TNF games they won't be doing anywhere near as many NFL game broadcasts. From what I understand NFL Media is separate from the NFL in terms of businesses so while the NFL is raking it in year over year NFL Network is nowhere near as lucrative and without the direct ad dollars from broadcasting games the league may figure what's the point? They already make money off the dozens of streaming services and Sunday Ticket plans so why keep something afloat that doesn't have the same ROI. The most interesting piece of this to me is how many NFLN employees make their way to the new ESPN platform.

 

[Bill Lee]

I think Hyped nailed it. NFLN already had a pretty large round of layoffs about a year ago and now without the TNF games they won't be doing anywhere near as many NFL game broadcasts. From what I understand NFL Media is separate from the NFL in terms of businesses so while the NFL is raking it in year over year NFL Network is nowhere near as lucrative and without the direct ad dollars from broadcasting games the league may figure what's the point?

IIRC NFLN started when having your own media property was the cool thing to do. It also helped NFL get the "party line" out in front of the fans. I think they have other ways to do that now, and the cost/benefit ratio is way below 1.0 these days.

They already make money off the dozens of streaming services and Sunday Ticket plans so why keep something afloat that doesn't have the same ROI.

It is just kinda sad that they are fabulously wealthy yet penny-pinching at the same time. I think sooner or later their continued watering down of the product is gonna catch up with them. In our case as Pats fans, it's clearly not the same kind of enjoyment these days as it once was, so it seems we should not be the benchmark, but still, here we are.

I still make time for the NFL, but no where near as much as I used to. I used to watch three games start to finish on Sundays, even more if you consider I had a fourth game queued up on the DVR and if it was good I'd squeeze that in too. Last season I was down to one and a half games. This season it often is one or less, maybe catch the 20 minute ad-free (for u2b premium) highlights that NFL puts on u2b twelve hours after the game if I want more content. I bet they shut that down sooner or later too.

In addition to the fact as Pats fans the product has been miserable, IMO the NFL product itself is just so loaded with ads it's terrible. I didn't realize how good we had it when Summerall and Madden read the "Murder, She Wrote" ad copy. And they just can't seem to fix the terrible game-time officials. Why watch a game if the zebras determine the outcome so damn often? As far as I'm concerned, get every damn official off the field and do it all with video.

 

[Nikolai]

Wow that's super shady how is that legal?

Possibly because it hasn't been challenged in court, whereby, it could potentially be determined to be illegal. But then, who has the money/desire to litigate this?