Key Points
- ESPN has completed its acquisition of NFL Media after receiving DOJ approval, with the NFL taking a 10% stake in ESPN.
- The deal brings NFL Network, NFL RedZone and NFL Fantasy under ESPN, integrating them into ESPN Unlimited and winding down the NFL’s standalone fantasy app.
- ESPN will absorb NFL Media staff and expand NFL programming, with most viewer-facing changes expected after integration wraps in April.
The Walt Disney Company’s ESPN has closed on its acquisition of NFL Media after receiving approval from the U.S. Department of Justice to proceed with the transaction on Saturday, executives at both organizations affirmed in a late-night statement.
The deal will see the NFL acquire a 10 percent stake in ESPN — a stake that comes from Disney’s 80 percent position in the sports network — in exchange for selling NFL Network, the NFL RedZone brand and NFL Fantasy to ESPN.
Hearst Corporation will retain its 20 percent non-controlling stake in ESPN, the organizations said. ESPN will distribute NFL Network and NFL RedZone to cable and satellite operators, while NFL retains the rights to program NFL RedZone on its own and sell rights to digital platforms. (Google-owned YouTube will keep the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket for a few more years.)
Last year, ESPN and the NFL struck a deal that allows the sports network to bundle NFL Network and NFL RedZone with its streaming plan, ESPN Unlimited. Moving forward, the ESPN Fantasy Football app will become the league’s official fantasy platform, a move that will see the winding down of the NFL’s own fantasy football app in the coming weeks.
The deal with ESPN was thought to invite a higher level of regulatory scrutiny from the Trump administration, given Disney’s position in ESPN and certain aggravations within the Trump administration over the company’s operation of the ABC broadcast network.
It wasn’t clear what concessions, if any, ESPN and the NFL made to the Trump administration to secure approval for the transaction. Other media companies and telecoms, including Paramount, Verizon and Nexstar Media Group, have bargained with federal regulators and others close to Trump in order to secure approval for their own deals, a few of which have closed and some of which are still pending.
The transaction between ESPN and the NFL closed just a few days after the NFL signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of State to create a formal public-private partnership focused on promoting the sport of American football in overseas markets. The NFL has already done this on its own through the expansion of football games in countries like Ireland, Germany, Brazil and Mexico over the past few years.
Moving forward, ESPN said NFL Media employees will move over to the company in the coming months, and the network will offer “expanded NFL programming, greater access to NFL Network, innovative fantasy experiences and unparalleled coverage of America’s most-popular sport.”
In a story on the deal, ESPN said viewers of its channels and NFL Network aren’t expected to notice many changes until at least April, when the integration is complete.
