ESPN Looks to Ride the NFL to Streaming Success
Andrew Marchand
Say you're about to launch a new sports streaming service, what's the one way to guarantee success? Getting the sports programming that guarantees success. The NFL.
Now, according to sources briefed on negotiations, ESPN and the NFL are inside the five-yard line on another ground-breaking deal that may not have the impact of 1987 but could be historic, as the all-sports network makes its programming available in a direct-to-consumer product this fall that will cost $29.99 per month. ESPN is hyping this upcoming iteration as “The Next Era.”
What follows is a preamble longer than LeBron James' "The Decision" moment. So what is the actual "big deal"? Nine paragraphs later, we get to it:
What could be in the deal is the Red Zone Channel, NFL Network, seven regular-season games that appear on NFL Network, enhanced betting and fantasy league possibilities. There may be more.
This is, of course, a deal that has been rumored for months if not years. But it's no less of a big deal, in particular tying it to the new, soon-to-launch ESPN streaming service. The key to get consumers to pay such a high price for a single streaming service – double, or more, as presumably Red Zone will be an add-on/up-sell here, the price of many of the others – will be the content. And in particular, the sports available. The actual games. And again, the NFL will be key if they want it to be a success right out of the gate.
And ESPN will undoubtedly have to pay dearly for that. No deal terms are given, but Marchand notes they "will be enormous". And in that light, it makes more sense why ESPN has seemingly pulled back from the MLB and out of F1. They're going all-in on the NFL, at least to launch this service. If this deal gets done, it's effectively an ESPN/NFL streaming service.
Of course, it still won't have all the NFL games. And that's in no small part due to ESPN parent Disney's streaming rivals. To get access to all the games beyond those that air on network TV on CBS and Fox, you'll need Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, YouTube, and yes, Netflix. But still, for any football fan, this makes ESPN's streaming service a must-have on day one. As Marchand states:
In 2024, of the 100 highest-rated programs on television, 72 were NFL games. This does not appear to be changing anytime soon.
A year ago, long before the details of ESPN's streaming service were known – including the refreshingly simple name and price – I laid out a vision for 'ESPN's Path to Be *the* Streaming Sports Bundle'. In it, I wrote:
Anyway, if any of the above is correct, it's good to see Disney/ESPN waking up to what they should be doing here. The judge axing Venu may end up a blessing in disguise for the company, as they need to stop throwing spaghetti against the wall and start throwing heaters. Focus on the actual ESPN streaming service. Bring in your expensive national games. Bring in some local/regional ones. SportsCenter and all the talking-head shows. Wrap it up in a nice "Where to Watch" bow. Oh yes, and gambling too, of course.
All that may be worth $30/month. And you can perhaps get away with offering it for such a "low" price because all of the content will have ads baked in. Maybe there's a $40/month tier to remove it from some non-live programming. And then, of course, Disney can bundle it galore with their other properties
And "boom," goes the dynamite.
These are the exact right first steps – cut out all the Venu noise (which was cut out for them) and focus on the ESPN app. And work to aggregate all the content – namely popular sports games – you can into the service.
But there's also clearly more competition now too. A few months after the post above, I wrote about 'Amazon & ESPN's Sports Streaming Collision Course'. Their approach is clearly a bit different, but still a pretty compelling aggregation of sports content with RSNs and the NBA about to be added to the mix, but fueled by, of course, the NFL.
And despite years of denials, Netflix is now here too, of course. Driven by ads.
Still, Netflix was already a must-have streaming service. And Prime Video was one you already had by default thanks to Amazon's Prime service itself. Disney needed a clear path to ensure ESPN was one of those must-haves, especially coming so late to the streaming game. And it sounds like they're going to have that path, thanks to the NFL. Don't say "game on"... Don't say "game on"... Don't say "game on"...
Update July 24, 2025: Alex Sherman of CNBC is now reporting that this deal may be tied to the NFL investing in ESPN – perhaps buying a 10% stake. Disney has long been looking for this type of partnership, in part to offset the costs of buying sports rights, so it would seemingly make a lot of sense to partner with the league with the most expensive (and coveted) sports rights!
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler