Here’s What the Huge ESPN-NFL TV Deal Means for Football Fans

ESPN is called “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” for a reason. The channel’s offerings run the gamut from the biggest pro and college sports to the Little League World Series.

But the Worldwide Leader just made a massive deal that will even further solidify its standing for sports on TV.

ESPN announced Tuesday evening an agreement with the NFL to acquire NFL Network, NFL RedZone, and other assets in exchange for 10% equity in the company. I know what you’re thinking: “All I heard was ‘blah blah blah money money money blah blah.’ Why should I care?”

I’m glad you asked.

What does ESPN’s deal with the NFL mean for you?

NFL Network was previously owned by the league itself. Fans generally needed a cable or satellite subscription—or a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV—to access the premium channel.

ESPN owning NFL Network might—or might not— change how you access the channel. If you already get NFL Network through DIRECTV or Hulu + Live TV, for example, nothing will change for you. That’s the good news for those who felt frazzled by the announcement.

But let’s say you’re more like me. I don’t subscribe to a TV service of any kind, and the streaming services I do use I access through login credentials from my friends and family (please don’t come after me, HBO Max or Disney+). If that sounds like you, and you’re an NFL fan, keep reading.

ESPN will offer NFL Network through its upcoming direct-to-consumer product set to launch August 21. In other words, if you subscribe only to ESPN’s new product, you’ll get any NFL games airing on the Worldwide Leader, plus whatever games show on NFL Network, ESPN+, and even ABC for certain Monday Night Football games.

There’s a small catch, though. The NFL Network part of the deal hasn’t actually closed yet, per a CNBC report. That means NFL fans won’t get the channel immediately when ESPN’s new app launches. But, it’ll happen eventually.

So basically, it’s just more ESPN?

Pretty much, yeah. Disney is coming for us all.

To paraphrase Disney CEO Bob Iger during a recent earnings call, ESPN really is just making it easier for NFL fans to watch more games by acquiring NFL Network and integrating it into its platform. It just feels a little overlord-y when something small and unique—even by NFL standards—is getting swallowed up by such a big entity.

From a production standpoint, this deal likely means you’ll see more ESPN personalities and analysts host shows and give sideline reports during programming that airs on NFL Network. But don’t be surprised if ESPN signs some of the NFL’s existing on-air talent to maintain some continuity.

What about other NFL media properties?

The situation with NFL RedZone is probably the most “meh” part of the deal. ESPN bought the rights and trademark and can distribute the channel to TV providers. But the NFL still owns RedZone, will continue to produce its programming, and can still distribute it digitally.

That said, ESPN gains the ability to offer NFL+ Premium, which includes NFL RedZone, to its direct-to-consumer subscribers. From the looks of it, NFL+ Premium could become an add-on within the new ESPN service.

So what’s the bottom line?

To me, this move by ESPN is all about their new DTC product. It already had multiple NFL games per season on its properties. Now, it gets a few more and adds flexibility if a game needs to move to NFL Network.

But what ESPN really gets from this deal is the chance to say, “Hey, you like the NFL, right? Well, we own a bunch of NFL stuff now. So come to us for your NFL.” Bully for them.