ESPN considering buying NFL Network, NFL RedZone, and NFL+
 

The headline is a bit sensationalist - sounds like there are active negotiations but nothing final. Still, this would be a landscape shift, and I'm not sure I'm a fan.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ESPN Will Reportedly Spend $2 Billion To Buy The NFL Network, NFL Redzone, &amp; NFL+ <a href="https://t.co/V3h22kGB6n">https://t.co/V3h22kGB6n</a></p>&mdash; CordCuttersNews (@CordCuttersNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CordCuttersNews/status/1902767493741154683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I thought ESPN was in trouble.

Oh no, checkmate, that'd probably force me to buy their new ESPN-streaming site their going to launch. ugh

I like them being a separate entity

Once the Mahomes era is done I'm likely out on 95% of televised sports coverage anyway but this sounds like a bad fit as ESPN is hardly watchable outside of live events

Losing money <> in trouble. They're owned by Disney and worth somewhere around $24 billion.

NFL RedZone with commercials..

Boo. That would suck.

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Please don't.

Everything Disney touches has gone to shit.

Angry Runs becomes Stephen A confronting the corpse of Lebron courtside

Groooooooooosss

Right?

Unless they're willing to mortgage the entire farm on it, it hard to see it happening... but then again, three different NFL properties kinda seems like a safe bet these days

laughs in illegal streaming

It's about ESPN+ they want to move away from baseball content..NFL content would likely get them more subs.

MLB is jealous.

This.

It's Disney money and it'll be bundled with HULU

I know Disney tried to offload them with no success. I guess Disney wants to try and bring that in to help sell in the future or finally able to make money.

I know they talked about looking for leagues to partner with ESPN. I think it's a good idea for ESPN to have the leagues have mutual interest

ESPN use to do great investigative reporting now they don't even attempt because they might offend a league.

ESPN itself is struggling but they have brand recognition - they're the Coke or Xerox of cable sports. Disney keeps them afloat just because of that and Disney has deep, deep pockets. Will be interesting to see what happens broadcasting-wise having an OTA network (ABC) and the NFL media owned by the same company.

That all being said, I agree with the guys that said "gross". ESPN is awful. NFLN is so much better.

Ugh

So ESPN wants to kill more networks... great...

You can try and get close to Tyler Swift. Her success won't rub off on those losers

And I will still illegally stream every game.

I will be pissed if they ruin RZ.

Oh great. It's not like ESPN wasn't already a huge financial drain on all cable and streaming platforms...

Disney money Yo

If the NFL is for sale I would guess Bezos would end up buying it all

ESPN and Disney can get them on cable packages which NFL wants. ESPN wants the NFL Films and other content for ESPN+. Seems like a win for both.

They do some shit like suck off the NBA for whatever reason but its still a cash cow for Disney.

Probably.

But MLB channel is really good.

ESPN will turn it into shit.

streameast and tvsportslive are our friends. What are your go-to sites?

This!

And a couple niche sports like MLB and the NHL have/had far superior streaming platforms than ESPN+, which hasn't evolved in 20 years.

Yep, the worst network on television.

ESPN has 2 billion to spend?


Or is it that Disney makes money and runs ESPN at a loss.


Like the NBA and the WNBA

And if those greedy ****s somehow manage to stop it, they will eventually starve themselves of viewers and implode over their own greed

More NFL games that will only be available on ESPN+.

Great.

My fallback used to be I could just stay sports news isolated and watch them when they showed up on NFL network if it was a game I really wanted to see, but it looks like that may be out.

I presume if it moved to ESPN+, it will no longer be available on YouTube TV.

Coming soon in 2027

Opening weekend kickoff ESPN+ exclusive Ravens @ Chiefs!!

AFC divisional round playoff game exclusive. Only on ESPN+. Broncos @ Chiefs!

It was only a matter of time. I'm amazed it's lasted this long. ESPN buying it would definitely accelerate it's demise, though.

Disney turns everything into crap. This might be a good move for NFL profitability in the short term, but it seems like a huge mistake in the long term.

It started sneaking in commercials late last season. Maybe that was a sign. Though I think the NFL has been trying to get rid of the network for a while.

I don't begrudge working in an ad here and there. In fact I want them to if it means they keep it going. My fear has been that some short-sighted NFL executive will decide they can get more Sunday Ticket subscriptions if they axe it. ESPN seems even more likely to have that kind of dipshit logic. The reality is it's incredible for the NFL product. The "Witching Hour" feeds America a live stream of the best weekly drama anywhere in sports. This grows fandom, grows fantasy football, and bolsters the product. Always have executives out there that would rather kill the sheep once than sheer it a hundred times, though.

I'd imagine Disney is heavily leveraged right now. The bottom is falling out at ESPN and they're probably focused on trying to salvage investments and avoid the espn shout-ey show abyss. Like at this point I honestly think most professional athletes are embarrassed by the existence of ESPN and think of it as trash television that belittles their professions. Disney needs to buy up enough IPO to sell to their investors to offset what they've done to that network.

The NFL owners would be well advised not to go anywhere near Disney. Disney is ebola. Even their parks are bleeding, covid hurt, but they saw zero pent-up demand as expected in the post-covid year+. Their movies will lose BILLIONS before Iger strips the fields clean with his DEI locusts, and their streaming is losing subscribers...they are desperately clinging to their "sports" division, as it is one of their few ventures that hasn't completely gone tits up. If I were the NFL, I would shove that broomstick so far up their ass, they'd be cooking and cleaning at the same time.

Need to throw the book at people who are getting their sports from pirated streams. Passing the buck to the paying customer. ESPN would make more money without all of these piece of shit gen z stealing all media content they consume.

This smells like a desperation move for Disney.

Disney has lost almost half their market cap since March of 2021. Iger retired, his hand picked legacy CEO lasted like 18 months, the next dude lasted less time and the board convinced 800 year old Iger to ride back from the sunset and fix shit.

Since 2021 their properties have all shit the bed.
Marvel is a husk of its former self to the point at which they halted production
Star Wars has imploded to the point they shitcanned most of their shit.
Pixar hasn’t had a true hit in a long time
Studios is meh. I think it’s making money. But meh.
ESPN is puking money.
Discovery … still exists I guess?

Hulu is a good property
Parks and cruises make money.

Current liabilities exceed current assets by enough that id be pissed if it was mine, they still netted 2B last year, but they have problems.

I don’t think this is a healthy company entering into healthy M&A.

I think that would be a huge mistake for the NFL.

and here would come the HULU price hike...

Capitalism in a nutshell.

On the surface, I would say this is a bad idea. ESPN has been incredibly hit and miss for the past 20 years, going so far as to say much of their programming has turned into utter dogshit during this time. It would be a shame to see them have almost exclusive control over the NFL narrative, considering they already spend 90% of their time covering the NFL whether it's in-season or otherwise, and it's usually already pretty mediocre to bad. But it's Disney, and what the mouse wants, the mouse usually gets. So I'm sure it'll be under their umbrella eventually.

Do not want.

ESPN ruined ESPN. Stay away from my football. NFLN was great because I didn't have to watch ESPN any longer...