The NFL approaches an agreement to take a minority participation up to 10% in ESPN, According to people familiar with the issuepotentially linking two brands of power in sport.
The discussions are underway, and it is possible that the final agreement can reach a smaller issue, according to the people, which refused to be appointed speaking of non -public transactions. Athletics reported this week The discussions on the years of ESPN with the NFL were “inside the line of 5 yards” towards the completion.
ESPN has been talking to the NFL for at least two years About the potential sale of the League a participation in the company. ESPN belongs to 80% by Disney and 20% by Hearst.
As part of the current structure of an agreement, ESPN would not take ownership of actions in the NFL, like it I just did For the first button league, according to familiar people.
ESPN would have all the NFL Network and NFL Redzone, rather than simply controlling participation, if the agreement progresses as currently built, according to people. But ESPN is not in talks to acquire all the media of the NFL, the company Umbrella which owns NFL Network, NFL Redzone, NFL Films, Nfl.comThe NFL and NFL +application. On the contrary, ESPN would only acquire some of these assets, while making partnership agreements with others.
The spokesperson for ESPN and the NFL refused to comment.
ESPN competes with all other media companies for NFL rights. Having the League as a formal equity owner would probably protect ESPN football rights as long as will last.
ESPN would also win new content to add to its next Direct Consumer Streaming product, which will cost $ 29.99 per month.
The league, on the other hand, concludes a closer relationship with the country’s largest media entity in the country.
