What should fans take away from last week’s announcement of a new, deeper alliance between the NFL and ESPN?
It’s simple! Roger Goodell explained it all in an interview with ESPN on Tuesday.
“I’m most excited for our fans,” the NFL commissioner said. “We really, truly believe this is going to be an unbelievable experience for our fans.”
There you have it, America.
The NFL traded programming assets in return for a 10% stake in ESPN in a complicated deal involving two of the sports world’s richest, most powerful behemoths just for you.
The least you can do is send Mr. Goodell and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro thank-you notes. A fruit arrangement or a box of chocolates also would be a nice touch.
But seriously . . .
Look, this entire thing is no cause for the panic that it caused on social media this week. It is part of an evolution, not a revolution.
First, it will not take effect until 2026, assuming NFL owners and government regulators sign off.
Second, there are no plans to alter the product many fans have feared ESPN will mess with: NFL RedZone. ESPN could not mess with it even if it wanted to. The NFL will continue to produce it.
The best way to look at this is as another step in the transition to digital streaming over the traditional pay TV bundle.
It was no accident that the NFL/ESPN deal was announced 10 hours before ESPN set a date for the Aug. 21 launch of its new direct-to-consumer product, the first time the network will be available without a pay TV subscription.
All that is at stake there is the future of ESPN and by extension that of all sports media.
So ESPN is doing all it can to entice folks to give the service a try at an initial price of $29.99 per month. The more stuff that is on it — and, in fairness, there already is a lot — the better.
Some unanswered questions about the new partnership will become clearer over time, including ones not of strong interest to most consumers.
For example, can ESPN as a journalistic entity be trusted fairly to cover a league that is a part owner of ESPN? (That is a rocky landscape to navigate.)
And this: Will ESPN be treated differently than other bidders for NFL rights moving forward? (Streamers and traditional media companies will be watching that one closely.)
But consumers mostly are interested in programming and costs, as they should be. And this NFL/ESPN thing is not going to cause seismic changes in the short term.
To review what we know so far: Most noticeably, ESPN will take control of the NFL Network.
This mostly is a good thing, given that NFLN had been deprioritized by the NFL, which has been looking to unload it for years, and that it figures to be revived under ESPN. Disney/ESPN also figures to have the distribution leverage to get NFLN into more homes than it is in now.
“RedZone,” the channel that shows key plays in real time, will continue to be produced by the NFL, with Scott Hanson as host. ESPN will have linear TV rights to the channel — as well as the right to the brand to expand it to other sports — but the NFL still controls digital distribution.
Those who have a full NFL Sunday Ticket package through YouTube will see no change at all, including in their access to “RedZone.”
ESPN will merge the NFL’s fantasy football game into its own.
The deal’s impact on live game telecasts is the most complicated part of this. Long story short: ESPN’s overall portfolio of games will increase from 25 to 28, with seven of them appearing on NFL Network. The recent overlapping “Monday Night Football” doubleheaders on ABC and ESPN will be no more.
The NFL itself will retain rights to four games that have been part of the NFL Network slate, which it presumably will sell off to streamers or some other media entity.
In the grand scheme of consumer hassle and cost, this is small potatoes compared, for example, to the way Yankees fans have been annoyed by ever-changing channels and streamers as they try to follow their team across the landscape.
It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad sports media world out there. This is just another fork in the road.
And if you ever get frustrated trying to keep up, remember: The commissioner says it’s all for you. Enjoy!
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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