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Footnotes on the ESPN-NFL Deal

There may not have been a lot of suitors for the NFL’s media assets, but Disney found a way to get what it needed while the league preserved its optionality.

nfl chiefs buccs tom brady patrick mahomes
ESPN ostensibly likes that the NFL Network’s media deal is locked in through 2032—it’s a great way to ride out cable while simultaneously being on a cap table with an entity that is almost single-handedly buoying linear. Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
John Ourand
August 7, 2025

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More than four years ago, the NFL hired Goldman Sachs to manage a sales process for the league’s media assets—the NFL Network and its small portfolio of games, NFL RedZone, its fantasy sports platform, etcetera. And the Goldman bankers arranged for the league’s top executives—Roger Goodell, Brian Rolapp, and Hans Schroeder—to meet with just about every big media company, traditional players and streamers alike. The consensus: Everyone wanted to be in business with the NFL, especially if it conferred leverage in rights-renewal negotiations or improved game schedules. But they all got cold feet when they performed due diligence on the media company’s underlying economic value.