Bob Iger: Disney ‘still having conversations’ with strategic partners for ESPN

Back in the halcyon days of July 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger first said that the company was looking for “strategic partners” for ESPN, saying that “we’ve had conversations” with potential partners and that “we want to stay in the sports business.”

“Whether it’s content value, whether it’s distribution value, whether it’s capital, whether it just helps the risk of the business some extent, but that wouldn’t be the primary driver,” Iger told CNBC last year. “But if they come to the table with value that enables ESPN to make a transition to its direct-to-consumer offering, then we’re gonna be very open-minded about that.”

That kicked off a lot of speculation about who that strategic partner or partners could be, with private equity firms, tech companies, and major cable conglomerates getting floated. However, it was eventually reported that Disney was talking with the leagues themselves, chiefly the NBA and NFL, to be those strategic partners. In fact, Disney and the NFL were reportedly in “advanced talks” in January about an equity deal that would put NFL Media under the purview of ESPN.

Since then, however, the talk of strategic partners for ESPN has died down, at least publically. On Disney’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call, Iger reiterated that despite the lack of noise, the company is still engaged in those talks.

“I know I’ve sounded like a broken record because I’ve talked about strategic partnerships for ESPN over the last number of quarters,” the Disney CEO said Wednesday. “The only thing I can say is, believe it or not, we’re still having conversations about it. We thought and continue to believe there may be opportunities to partner with others, particularly on the content side. And that’s why we’ve continued to explore it.”

That also jibes with something The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand noted in his piece about the NBA’s new media deal on Monday.

“The network has also discussed equity deals with both leagues that would see either or both have a stake in ESPN. Those talks could heat up again relatively soon,” he wrote.

ESPN is moving full-steam ahead with its vision of giving customers just about every digital or streaming option it could want to watch its programming. ESPN+ is profitable, Venu Sports is bringing tons of hype (and scrutiny) with it, and they still intend to launch their direct-to-consumer service next fall. An investment and backing from the NBA or NFL could certainly go a long way to help cement the offerings viability of all those options.

[FOS, The Athletic]