ESPN is looking to keep its most prominent insider on the books well into the next decade.
According to a report by Ryan Glasspiegel in Front Office Sports, ESPN and Adam Schefter are “closing in on a long-term extension that would keep him at the network several years into the 2030s.” Financial details of the impending deal were not immediately available, though Schefter’s last contract, signed in 2022, is worth approximately $9 million per year, Andrew Marchand reported at the time.
Schefter, who joined ESPN from NFL Network in 2009, has long been the network’s preeminent NFL insider, a role that has only grown in value since he joined the Worldwide Leader.
Should the deal close, it would solidify ESPN as the go-to destination for top NFL insiders. ESPN recently signed top NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport to a four-year deal in April, shortly after ESPN began formally operating the NFL-focused channel.
In all, ESPN’s cohort of NFL insiders now includes Schefter, Rapoport, Jeremy Fowler, Tom Pelissero, Mike Garafolo, Jeff Darlington, Dan Graziano, Judy Battista, and Kimberley Martin, Glasspiegel notes.
Throughout his long tenure at ESPN, Schefter has become synonymous with NFL transactions large and small. He is frequently the first to report major NFL news, and as such has cultivated a larger-than-life persona across ESPN platforms. In recent years, Schefter has evolved from a pure NFL insider to someone ESPN relies on to fill the analyst chair on shows like Get Up and First Take.
It is unclear if Schefter’s role will look functionally different under a new contract, but the extension should put to bed any idea that ESPN’s signing of Rapoport was any form of “succession plan” for the 59-year-old Schefter, at least for now.
It is interesting, however, that Rapoport’s deal expires before Schefter’s. Should ESPN re-sign Rapoport at the end of the decade, and push his contract beyond Schefter’s term of “several years into the 2030s,” we could be having the same succession conversation a few years down the road.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.