The NFL has never had as close of a partnership with a broadcaster as it will now have with ESPN under a recently approved equity deal.
Now that the league has a 10 percent stake in ESPN, many questions loom as to how this new closeness between the two entities could affect the sports media landscape.
In an interview on The Varsity podcast this week, NFL EVP of Public Affairs & Policy Jeff Miller reiterated that neither scheduling decisions nor coverage will be impacted, despite the league now having a financial interest in ESPN.
“I don’t think that [the relationship changes], frankly. We’ve had a relationship with ESPN going back to 1987,” Miller said.
“That obviously led to some of the fuel to ESPN’s growth, so there’s been a relationship there for many, many years … that relationship continues. They are a really important partner. Obviously, many of our fans get their news, not to mention games on a weekly basis, and coverage and highlights and such, from ESPN and always have. So I don’t think that that changes.”
In other words, the NFL’s public position is that both companies have always had a symbiotic relationship. The new arrangement, which will see ESPN take control of NFL Network and linear distribution of NFL RedZone among other elements, merely makes that relationship more official.
Still, rival executives are sure to jump on any inkling of preferential treatment when it comes to game broadcast packages, coverage opportunities, and any other benefit ESPN might receive going forward.
Miller laughed off the idea that ESPN or any other partner would ever receive a “sweetheart deal” from the league, and reiterated a previously reported posture on the league’s side that ESPN editorial decisions around the NFL would not change.
“I don’t think the editorial decisions change, in fact that was a point in the conversation, was to ensure that wasn’t the case. ESPN is independent from us,” Miller said. “I’ve been with the league for a while now, and I can assure you I’ve never seen anybody get a sweetheart deal.”
Miller added that new entrants into the marketplace, including streamers, have shown a high level of urgency to bid for game rights. This would make it hard for the NFL to simply award ESPN certain rights merely because of the equity it has in the network (though leagues do not always act solely on the basis of revenue).
After the ESPN-NFL deal was approved by federal regulators, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said it was “bad news” for NFL fans. Warren called the deal a “massive consolidation of sports streaming,” with NFL Network and RedZone coming under the umbrella of an existing rightsholder.
Asked to respond to antitrust concerns around the new deal, Miller offered the commonly stated NFL line that it remains the most fan-friendly league when it comes to the accessibility of its games. Each game is still available for free on local television in the teams’ home markets.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.