Disney’s ESPN Makes New Agreement For The NFL Network & RedZone

August 2, 2025 Roger Palmer

A couple of years ago, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger revealed that he was looking for strategic partners for ESPN, and it was reported that Disney was in “advanced talks” with the NFL to give them an equity stake in ESPN, which would get control of NFL Media, which includes the NFL Network and NFL RedZone.

After talks initially cooled off, earlier this year it was reported that talks had restarted between the two companies, and The Athletic has revealed that an agreement has now been made, which is expected to be officially announced on Wednesday, 6th August 2025, when Disney hosts its next quarterly investors call.

This new deal will see ESPN take control of the NFL Network and RedZone, along with seven more regular-season games, plus access to other assets, including betting and fantasy football. As part of the deal, the NFL would acquire some equity in ESPN, estimated to be around 10%, which could potentially be worth billions of dollars.

The timing of this new deal is crucial, as Disney is set to launch a full direct-to-consumer version of ESPN, known as ESPN Flagship, later this Fall, where subscribers will be able to get access to all of ESPN’s content directly via the ESPN app or via Disney+, without the need for cable. This new ESPN streaming service will be priced at $29.99 and is also going to be bundled with many cable subscriptions.

More information on the new streaming version of ESPN is expected to be revealed during Disney’s next quarterly investors call.

This new deal will make Disney’s partnership with the NFL even stronger, as the two already have a deal to bring “Monday Night Football” to Disney’s networks and also have the rights to the Super Bowl in 2027 and 2031. Having access to “Redzone” is no doubt the major appeal of this deal, as it’s one of the most popular shows.

The NFL has been exploring various methods to manage its NFL Media division. With audiences shifting away from traditional cable television and increased investment from ESPN, the NFL can expand its NFL coverage on its platform. Making ESPN an even more attractive offering to American Football fans.

It’s unclear how this deal will impact international viewers, as Disney is also trying to increase the reach of ESPN globally, but existing licensing deals may mean we might not see the NFL network on Disney+ globally for many years.

As with any major deal, it still has to go through regulatory approval, which might take nine months to a year, so we might not see any major changes for a while.

Roger’s Take: ESPN is in desperate need of content to feed its sports network, and the shift to streaming means they’ve got to do things differently. Getting access to some of the NFL content on a regular basis, will be a big draw for ESPN subscribers during the Football season. I suspect they’ll be required to still make the NFL Network and RedZone available to other cable customers, at least for a limited time, in order to get it through the approval process. The fact that the NFL has other deals with different providers, such as Paramount, Comcast and Netflix, will highlight that ESPN wouldn’t have a monopoly on NFL coverage.