ESPN Reaches Multi-year Extension To Air NFL Draft As Well As
ESPN will continue to broadcast the NFL Draft along with obtaining brand-new digital rights for its upcoming direct-to-consumer service.
The 2 agreements were announced Wednesday morning, 2 hours before the Walt Disney Company announced its third-quarter earnings.
It likewise came after the NFL and ESPN revealed a nonbinding contract Tuesday night in which ESPN will obtain the NFL Network and other league media properties while the NFL gets a 10% equity stake in ESPN.
ESPN has aired the NFL Draft since 1980, when the league's yearly choice conference took place at the New York Sheraton Hotel. Back then, the draft was 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday) and took 12 rounds.
Next year's draft will be in Pittsburgh and is anticipated to bring in huge crowds over the 3 days. The very first round has had its own night since 2010.
ESPN and ABC will each have their own telecasts of the first 3 rounds on Thursday and Friday. ABC will simulcast ESPN's protection of the last 4 rounds on Saturday.
FILE - ESPN Monday Night Football TV cam is seen throughout the 2nd half of an NFL football in between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings, Monday, Dec. 20, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, File)
Besides ESPN's direct-to-consumer service, Disney+ and Hulu will also stream the ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes ´ feeds under the multi-year contract. The draft will likewise continue to be aired on NFL Network.
"We ´ ve been speaking about the draft because last year and how we continue to construct on that. ESPN has been a partner because from the first day, bringing, the fans closer to that event and structure that event into among the most popular events on the sporting calendar, which is incredible if you believe back a couple of years," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told The Associated Press. "We understand that relationship works, and we ´ re happy that ESPN is going to continue to be a partner."
ESPN will likewise produce an everyday show leading up to the NFL Draft that will start the day after the Super Bowl. That program will air most days on ESPN2, along with being readily available on the direct-to-consumer service.
ESPN has also reached a licensing agreement that enables additional NFL material and interactive features, including stats, dream football team performance and legalized sports wagering details and tracking. It also enables ESPN to sell and bundle NFL+ Premium, the league's direct-to-consumer item that consists of out-of-market preseason games and replays of full games.
There will likewise be expanded highlight rights for the ESPN direct-to-consumer service and Disney+.
"This will make the fan experience much stronger. The goal for ESPN when they introduce the services is to create something that doesn ´ t exist on linear (tv) due to the fact that the innovation enables it," Disney CEO Bob Iger said to AP. "We ´ ve spoke about personalization and individualized SportsCenter and the ability to basically invent statistics and to tie wagering to a few of the programming."