It only made sense that, with the ever-expanding relationship between ESPN and the NFL, the Worldwide Leader would retain rights to the NFL Draft. However, a new report from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand suggests that the network will not be the only distributor of the annual spring event in the future.
In his Marchand Sports Media podcast this week, the sports media insider backed up reporting from Sports Business Journal that ESPN will retain NFL Draft rights while explaining that the league will also ink a new deal with a “digital player.”
“I don’t know who exactly it’ll go to, but I do think there will be a digital player,” Marchand said. “I think you look at [what] the NFL is trying to do, I think they’re trying to get more digital … I think you will see two places have the NFL Draft in the future.”
The news comes as Marchand also reported that ESPN’s deal is 75-80 percent done to acquire NFL Media. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the start of the NFL season, when ESPN launches its standalone streaming service. Of course, the NFL Draft is already in “two places,” one of them being NFL Network. If ESPN acquires NFL Media, the league would understandably be looking for a second home for one of its most significant events.
However, given the impending launch of that service, we have to wonder how ESPN would feel about being excluded from the “digital player” category. After all, it will air a Pat McAfee draft special on ESPN+ this week and is on the precipice of fully plunging into the streaming waters.
Once ESPN offers its complete library on a streaming app, how is it different than YouTube, Apple, Amazon or Netflix? The NFL still sees a distinction, likely because these streamers have a head start in terms of engagement and subscriber bases.
With YouTube in the mix for a Week 1 NFL game in Brazil this year, Marchand highlighted that company specifically as a solid option for the draft.
“Are they possibly positioned to be your main aggregator of everything? I mean, it already is,” Marchand said. “Google-YouTube is so popular. They have an amazing business model.”
With an impending opt-out of its current TV deal in 2029, the NFL is using the five years leading up to that point to experiment with new distribution models. Between selling Sunday Ticket to YouTube (potentially at a discount) and offering exclusive NFL playoff games on Peacock and Prime Video, or the Christmas Day games on Netflix, the league is smartly getting its feet wet in the streaming and digital world before weighing potential offers from those platforms for complete game packages in the next decade.
A side deal with a streamer to get rights for a secondary broadcast of the NFL Draft would represent another shrewd trial with a top property.