Top NFL executives, including commissioner Roger Goodell and chief business officer Brian Rolapp, are reportedly furious about only finding out at the last minute about the new sports streaming joint venture being launched by The Walt Disney Co., Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery.
How mad are they? According to sports business news guru John Ourand, now with Puck, they had their lawyers look at the league's TV contracts with ESPN and Fox to see if there was any way they could stop the JV. (They haven't found any useful legal language yet that would let them do that.)
ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro is said to have briefed Goodell and Rolapp only hours before the new virtual MVPD service was announced to the public last week. The NFL executives are described by Ourand as feeling “blindsided” and “left in the dark.”
Also read: Why ‘Re-Bundling Has To Happen’: Breaking Down the New ESPN, TNT Sports and Fox Sports Streaming JV
Disney, Fox and WBD on February 6 announced a plan to bundle their linear sports channels in a live-streamed service, with key details including price point and launch date still pending.
The National Football League is being paid $110 billion through 2033 to license TV rights to live game action to Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount Global and Amazon, among other media and tech companies.
However, the pro football league, which controls a huge portion of overall audience share, has transcended the status of mere programming partner. It was recently reported that the NFL has been discussing the purchase of an equity stake in ESPN, for example.
