The deal, which will start in 2014 and was announced just hours before the kick-off of the new season on Thursday evening, will see a significant increase in the number of NFL programmes on ESPN in addition to 17 Monday Night Football games per season. An additional 500 hours of new NFL-branded studio programming will begin immediately and there will be extra highlights available on all platforms, coverage of the Pro Bowl and the NFL Draft and the option to exploit rights via the WatchESPN mobile application.
According to ESPN, the rights also include the opportunity to air action via ESPN Deportes and other international networks, including regular season and playoff games and the Super Bowl in 144 countries. At $1.9 billion per year, ESPN will be paying 73% more than the $1.1 billion per year it has been splashing out for Monday Night Football, which is the highest rating programme on US cable television. ESPN has been carrying Monday night games since 2006 when its previous package of Sunday night games moved to NBC.
“Today, we've secured cable's most valuable television franchise, along with an enhanced international package of year-round multimedia rights,” said ESPN/ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer. “It will help grow our business well into the next decade. No one has the breadth of worldwide media assets or the ability to monetize a property the way ESPN can, particularly with Monday Night Football and our complete NFL coverage.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell added: “We are proud to extend our three-decade partnership with ESPN. We have come a long way together since ESPN first televised the NFL draft in 1980. With this new agreement we are excited about the opportunity to take the NFL-ESPN partnership to innovative new heights in serving the most passionate fans in sports.”
