First Paramount, Now NFL Media? Skydance in Talks With NFL to Purchase NFL Network
The NFL had been discussing the sale of its media operations to ESPN, but it appears to be moving on.
Who wants a piece of NFL Media? Considering how popular professional football is in the United States, one would be forgiven for assuming that question is easy to answer. But the league has not closed a deal to sell its media operations — including the NFL Network cable channel and NFL Films — to ESPN or anyone else, despite ongoing negotiations. Now, Bloomberg reports that the league is in talks with Skydance Media, the David Ellison-owned studio that just agreed to an acquisition of Paramount Global about a transaction involving NFL Media.
Key Details:
- A deal could involve the sale of NFL Media to Skydance, including NFL Network.
- The NFL and Skydance are already business partners, as the NFL invested in Skydance Sports in 2022.
- Talks with ESPN regarding a purchase of NFL Media seem to have fizzled out.
Bloomberg reports that there are different options available to the NFL and Skydance as they work through a potential deal. An agreement could see NFL Network and other NFL Media properties sold to Skydance outright, coming under the control of the company that also owns the rights to air a package of Sunday afternoon NFL games on CBS and Paramount+.
Another version of the deal could see Paramount Global buy the NFL’s stake in Skydance Sports. The league bought a $45 million interest in Skydance Sports in 2022, and together the two produced “Hard Knocks: Offseason” featuring the New York Giants, among other projects.
A deal between the two sides could help make Skydance feel more secure that the NFL isn’t about to pull the rug out from under its feet. A provision in the contract between Paramount and the NFL allows the league to re-acquire the rights to CBS’s rights package if its parent company changes ownership, and while most analysts don’t expect the NFL to exercise that option, it still looms as a possibility.
The discussions between Skydance and the NFL are another indication that talks with ESPN about the sale of NFL Media are going nowhere. In May, it was reported that a deal for ESPN to buy NFL Media was all but done, but more recent reports have indicated that the negotiations had fizzled on the one-yard line.
Now, Skydance Media appears to have the ball in the red zone. Will it be able to cross the goal line and come away with an NFL deal? It would certainly be a coup for Ellison as he tries to ease investor concerns about the merger of Paramount and Skydance.
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