25 for 25: Jimmy Pitaro on ESPN’s NFL and WWE Deals, Pat McAfee, and the State of the Company in 2025

Hosts

Bryan CurtisBryan Curtis

About the episode

Summary

• In the following two excerpts, Bryan and Jimmy Pitaro get into ESPN’s interest in RedZone and what the NFL’s stake in ESPN means for the company’s NFL coverage.

  Bryan Curtis: You mentioned RedZone. It’s part of that big NFL deal you announced last week. You were able to acquire the linear rights to RedZone, but the digital rights remained with the NFL as part of this NFL+ Premium app. Is that something you wanted to acquire in that deal, those digital rights?

  Jimmy Pitaro: Early on, we had conversations with the league about all of their media assets. They made it clear to us that they were very focused on maintaining their digital rights outside of fantasy. And so the conversation then quickly shifted toward, “OK, then how do we partner?” And so I’m very pleased with where we netted out here, which is the opportunity to bundle ESPN direct to consumer with NFL+ Premium, which, again, includes RedZone. So that is how our fans will access RedZone digitally. We have acquired, as I think we’re alluding to, the linear rights to RedZone. Once the deal closes, we’re acquiring the MVPD and digital MVPD contracts that they have and the ad sales rights. But from a digital perspective, NFL is maintaining those rights. And again, we’ll give access to the digital product through the bundle.

  Curtis: As part of that deal, you did acquire the RedZone trademark, which could allow you to make other RedZone channels on the app. What kinds of channels could you make?

  Pitaro: Look, you’ve clearly done your homework. That’s right, and that was something that was very important to us. We’re very big fans of the RedZone product, and we believe that the RedZone brand resonates in the marketplace, resonates with consumers and sports fans. And so we presented a vision to the league early on in the conversations regarding a potential expansion of that brand. So I made it clear to league executives that that was something that was important to us, this idea of acquiring the brand and potentially expanding it. And so I don’t have anything to announce. Obviously, this can’t happen until we close and we’re going through the regulatory process, so that regulatory process will start now, but we are starting to think about, of course, what opportunities there could be, whether it’s college football—I think the commissioner mentioned that last week that there could be an opportunity to expand this brand to college football.

  There are other sports that we’ve started to think about, other leagues like the NBA, the NHL. Of course, that would have to be done in partnership with those leagues, and they would have to want this. But again, I think the RedZone brand is pretty compelling, and I think that there is significant opportunity there.

  Curtis: And have you begun any early conversations with those partners about the possibility?

  Pitaro: No, we have not.

  …

  Curtis: The NFL got a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN as a part of the deal announced last week. How is that going to change ESPN?

  Pitaro: If you’re asking me, “Will it change our journalistic principles?,” the answer is “no,” hard stop. We made this very clear to the league from the get-go. There was no hesitation on my part, and there was no concern coming from the league. The league understands, again, that we are the place of record, that we cover sports, we cover leagues, we cover conferences, we cover the industry objectively and fairly, or at least that is our North Star. And they have never once asked me or anyone here, as far as I know, as a part of these transactions, to change how we operate. And again, I have proactively raised this with them, including the commissioner, and he has never once asked me to make any changes to our approach as a part of these transactions.

  Curtis: So early in your tenure here, Seth Wickersham, great writer, had a big and critical piece about the Cleveland Browns owner, Jimmy Haslam, that ran on the website. Let’s say a Jimmy Haslam or somebody like him calls you up in a year, in a couple of months, and says, “Wait a sec, we have a 10 percent equity stake in you. Why is this article on your website?” What are you going to say?

  Pitaro: Again, I don’t expect that to happen. I may get the question in general. The part about them owning a 10 percent stake, I don’t expect that to enter into the conversation. Again, based on all of the conversations I’ve had with the league, I will tell you, over the years, I’m constantly having conversations with the various leagues about stories that we run that are sometimes critical on our partners, but we have never asked our journalists to make unnatural changes based on our league relationships. And that, I’m telling you, is not going to change. It’s a big part of who we are.

  Curtis: What does good ESPN coverage of the NFL look like to you?

  Pitaro: Fair, fair coverage. Look, of course we’re going to continue broadcasting the games. I consider that coverage, but it goes way beyond that. I mean, Hans last week several times referred to our vision for the NFL Network and—

  Curtis: This is Hans Schroeder of the NFL you’re talking about?

  Pitaro: Yeah, sorry. Yes. He mentioned how impressed the league was with our vision for the NFL Network, but they also understand that we cover the league 24/7, 365, and that has been—I don’t want to speak for them, but I think they believe that that has been a rising tide and has helped the league to grow. We’re not, of course, the only reason why the league has grown the way it has, but we’ve played, I think, a big part in helping the league grow.

  And again, it’s our broadcast; we take a ton of pride in our teams that cover these games. We now have an alternative broadcast, as you know, with Peyton and Eli, which has gone quite well for us. We cover the league across all of our studio programming. We cover the league on dot com, in the ESPN app, on social channels. I mean, we have an army of people across games and news and social that are focused on covering the league, and that is going to continue. And then when the deal closes and we own the NFL Network, you can expect that coverage to only increase, and we’re pretty excited. First off, we’ve been very impressed with what the league has accomplished through NFL Network, and we’re very excited to take on that asset and to help it grow.

  This excerpt has been edited and condensed.

  Host: Bryan Curtis
  Guest: Jimmy Pitaro
  Producer: Kyle Crichton