NFL fans will soon have a new way to watch the beloved Red Zone program. Just one month ahead of the 2025 season, the league finally agreed to sell the NFL Network and its corresponding media rights to ESPN.
The deal is expected to be officially announced next week, according to Andrew Marchand of ‘The Athletic.' The deal has been on the table and in discussions for weeks before finally reaching a conclusion on Friday.
The deal gives ESPN the broadcast rights to the NFL Network, NFL Red Zone and multiple regular season games. ESPN was previously home to Monday Night Football, but will now seemingly become the league's primary broadcasting partner.
Acquiring the NFL Network and Red Zone was a significant step in ESPN's plans to launch its own streaming service in the near future. While they already have ESPN+, the company plans to revamp its app and offer a service for $29.99 per month that allows customers to watch all of its content without needing a cable television subscription.
NFL Network and Red Zone will retain their current branding, per ‘The Athletic.' The channels will likely continue to broadcast their regular programs, but will now be accessible through the ESPN app.
“In the ESPN family of networks, NFL Network could be looked upon in a similar fashion as SEC Network,” Marchand wrote. “The SEC offers programming 24/7 about the league, while ESPN, the main channel, spends a lot of time on it as well. The same sort of set-up, with on-air personalities being used across brands, is very possible.”
ESPN continuing to expand ahead of 2025 NFL season
While NFL Red Zone will be a part of ESPN's new subscription service, it will likely still require an additional cost. The report did not mention if popular host Scott Hanson will survive the buyout. The full details will likely arrive when Disney and the NFL make an official announcement.
If their recent business moves are any indication, fans can expect Hanson to keep his job. The NFL media acquisitions have not been ESPN's only major deal in 2025. The media juggernaut previously acquired the broadcast rights for ‘NBA on TNT' as fans worried that the show would end with the 2024-2025 NBA season. In that deal, ESPN kept the show's on-air crew intact, suggesting they will do the same with Hanson.
The ESPN and NFL deal could take “nine months to a year” to process, according to ‘The Athletic.' If that is the case, it will likely go into effect beginning with the 2026 season.
