ESPN\'s deal to acquire many of the digital assets of NFL in exchange for a 10 percent equity stake is the culmination of how the relationship between the two parties has changed since Jimmy Pitaro took over as president from John Skipper in 2018. At the time, NFL officials privately grumbled about negative stories on ESPN.com and “Outside the Lines” as the media company often had a critical stance on issues like concussions.
“I’ve never worked on a deal for this long,” Pitaro said. “This is my eighth year at ESPN, and the conversation with the league actually predate(s) my arrival at ESPN. It really picked up steam I’d say about four years ago. Then we started to see some light at the end of the tunnel maybe a year ago. We have always been focused on identifying ways to expand that partnership.\"
“When I joined ESPN and started to dive in on the NFL media assets, including NFL Network, I saw a pretty obvious way for us to expand our relationship in that way,” Pitaro continued. “I made that clear to the league very early on in my tenure at ESPN. From day one, they’ve been clear with me that they were very interested in getting this done with us. I guess that’s a long way of saying that what has resonated most with me during these conversations is how much the league respected the quality of our coverage. We cover the league seven days a week, 365 days a year, nonstop across studio, across digital, across social. I have always felt in these conversations that the league really appreciates what we do for them.”
Pitaro pledged, however, that ESPN will continue to cover the NFL in the same way.
“We’ve been very clear with the NFL from day one that nothing is changing in terms of how we cover the league,” Pitaro said. “Nothing is changing in terms of our journalistic principles. To be clear, they (the NFL) never once asked us to change our approach in terms of how we cover them. We are the place of record. A huge part of our DNA is how we cover sports objectively and fairly. They understand as do all leagues that that’s going to continue, hard stop.”
