ESPN signs multiyear deal to keep airing the NFL Draft and gain new digital rights

ESPN will continue to broadcast the NFL Draft as well as obtain new digital rights for its upcoming direct-to-consumer service.

The two agreements were announced Wednesday morning, two hours before the Walt Disney Company announced its third-quarter earnings.

It also came after the NFL and ESPN announced a nonbinding agreement Tuesday night in which ESPN will acquire the NFL Network and other league media assets while the NFL gets a 10% equity stake in ESPN.

ESPN has aired the NFL Draft since 1980, when the league’s annual selection meeting took place at the New York Sheraton Hotel. Back then, the draft was two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) and took 12 rounds.

Next year’s draft will be in Pittsburgh and is expected to attract massive crowds over the three days. The first round has had its own night since 2010.

ESPN and ABC will each have their own telecasts of the first three rounds on Thursday and Friday. ABC will simulcast ESPN’s coverage of the final four rounds on Saturday.

Besides ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service, Disney+ and Hulu will also stream the ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes’ feeds under the multi-year agreement. The draft will also continue to be aired on NFL Network.

“We’ve been talking about the draft since last year and how we continue to build on that. ESPN has been a partner in that from day one, bringing, the fans closer to that event and building that event into one of the most popular events on the sporting calendar, which is incredible if you think back a few decades,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told The Associated Press. “We know that relationship works, and we’re proud that ESPN is going to continue to be a partner.”

ESPN will also produce a daily show leading up to the NFL Draft that will begin the day after the Super Bowl. That program will air most days on ESPN2, as well as being available on the direct-to-consumer service.

ESPN has also reached a licensing agreement that allows for additional NFL content and interactive features, including stats, fantasy football team performance and legalized sports betting information and tracking. It also allows ESPN to sell and bundle NFL+ Premium, the league’s direct-to-consumer product that includes out-of-market preseason games and replays of full games.

There will also be expanded highlight rights for the ESPN direct-to-consumer service and Disney+.

“This will make the fan experience much stronger. The goal for ESPN when they launch the services is to create something that doesn’t exist on linear (television) because the technology enables it,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said to AP. “We’ve talked about personalization and personalized SportsCenter and the ability to essentially invent statistics and to tie betting to some of the programming.”

—Joe Reedy, AP sports writer