The day before Disney’s earnings call, sports media conglomerate ESPN, which Disney owns, officially announced some of the most anticipated news in sports media – an equity deal with the NFL, according to Awful Announcing.
“The WorldWide Leader in Sports will now become the owner and operator of NFL Network and have multiple other ties with the NFL. In exchange, the NFL will own a 10% equity stake in ESPN,” reported Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder.
However, this means something very interesting for the NFL’s bottom line.
“The NFL will own 10% of ESPN, which licenses its name to a sportsbook. The NFL will directly profit from sports gambling. Goodell said in 2017, “We still strongly oppose legalized sports gambling. The integrity of our game is No. 1. We will not compromise on that,”” reported sports journalist Joon Lee.
Lee followed up with more information on how this changes things immensely for the league.
“The NFL has been profiting from gambling for years But this is new: equity in a media company that promotes a branded sportsbook. That’s a much deeper conflict of interest — especially in an era where trust in journalism is already eroding.”
The NFL will own 10% of ESPN, which licenses its name to a sportsbook.
The NFL will directly profit from sports gambling.
Goodell said in 2017, “We still strongly oppose legalized sports gambling. The integrity of our game is No. 1. We will not compromise on that.” https://t.co/JpyG6PN6nM
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) August 6, 2025
People reacted to the massive ramifications of the deal on social media.
“So obvious that all of the pro leagues are in bed with the sports books and gambling,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“Money is the ONLY thing that matters in america,” another person stated.
“Zero integrity when money is involved. The only thing the NFL and their paid mouthpiece was opposed to was not being cut in,” wrote someone else.
It’ll be interesting to see if the NFL takes any measures to distance itself from ESPN’s gambling operations.