NFL Network, NFL RedZone among the properties the NFL is looking to leverage.
On Wednesday afternoon The Wall Street Journal reports the NFL is looking to sell a stake in its media entities, and has hired Goldman Sachs to help facilitate the process.
Archived games and video from the NFL Films vault, the NFL’s fan database and marketing platform, the league’s LA production facility and the right to air seven regular season games (plus the NFL Draft) are included in the assets on the market.
The league has not indicated how big of a stake in the media business is for sale.
“As the media industry continues to evolve, the NFL is exploring a strategic partnership to best position our owned and operated media assets for future growth,” NFL VP/Communications Alex Riethmiller said in the story. “The NFL has a proven track record of creating leading media platforms that develop significant audiences so we anticipate speaking to a number of interested parties.”
According to a number of stories, there isn’t a clear valuation on the assets the NFL is putting on the market.
NFL Chief Media & Business Officer Brian Rolapp reportedly sent a memo to teams on Wednesday afternoon. That memo reads:
“In recent owners’ meetings we have discussed exploring a strategic partnership to further enhance the future of the league’s owned and operated media properties. … Our long-term rights agreements reached earlier this year, together with the CBA extension reached in 2020, provide an unprecedented era of stability for our league. We are now extraordinarily well-positioned to explore partnership opportunities that set up NFL Media for its next phase of growth and innovation.”
Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, sold a significant stake in its BAMTech company to the Walt Disney Company in 2017. Disney paid $1.58 billion to acquire an additional 42 percent stake in BAMTech; Disney already owned 33 percent of the company at the time of the second acquisition.
BAMTEch is a global leader in direct-to-consumer streaming technology and marketing services, data analytics, and commerce management.
