The NFL's aggressive move into streaming might be a high-stakes gamble that could eventually cost the league its golden goose. That's the warning from former ESPN president John Skipper, who believes commissioner Roger Goodell is playing with fire.
Appearing on Pablo Torre's podcast, Skipper laid out what he calls a “dangerous scenario” for the league. He argues that the current model—where traditional broadcasters pay billions annually for NFL rights—is unsustainable, and that streaming giants won't be as desperate to keep the league afloat.
“I do think there’s a dangerous scenario here,” Skipper said. “I don’t know what the books look like at NBC or CBS but everybody’s losing money on their NFL deal. It’s a loss leader.”
The league’s current broadcast agreements reportedly run upwards of $2 billion per year from each network, and those numbers are only climbing. Skipper points to the math: “CBS is not generating $2 billion worth of advertising and their package is going to go up to $3 billion.”
Goodell, according to Skipper, is fully aware that traditional media companies are weakening. “Roger’s pushing the deals out further because he knows the traditional media companies are only going to get less powerful and less wealthy. He’s very cleverly brought gradually all the streamers in, the big tech companies, because they can afford to pay $4 billion, $5 billion.”
But that clever strategy could backfire. Skipper warns that the next commissioner will inherit a very different landscape. “The next commissioner is going to deal with the fact that these big tech companies have more leverage over you and they don’t need your product as much as the traditional broadcasters do.”
The former ESPN chief, who resigned in 2017 amid a reported extortion attempt, now serves as executive chairman of DAZN Group and co-founded Meadowlark Media with Dan Le Batard in 2021. His comments echo recent warnings about streaming from other corners, including former President Donald Trump, who cautioned that the shift could “kill the golden goose.”
With the NFL’s media rights deals already topping $100 billion in total value, the league’s bet on streaming may be its biggest test yet. As Skipper sees it, the league is “tempting fate” by pushing the financial envelope, and the balance of power may soon tilt away from the NFL and toward the tech companies that hold the purse strings.
