The NFL seems to be planning to sell a stake in their media properties, but it may take a little longer than previously expected. Commissioner Roger Goodell said “My guess is we’re months away, not days away,” regarding a sale.
The NFL hired Goldman Sachs to seek out investment partners for NFL RedZone, NFL.com, and NFL Network.
Amazon was a frontrunner to purchase a minority stake in the media properties, however the league could sell stakes in individual properties and not as a whole.
Part of the delay in finalizing a deal is due to the numerous potential permutations of properties and potential investors.
There are a number of potential investors in the “NFL Sunday Ticket” package coming from Amazon and Disney. This entity is rumored to be able to fetch $2 billion to $3 billion per season in a deal that could include a stake in NFL Media. The league was reportedly hoping to entice Apple with “NFL Sunday Ticket” to establish a media relationship with the leading mobile device maker.
“We’ve had a tremendous amount of interest from some terrific media partners, technology partners that are interested in … everything from ‘Sunday Ticket’ to NFL Network to RedZone,” Goodell said, “and we’re looking to deploy [those] in a way that looks to the future in the next generation of media.”
Whether it be from Amazon, Apple, Disney, or another potential suitor it seems like the NFL selling a stake in their media properties is coming and it is only a matter of time.
