The Biggest NFL Schedule Release Story Is Whether ESPN Gets Stuck With Bad MNF Games Again

Chart — I posted this on Twitter which shows the amount each network pays per year to air various NFL games.

ESPN is the big dog — They account for 35% of the total for all networks and near double the next closest (Fox — Sunday NFC).

$80/year — That is how much the average cable subscriber in the United States pays for ESPN in 2017. As of August 2016, there were 88.8Msubscribers which mean that ESPN makes $7.1B/yearin subscriber fees or $592M/month.

100.1M subscribers — That is the peak total for ESPN back in 2011 which has fallen 11.3M (11%).

The Trend — NFL rights fees for ESPN (since 2013) ↑ 70% while subscription revenue from consumers (since 2011) ↓ 11%. The model for a network like ESPN was always to grow revenue (subscriptions, etc.) at a greater rate than content costs. The big question is whether they can find alternative revenue streams (advertising, OTT, etc.) to accomplish this goal. Link

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