It's flown under the radar since the news was months ago, but this week marks the official transition for NFL Network into its new ownership under the ESPN umbrella.
Yesterday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell big farewell to the NFL Network employees and praised them for their contributions to the league over the first two decades of its run.
“In 2003, we had an idea,” Goodell wrote. “Many skeptics doubted there was demand for a network featuring round-the-clock, yearlong NFL news, information, and analysis. But we knew our fans. We knew if we built it, they would come. The team at NFL Network has accomplished something remarkable over the past two decades… It is no surprise that the fruits of your labor would be attractive to an industry leader like ESPN as they look to serve the insatiable appetites of NFL fans.”
On Wednesday, the company was officially moved over to ESPN and the leadership team of Burke Magnus and Rosalyn Durant disclosed in a memo how the NFL Network leadership would be integrated into ESPN's organizational flowchart.
Via Awful Announcing:
"Most notably, Charlie Yook, who spent 20 years at NFL Network and was most recently a production executive for the channel, will join ESPN as VP/Executive Producer of Content Production where he’ll continue to oversee NFL Network from its Hollywood Park location, according to the internal memo reviewed by Awful Announcing. Yook will report to Mike McQuade, ESPN’s EVP of Sports Production," the outlet reported.
"Todd Sperry, who led NFL Network’s newsroom, will join ESPN as a VP and Executive Editor focusing on NFL coverage. Sperry will report to David Roberts, who heads ESPN’s news operation and daytime studio shows like First Take. Sperry was an 11-year veteran of NFL Network, having previously worked in cable news at CNN.
"Jessica Lee will join ESPN as VP, Production Operations & Engineering, overseeing the NFL Network facilities in Hollywood Park. She’s a 12-year veteran of NFL Media and will report to Chris Calcinari, an SVP of Content Operations at ESPN.
"Lastly, Tony Cole, who led distribution and technical operations for NFL Network, joins ESPN as a VP, Media Operations and will also report to Calcinari."
Dread
NFL fans have been dreading this day since the move was first announced last year. Between worries over the future of NFL RedZone and a slew of other things that fans dislike about ESPN, there's a lot of hand-wringing over the NFL Network becoming a less appealing product.
"I hate everything about the NFL and ESPN partnering up like this!" one user wrote in August.
"This is the beginning of the end," another wrote.
"ESPN ruins everything," wrote a third.
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But whether the fans like it or loathe it, the deal is done. Now they can only wait and see if all of their fears wind up being realized or not.
As for NFL Network, it's the start of a new era for the company.
