At one point, giving up cable meant ditching sports. Once, cutting cable meant ditching your favorite sports shows like Stephen A. Smith, College GameDay, and Monday Night Football. But now, that’s about to change. Now is the end of that time. ESPN’s much-anticipated, long-awaited, and long-teased standalone streaming service will finally launch this summer, and it’s not coming in quietly. With a monthly price of $30, it’s launching right before the 2025 NFL season.

The catch is that streaming isn’t the only aspect of this. Positioning is key here; ESPN is working hard to establish itself as the clear streaming leader in American sports. Cable TV? That’s just collateral damage.

Cable’s Slow Decline: ESPN’s Streaming Power Play

ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro attempted to portray the launch as a step for the 60 million fans who are “on the sidelines” and do not have cable subscriptions. However, everyone is aware that this is actually a slow-motion, internal fatal shot to the cable sector.

The playbook is obvious: Engage the loyal audience of younger, tech-savvy viewers. Take away the diehard sports fans who currently spend more than $100 a month on TV alone. And above all, go all in on the NFL. A $2 billion power shift is taking on behind the scenes. Disney CEO Bob Iger is in talks to acquire NFL+, NFL RedZone, and NFL Network all at once. In addition to seeking content, he is also offering the league a 10% equity stake in ESPN.

Give it a moment. Let that sink in. ESPN might practically be owned by the NFL. If the agreement is finalised, ESPN will receive exclusive game coverage in addition to full-year NFL content from RedZone. Hits like Good Morning Football are available on demand. And maybe in the future, a Super Bowl broadcast. You read correctly—ESPN will broadcast the Super Bowl. Ten years ago, that would have seemed ridiculous. Right now? All that seems insanely possible. Like a last move on the chess game.

Why? Because the viewership trends support it:

• On average, 12 million people watched the 2024 NFL Draft.
• The highest number of viewers ever was 127 million for Super Bowl LVIII.
• Between January and March 2025, 5.9 million people viewed Super Bowl footage on ESPN’s platforms, according to their own analytics.
• Traffic to the NFL increased 243% year over year.

It’s understandable why Fox is sweating out. In 2026, their hold on the NFL Draft will end. Fox might not simply lose the Draft if ESPN seals this agreement. They might lose everything.

More Than Sports: ESPN’s Streaming Shift Is Changing the Game

To set it straight: This is more than just a product launch. A paradigm change has occurred. What Netflix did to Blockbuster, ESPN is doing to cable. And they’re doing it at just the right moment.

Take a look at the overall consumption trend:

• As of November 2024, 41.6% of all TV time was spent streaming (Nielsen).
• In December 2024, digital sports overtook traditional broadcasting for the first time (eMarketer).
• With a 96% increase in YouTube usage over the past two years, even the over-65 demographic is changing.

ESPN is currently in a great position to profit. Their quiet killer, NFL RedZone, is in perfect tune with ESPN Bet, which they already have. For real-money sports betting and fantasy football, RedZone has emerged as the unofficial headquarters. ESPN’s streaming service has the right timing, infrastructure, content, and betting hook—all at the same time as the NFL’s gambling revenue is exploding into a $114 billion (and growing) market.

Additionally, NFL+ grants ESPN the streaming rights to regular, postseason, local, and out-of-market preseason games. It’s more than just content. What are the limits after the league itself owns a stake in your brand, the league’s content, and the league’s betting outlet?

The next step is that cable TV loses subscribers more quickly. ESPN puts all of its resources into direct-to-consumer marketing and stops considering ESPN+ as a side project. Conventional rights agreements, such as the one with Fox that expires in 2026, become ineffective. And the 2030 Super Bowl? ESPN may just have it all to itself.

However, that brings up a more significant problem: journalistic integrity. How will ESPN handle contentious league issues if the NFL owns a portion of the network? Will Roger Goodell suspend the athletes? Will there be labour talks? CTE litigation? Would ESPN criticise the league to which it partially belongs? No one has those answers at the moment. However, that is an issue for tomorrow. Today? ESPN has put its flag in the sports industry’s future. And the monthly cost is just $30.