ESPN and NFL Re-Open Contract, Could VERSUS Get Involved Finally?

From John Ourand of Sports Business Journal:

ESPN is not the only one that would benefit from re-opening the deal, however. The NFL is looking to relax a “cable exclusivity” clause that ESPN put in the original contract. The clause says that no other cable network can carry a full-season’s schedule of NFL games.

 

NFL Network has carried an eight-game schedule since 2006.

 

As the NFL looks to expand to an 18-game schedule as early as 2012, the league wants the flexibility to shop additional packages to cable networks, such as, potentially, Turner Sports, Versus and FX.