Disney is open to potentially selling an equity stake in ESPN — and is looking for a strategic partner in the business, CEO Bob Iger said Thursday morning.

Iger adds Disney is also open to spinning off its legacy cable networks and ABC. pic.twitter.com/2BQMXoh83E

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) July 13, 2023

Power 5 Conferences should be looking to buy. You can win if you control distribution.

The entire Disney Company might be sold at some point.

CorsicanaBear said:

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Power 5 Conferences should be looking to buy. You can win if you control distribution.

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Can you, though?

Direct-to-consumer streaming services haven't had just a ton of success financially because the production expenses required to provide quality content are very, very high compared to the price point consumers are willing to play for yet another service.

I don't think we're at a point yet where any league or conference can make a ton of money producing and distributing all its own content. And I think there's a good chance we never get there.

But I'm interested to see what happens here. I think ESPN being sold by Disney could be the pin that pops the college athletics media bubble. The "worldwide leader" is only the "worldwide leader" because of the super deep pockets it's been drawing from for years have allowed it to squeeze most other competitors out of the market. Take those pockets away, and there will less programming time available and fewer dollars to spend on it.

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super deep pockets it's been drawing from

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I think that was true to some extent earlier, but Disney hasn't been pushing money into ESPN lately. Disney's park revenue took a huge hit during COVID and has not recovered as expected. They have also invested heavily in a number of Movie/TV franchises that I think are not performing as they expected. ESPN has solid cash flow right now based on what I read, and Disney needs the cash a sale or spin out would generate.

I agree that an independent ESPN might make different decisions about buying content than a Disney owned ESPN did. And that could radically alter the college sports landscape.

Perhaps the recent layoffs were aimed at showing potential buyers ESPN is serious about generating positive cash flow.

JP1037 said:

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The entire Disney Company might be sold at some point.

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Baylor can become part of the University of Texas system at some point. But in our life time the chances for either are very very small.

Can McLane buy it? We can of course control their whole narrative then

This is a desperation move by DIS. Love to see these scum going down

Fre3dombear said:

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Can McLane buy it? We can of course control their whole narrative then

This is a desperation move by DIS. Love to see these scum going down

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I hope they go bankrupt