ESPN and Adam Schefter are Working on a New Deal, Despite Current Controversy!

Adam Schefter was voted the best insider in three consecutive USA Today polls, in his first three years with ESPN. While other insiders, like Ian Rapaport and Tom Pelissero, have made the business more competitive in recent years, Schefter is still widely considered the top insider.

Per Front Office Sports, ESPN and Schefter are currently working on a long term extension to keep their Senior Insider with the network into the 2030s. Schefter’s certainly looking for an improvement on his current deal that pays him around $9 Million a year. That deal is set to expire in 2027. ESPN has some leverage if they want to keep the cost down.

First and foremost, Schefter is presently facing heavy scrutiny for his conflict of interest with Boom Entertainment, a sports betting company. Schefter has over 11 million followers on Twitter/X and therefore an influence over the market. That’s obviously something football fans, and bettors, are concerned about. One tweet from Schefter can push betting lines any direction he wants.

The other layer to Schefter’s conflict with Boom is that Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, is a fellow investor in the company. That means that Schefter and Kraft have mutual business interests that would take a hit if either of them (or both) were to face negative publicity. That adds a challenge for a journalist who’s expected to report on the facts - something much harder to do when those facts incriminate a business partner.

Of course, ESPN taking over NFL Media is another reason the network has leverage over Schefter. Since partnering with the NFL, ESPN now owns Schefter’s biggest competition, NFL Insider Ian Rapaport. Rapaport’s contract runs through 2030, giving ESPN a natural succession plan to Schefter, if they want it.

I don’t anticipate ESPN letting Schefter walk. If they weren’t happy with his reporting, they wouldn’t be at the negotiating table this far ahead of his current deal expiring. ESPN also doesn’t mind conflict of interests as much as they should. Their Monday Night Football analyst, Troy Aikman, moonlights as a paid consultant for the Dolphins. Their top insider owns part of a sportsbook. Worst of all, the NFL owns 10% of ESPN, making impartial journalism impossible for the network - Essentially they’re just the NFL’s PR machine now.

Bottom line - expect Schefter and ESPN to close an extension soon.

-Written by Seattle Mike