NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport and ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter go scoop for scoop, with the difference between winning and losing often being a matter of seconds.<\/p>\n
In April, ESPN and the NFL Network will be under the same Disney umbrella \u2014 Rapoport and Schefter will be teammates. How long that lasts is still to be determined, as Rapoport\u2019s contract is up in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we were to work together, I think that would be awesome,\u201d Rapoport told The Athletic, while confirming his current contract\u2019s end date. \u201cI have no idea if it is going to happen. But it would be like The Avengers.\u201d<\/p>\n
A little corporate synergy reference never hurt Disney negotiations, though the next film in the Avengers series is titled \u201cDoomsday.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Schefter-Rapoport dynamic is one of the sidelights in the recently approved deal that gave the league a 10 percent stake in ESPN for a variety of the league\u2019s media assets, including NFL Network.<\/p>\n
While Schefter and Rapoport engage in an almost daily post-off to be first on X, there is more to their jobs. The analogy that probably best describes how NFL Network is expected to live in an ESPN universe is the SEC Network. ESPN\u2019s most popular subject will continue to be the NFL, but if you want non-stop coverage of the league, NFL Network will be available. Ultimately, between the two networks, there is going to be no shortage of on-air hits for the top insiders.<\/p>\n
What ESPN executives are going to do about the expanded NFL reporting staff is still to be determined.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust so we are clear, I don\u2019t know what is coming,\u201d Rapoport said. \u201cNo one has told me, \u2018It\u2019s going to be like this. It\u2019s going to be like that.\u2019 There are a lot of things I don\u2019t know. A lot of people don\u2019t know, but I\u2019m excited because ESPN is very good at what it does. From my understanding, it is going to be more football, more coverage, investing in NFL Network and making it as best as it could possibly be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it is anything like ESPN and SEC Network, that would be great. SEC Network is awesome. ESPN\u2019s coverage of college football is enhanced by it. If that is sort of the way it is, then I think that would be, that would be great. I don\u2019t know what I\u2019ll end up doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
ESPN has a lot of NFL insiders and analysts, but Schefter is the clear leader on news. When Schefter joined ESPN from NFL Network in 2009, he did so as No. 1 and No. 1A with Chris Mortensen. Mortensen warmly welcomed Schefter, and the duo worked side by side, even on its premier pregame show, \u201cNFL Sunday Countdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schefter, 59, and Rapoport, 46, could conceivably recreate this setup, though, both trying to beat each other by seconds for transactional news would have likely have to be put to the side.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s me doing similar things that I do now, under the same umbrella, that would be great,\u201d Rapoport said. \u201cIf it is working with Schefter, (that works, too.) No one has told me that\u2019s going to be the way it is. Remember, I grew up watching Schefter and Mort dominate the news. Obviously, I\u2019ve been watching Adam for a long time. He is the reason my job exists, just to be totally honest, in the form it does. That is something that is not lost on me. I wouldn\u2019t have this job the way I do if he didn\u2019t sort of create it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport and ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter go scoop for scoop, with the difference between winning and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,6,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-764822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116103693384674751","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}