{"id":578230,"date":"2026-04-02T22:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/578230\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:07:13","slug":"espn-makes-big-decision-about-nfl-networks-ian-rapoport-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/578230\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN makes big decision about NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN officially took over operations of NFL Network this week, the long-awaited result<\/a> of the transfer of NFL media assets to ESPN. The final hurdle was cleared when federal regulators approved ESPN\u2019s purchase of NFL Network in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some NFL Network employees were expected to be lost in the shuffle as ESPN looked to consolidate any overlapping jobs.<\/p>\n

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MORE: Super Bowl champion, 13-year NFL veteran announces immediate retirement at 35<\/a><\/p>\n

Ian Rapoport will not be one.<\/p>\n

The NFL Network insider, who\u2019s covered the league since 2009, <\/a>will be staying with ESPN after his contract expires next month according to Front Office Sports.<\/p>\n

In 2025, ESPN acquired NFL Network, NFL Fantasy and the rights to distribute the RedZone channel to cable and satellite operators. The league acquired a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN, subject to regulatory approval.<\/p>\n

The initial buzz around the high-stakes transaction focused mostly on how the streaming and cable products would be affected. Yet the reporters who provide boots on the ground \u2014 sourcing information through the time-inefficient process of building relationships, asking similar-sounding questions to different people day after day \u2014 are some of the most easily overlooked yet indispensable parts of any news engine.<\/p>\n

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MORE: Jason Kelce among ex-NFL stars who could reshape ESPN broadcast booth<\/a><\/p>\n

Rapoport is perhaps most familiar to NFL fans through his social media and on-camera presence. Yet he routinely<\/a> files<\/a> reports<\/a> in loco for NFL Network\u2019s website, coloring in the details that matter to hardcore fans one word at a time.<\/p>\n

ESPN has never shied away from letting<\/a> its insiders<\/a> write<\/a>. Rapoport, who cut his chops at daily newspapers, would be a welcome addition to that tradition.<\/p>\n

Before joining NFL Network, Rapoport served as the New England Patriots\u2019 beat reporter for the Boston Herald for three seasons. He also has covered the Alabama Crimson Tide for the Birmingham News and Mississippi State for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.<\/p>\n

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The NFL isn\u2019t turning over all its media properties to ESPN. It will reportedly<\/a> retain NFL Films, NFL+, NFL.com, the official websites of the 32 teams, the NFL Podcast Network and the NFL FAST Channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN officially took over operations of NFL Network this week, the long-awaited result of the transfer of NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,1161,22136,5309,1718,514,16072,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-578230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-espn","11":"tag-ian-rapoport","12":"tag-jason-kelce","13":"tag-new-england-patriots","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-network","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}