ESPN stands to lose $75 million this Saturday, after the NFL gave them the least attractive Wild Card matchup of the weekend between the Brock Osweiler-led Houston Texans and the Derek Carr-less Oakland Raiders.
According to Outkick The Coverage, ESPN actually had to pay $100 million to televise the upcoming Wild Card game between the Texans and Raiders and can only make $25 million from airing the game. For those of you scoring at home, that's a $75 million loss.
ESPN paid the NFL $1.9 billion per year for the rights to Monday Night Football from now until 2022, but they also agreed to pay $100 million per year to air one Wild Card game, which is given to them by the league- they don't have a say in the matter. As we're witnessing with this weekend's Texans/Raider matchup, that game has the potential to be a total flop.
The Texans have already announced that they'll be going back to Brock Osweiler at QB for the game while the Raiders will be left with Connor Cook, unless Matt McGloin unexpectedly recovers from his injury.
Of course, most of us will still be watching (Saturday at 4:35pm) anyway but this is one of the least attractive wild card matchups ESPN could've hoped for and if this trend keeps up they stand to lose $600 million as part of their Wild Card deal with the NFL.