I was rooting for NASN to make it. As an expat in London without access to San Francisco 49ers and Giants games, I was happy to see someone fill the programming void and bring American sports to Europe.

Benchmark Capital's European unit invested in 2003 a reported $25 million for a 50% stake in the North American Sports Network. Disney is now reportedly paying up to 122 million euros to buy the company. Disney will use NASN as a base from which to expand ESPN into the British Isles and the Continent.

While it doesn't appear to have been a tremendously profitable deal for Benchmark, it looks like they made a good return. And in so doing, they brought joy to thousands of American sports fans across the pond.

And Benchmark still has an interest in European sports programming. The firm has reinvested in Setanta Sports, an Irish television sports distributor that was the co-owner of NASN with Benchmark. After Setanta's current 350 million euro refinancing, Benchmark will remain one of the company's two major institutional shareholders.

For more on the Setanta Sports deal, see:
The Deal
Paid Content
Wall Street Journal
Press release

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