Disney will stream Super Bowl LXI on Disney to all US subscribers and in more than 55 international markets, alongside the ESPN and ABC telecasts, the company announced on October 7. Two days later, Pat McAfee confirmed he will host a Field Pass alternate broadcast of the February 14, 2027 game at SoFi Stadium, extending a multi-feed strategy that will also include a ManningCast edition with Peyton and Eli Manning.
The game will be the first Super Bowl produced by ESPN and Disneys first since ABC aired the game in 2006. The main broadcast, led by Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, will also air on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and the ESPN direct-to-consumer service, with ESPNs linear networks distributing it in more than 130 countries and territories. Disney will also carry two Monday Night Football games before February, starting with Cowboys at Eagles on October 26. McAfee, whose ESPN deal was reported by The Athletic at about $60 million a year, will also front Field Pass altcasts of selected MNF games, with NFL Network and ESPNU carrying Super Bowl altcasts. Disney sold out its Super Bowl ad inventory in August, with 58 brands across 34 categories and spots reportedly priced at $8 million to $9 million after an initial $10 million ask.
The strategic point is that Disney is using the Super Bowl to market its own platforms rather than only to sell advertising. Putting the game on Disney shows it to a general-entertainment subscriber base that does not necessarily pay for ESPN, while the altcasts split one rights fee into several products aimed at different audiences. Disney has already locked in the Super Bowls ad revenue, so the remaining value lies in subscriber acquisition, retention and engagement across Disney, the ESPN app and linear networks. Each feed adds viewers, and with them targeting data, without adding rights cost.
For the NFL, which holds a 10 stake in ESPN, the arrangement widens distribution of its most valuable property without leaving the main broadcast partner, a useful reference point as Skydance-owned CBS signals interest in renegotiating its NFL terms in the coming years. For competing rightsholders, the bar has moved: Super Bowls on NBC and Fox in the last two years carried no altcasts. Future windows are likely to be priced partly on what a partner can do with the game across its whole ecosystem, not just on the reach of a single linear broadcast. Advertisers will face the next question, which is how audiences spread across multiple feeds are measured and priced.
