Walt Disney Company, ESPN and the National Football League has reached a long-term agreement with which ABC / ESPN will join the Super Bowl rotation, in addition to broadcasting additional playoff games and national exclusive games on ESPN + throughout the lifetime of the agreement, which also sees a significant increase in regular season competitions, including Monday night football, improved game quality, new scheduling flexibility and more.
The historic 10-year deal, starting with the 2023 season, was announced today by Bob Chapek, CEO at the Walt Disney Company; Jimmy Pitaro, President of the ESPN and sports content; Yes Roger Goodell, commissioner in the NFL.
“We are excited to expand and expand our partnership with Disney in the future, as ESPN will continue to present the most-watched cable product, Monday Night Football, and ABC will return to the Super Bowl. We look forward to working with Disney and their new platforms, inclusive ESPN +in innovative ways to reach more NFL fans, “said Roger Goodell.
For his part, Bob Chapek commented: “This benchmark agreement ensures that passionate ESPN fans will continue to have access to the best NFL offers. Wear all the unique capabilities of Walt Disney Company Yes ESPN The table opens up numerous opportunities in our direct markets from consumer, broadcast, cable, social and digital. Special thanks to Roger Goodell and NFL owners for continuing to embrace new ways to engage their fans, especially through increasingly important platforms such as ESPN +”.
Among the most important aspects of the agreement, ESPN and ABC will air two Super Bowls (2026, 2030 seasons) as part of a rotation between NFL partners, marking the first time a transaction has ESPN-NFL includes Super Bowl rights. ABC last aired the Super Bowl in February 2006. In addition, ESPN will have several playoff actions, with the addition of an annual divisional round game to its schedule, which will continue to include a wild card showdown.
Highlights from the regular season package extended from ESPN will be an exclusive annual national game for ESPN +, the most important sports streaming service in the industry. The game will take place internationally and will be broadcast live on Sunday morning. In addition, this agreement allows you ESPN the ability to stream games simultaneously ESPN/A B C in the ESPN +.
Return rights are also included ESPN + NFL PrimeTime, the iconic weekly show of the most important moments of the NFL. NFL PrimeTime is the original program of ESPN + which is not the most watched game. Since its launch in 2018, ESPN + featured a variety of high-quality NFL content, including acclaimed Peyton’s Places and the upcoming multi-installment series “Man in the Arena” that focuses on Tom Brady’s Super Bowl appearances. ESPN + increased to 12.1 million subscribers.
ESPN he will increase his regular season schedule by 35%, which means six more games a year (from 17 to 23). It will include a Monday night game (in three weeks with a game other than ABC), a double title on Saturday the last week of the season and the Sunday morning game in ESPN +.
The two additional games on Saturday will take place in the last week of the regular season and will have matches with implications in the playoffs. Both games will be broadcast simultaneously on ABC and ESPN.
For his part, Jimmy Pitaro commented: “When ESPN and NFL working together in the best way, the results are transformative for enthusiasts and industry. Some of the most notable examples of collaboration have taken place in the last 12 months and have demonstrated the extraordinary expansion of Walt Disney Company which is essential for this understanding. There are so many new and exciting components, including Super Bowls and additional playoff games, new end-of-season games with playoff implications, streaming games exclusively for ESPN +, flexibility and programming improvements and more. It’s a far-reaching agreement, different from anything I’ve come up with so far NFLand we could not be more pleased with what the future holds. “