The Walt Disney Company, ESPN and the National Football League 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 matches for ESPN + during the term of the agreement, which also provides for a significant increase in regular season contests, including Monday Night Football, improved game quality, new schedule flexibility and more.
The historic 10-year deal, which begins with the 2023 season, was announced today by Bob Chapek, CEO of The Walt Disney Company; Jimmy Pitaro, President of ESPN and sports content; i Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner.
“We are excited to expand and expand our partnership with Disney in the future, as ESPN will continue to feature the most-watched cable product, Monday Night Football, and ABC will air the Super Bowl again. We look forward to working with Disney and its new platforms. , included ESPN +“In innovative ways, to reach more NFL fans,” Roger Goodell said.
For his part, Bob Chapek commented: “This historic agreement guarantees that ESPN’s passionate fan base will continue to have access to the best the NFL has to offer. Bringing all the unique capabilities of ESPN The Walt Disney Company i ESPN at the table opens many opportunities in our direct outlets to consumer, broadcast, cable, social and industry leading digital markets. Special thanks to Roger Goodell and NFL owners for continuing to take new ways to attract their fans, especially through increasingly important platforms like ESPN +”.
Among the highlights of the agreement, ESPN and ABC will air two Super Bowls (seasons 2026, 2030) as part of a rotation between NFL partners, meaning the first time a deal ESPN-NFL includes the rights to the Super Bowl. ABC last televised the Super Bowl in February 2006. In addition, ESPN will feature more playoff action, with the addition of an annual divisional round game to its schedule, which will continue to include a wildcard clash.
The highlight of the regular season extended package of ESPN will be an annual national exclusive game for ESPN +, The industry-leading sports broadcasting service. The game will take place internationally and will be broadcast live on Sunday morning. In addition, this agreement allows you ESPN the opportunity to simultaneously stream games ESPN/ABC a ESPN +.
Also included are the rights for the return of ESPN + NFL PrimeTime, The iconic weekly program of the NFL highlights. NFL Primetime is the original program of ESPN + which is not a more watched game. Since its launch in 2018, ESPN + has featured a wide variety of high-quality NFL content, including the acclaimed Peyton’s Places and the upcoming multi-installment series ‘Man in the Arena’ which focuses on Tom Brady’s appearances in the Super Bowl . ESPN + has grown to 12,100,000 subscribers.
ESPN it will increase its regular season schedule by 35 percent, which means six more games per year (from 17 to 23). It will include a Monday Night game (in three weeks with a different game than ABC), a double billboard on Saturday the last week of the season and the Sunday morning game on ESPN +.
The two additional Saturday games will take place during the final week of the regular season and will feature clashes with playoff implications. Both games will be broadcast simultaneously by ABC and ESPN.
For his part, Jimmy Pitaro, commented: “When ESPN and the NFL they work together in the best way, the results are transformative for the fans and the industry. Some of the most notable examples of collaboration have occurred in the last 12 months and have demonstrated the extraordinary scope of The Walt Disney Company which is critical to this agreement. There are so many new and exciting components, including the Super Bowls and additional playoff games, new end-of-season games with playoff implications, exclusive streaming games for ESPN +, Programming flexibility and improvements and more. It’s a far-reaching agreement that doesn’t look like any of the ones we’ve reached before with the NFL“And we couldn’t be more excited about what awaits us in the future.”