The Walt Disney Company ESPN and the National Football League has reached a long-term agreement that will allow ABC / ESPN to join the Super Bowl rotation, in addition to airing additional playoff games and national exclusive games on ESPN + over the life of the agreement, which also shows a significant increase in regular season games including Monday Night Football, improved play quality, new scheduling 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; Y Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the NFL.
“We are excited to broaden and expand our partnership with Disney in the future as ESPN will continue to offer the most watched cable product, Monday Night Football, and ABC will return to airing the Super Bowl. We look forward to partnering with Disney and their new platforms including ESPN +in innovative ways to reach more NFL fans, ”said Roger Goodell.
Bob Chapek, in turn, commented, “This groundbreaking agreement ensures that the passionate fan base of ESPN continues to have access to the best the NFL has to offer. Wear all the unique capabilities of The Walt Disney Company Y ESPN to the table offers many opportunities in our leading direct-to-consumer, broadcast, cable, social and digital marketplaces. A special thanks to Roger Goodell and the owners of the NFL for continuing to embrace new ways to engage their fans, especially through increasingly important platforms such as ESPN +
One of the highlights of the agreement, ESPN and ABC will air two Super Bowls (seasons 2026, 2030) as part of a rotation between NFL partners, which marks the first time there is a deal ESPN-NFL includes the rights to the Super Bowl. ABC last televised the Super Bowl in February 2006. ESPN will feature more playoff action, with the addition of an annual division round game to the schedule, which will continue to feature a wildcard showdown.
Highlights of the Extended Regular Season package from ESPN becomes an exclusive national competition for every year ESPN +, the industry’s leading sports streaming service. The match takes place internationally and will be broadcast live on Sunday morning. In addition, you can with this agreement ESPN the ability to simultaneously broadcast the games from ESPNABC in ESPN +
Also included are the rights to return ESPN + NFL PrimeTime, the iconic weekly show of the NFL’s highlights. NFL PrimeTime is the original program from ESPN + which is not the most watched game. Since its launch in 2018, ESPN + features a wide variety of high-quality NFL content, including the critically acclaimed Peyton’s Places and the upcoming ‘Man in the Arena’ series that focuses on Tom Brady’s Super Bowl performances. ESPN + it has grown to 12.1 million subscribers.
ESPN he increases his regular season schedule by 35 percent, which equates to six extra games per year (from 17 to 23). It features a Monday Night game (in three weeks with a game other than ABC), a doubleheader on Saturday in the last week of the season, and the game on Sunday morning in ESPN +
The two additional games on Saturday will take place during the final week of the regular season and will feature match-ups with playoff implications. Both games are broadcast simultaneously on ABC and ESPN
Jimmy Pitaro, for his part, said, “When ESPN and the NFL By working together in the best way, the results are transformative for hobbyists and the industry. Some of the most remarkable examples of collaboration have occurred in the last 12 months and are of the extraordinary magnitude of The Walt Disney Company which is crucial to this deal. There are so many new and exciting components including the Super Bowls and additional playoff games, new end of season games with playoff implications, streaming games exclusive to ESPN +, flexibility and improvement plans, and much more. It is a far-reaching agreement that we have not reached with the NFL, and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds. “