The sports world already knows that Disney and ESPN are set to broadcast Super Bowl LXI next year. However, Disney turned heads with their ambitious plans for the event during this year’s upfront. However, one of ESPN’s leading NFL faces, Laura Rutledge, wasn’t silent on the matter either and made sure to let everyone know that they are not to be ruled out just yet.

During the Disney Upfront held at the North Javits Centre on May 12, Rudledge declared that ESPN wants to deliver the most-watched Super Bowl ever, per Front Office Sports.

FOX already set the bar last year by broadcasting Super Bowl LIX between the Eagles and the Chiefs, which garnered an average of 127.71 million viewers. And judging by Rutledge’s announcement, Disney appears to be leaving no stone unturned in its attempt to trump that number.

“With the addition of the NFL Network and the Super Bowl, we expect to see a 55% increase in NFL impressions year over year,” Disney Advertising President Rita Ferro said during the event. “And when you combine NFL and college football, Disney will deliver 40% of the football impressions this upcoming season. That puts us in a position that no one else can match.”

For ESPN, Super Bowl LXI marks the company’s return to the event after nearly two decades on the sidelines. Apart from the Monday Night Football contract that will run through 2033, ESPN eventually re-entered the Super Bowl rotation after inking a 10-year landmark agreement with the NFL in 2026, which allowed the network to join FOX, CBS, and NBC as part of the league’s rotation.

This gave ESPN the rights to broadcast Super Bowl LXI in February 2027 and Super Bowl LXV in February 2031. In addition to this, the deal also grants ESPN the ownership of the NFL Network in exchange for them having 10% stake in the company.

However, this arrives amidst a setback that ESPN recently suffered involving the NFL Honors ceremony. NFL Honors is the league’s annual award show, traditionally held the day before the Super Bowl. The event honors the major award winners from the NFL season and has also become the de facto place to introduce the newest class of Hall of Fame inductees. Although the event was usually broadcast on NFL Network alongside the network broadcasting that season’s Super Bowl, Netflix won the rights to host the event from this season through 2029.

Along with this, Netflix has also confirmed that it will have five games in its 2026 game inventory, including its third consecutive Christmas Day doubleheader, a deal that started in 2024. The three additional games in its lineup are an opening week matchup in Melbourne featuring the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, a Week 18 regular-season finale, and the league’s first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game.

As a result, a significant piece of the Super Bowl’s television inventory is now being taken out of ESPN’s hands, in addition to missing out on significant revenue.

This move also marks a broader shift in direction from the league. The NFL has increasingly embraced streaming platforms as broadcast partners, threatening the existence of broadcasters in the long run.  The Thursday Night Football slate is now exclusively streamed on Amazon’s Prime Video, which also serves as the home for the NFL’s Black Friday window.

Meanwhile, the old guard networks are still putting up a valiant fight against this emerging streaming threat. Disney/ESPN is going full tilt for its upcoming big day.

ESPN and Disney’s Media Empire Deploy Full Arsenal for Super Bowl LXI

The biggest advantage Disney possesses over its rivals is that it’s arguably the largest media empire in the world. Disney has a wide catalog of IP alongside multiple avenues in its business. This includes theme parks, movies, television, and a streaming platform.

But it all starts with the game broadcast itself. There, ESPN is deploying arguably the most trusted and recognizable NFL commentary duo currently in Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. They’ve previously called six Super Bowls together during their time at FOX. Disney has also gone all out with its simulcast strategy. They’re reportedly involving Pat McAfee in a sideline-level alternate broadcast while the hugely successful ManningCast featuring Peyton Manning and Eli Manning is also set to host its first-ever Super Bowl simulcast on ESPN2.

Disney will also likely look to incorporate its IP brands into another simulcast aimed at kids. That could potentially mean characters such as Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, Elsa, or Buzz Lightyear, making appearances in a kids-oriented showcase. It’s the kind of crossover ability that only a company like Disney is capable of.

Rutledge’s proclamation about ESPN wanting to deliver the most-watched Super Bowl ever begins to look far more realistic. Disney’s IP and media arsenal will play a huge role in bringing that to a reality. And if the network succeeds in eclipsing FOX’s historic Super Bowl record, it would by default become the most-watched television event in American history.