The NFL will remain a fixture on Disney’s ESPN for another decade as national broadcast agreements have been finalized.
The DisInsider reported on the deal between Disney and the NFL three weeks ago and today that reporting has been confirmed by the New York Times. In the new deal Disney will pay around $2.6-2.7 billion a year to continue to air Monday Night Football on ESPN. The agreement also puts Disney’s ABC in the rotation to broadcast the Super Bowl, along with rival networks NBC, CBS, and FOX. The last time ABC aired the Super Bowl was back in 2006 when the Seattle Seahawks faced the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The deal is a big win for Disney’s two linear networks, ABC and ESPN, along with their sports centered streaming service, ESPN+. The streamer will have exclusive access to Monday Night Football games and the International Series, which will return in 2022.
Disney’s annual $2.6 billion cost exceeds the $2 billion agreements reached by NBC, CBS, and FOX, however, Disney’s increase was only 30% compared to their previous agreement, where NBC, CBS, and FOX all saw 100% increases in their broadcasting fees.
This agreement goes into effect for Disney starting with the 2022 NFL season, while the new contracts with NBC, CBS, and FOX will begin starting 2023. Amazon will continue to be NFL’s streaming partner, having exclusive rights to air one game in each of the two upcoming seasons. However, Amazon will not be the only streaming service airing NFL games, with the aforementioned ESPN+ streaming Monday Night Football, CBS streaming their games on Paramount Plus, and NBC streaming their games on Peacock.
The agreement also gives ESPN exclusive access to NFL highlights to use on shows like Sports Center.
This new deal with net the NFL $110 billion over the next eleven years from the four big networks, a huge increase from the $27 billion they received from their previous agreements.
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