The Super Bowl might be returning to ABC as part of a new deal between the National Football League and The Walt Disney Co., according to a published report.
Sports Business Journal reported that Disney is close to a deal with the NFL that would increase rights fees by 30% to about $2.6 billion. That agreement would include the renewal of Monday Night Football on Disney’s ESPN, plus returning Disney’s ABC to the Super Bowl rotation, which it left in 2006.
ESPN also would get rights to use video clips in its studio shows.
The NFL called the report "incorrect." ESPN declined to comment.
The Super Bowl annually is the most-watched broadcast of the year with commercial prices exceeding $5.5 million for 30 seconds. During the regular season, ad revenue for NFL game broadcasts rose 5% to $2.68 billion, according to Standard Media Index.
The NFL Is in the process of negotiating a new round of rights deals. Most of its current broadcast deals end with the 2022 season.
The current broadcast partners for Sunday games are expected to remain the same, although their rights feels are expected to increase sharply. Disney already paid much more than Comcast’s NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS’s CBS Sports and Fox Sports for their game packages.
Having CBS’s NFL games is a big selling point for the premium version of ViacomCBS’s new streaming service Paramount Plus.
The big change in the game packages is that Fox is not expected to retain Thursday night football, which will be carried by the NFL Network and Amazon, which have been simulcasting the game, according to the report.
