Disney Is Already Preparing for the 2027 Super Bowl

Published: January 30, 2026

football, super bowl, nfl — Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

By Gavin Boyle

Disney has big plans for the 24 hours directly after the Super Bowl ends as the company prepares to host the game in 2027 for the first time in over 20 years.

“Live events have never been more important to our culture and industry, and we just acquired one of the crown jewels, adding to our portfolio of world-class programming across all genres,” said Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, when the company acquired the rights to the 2027 Super Bowl, along with the Grammys and the Oscars.

To intertwine its company with the 2027 event, Disney will take over programming immediately after this year’s game, with a late-night edition of SPORTSCENTER followed by a recap of the game hosted by ESPN’s Laura Rutledge. The next morning, many popular ESPN programs will air live from Disneyland, further helping audiences identify the 2027 Super Bowl with the Disney brand.

Other Disney properties will get involved in the process as well such as GOOD MORNING AMERICA and JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, which will feature Super Bowl-centered content on Feb. 9 and 10.

Disney’s focus on the Super Bowl comes as live sports continue to be the most important programming across the entertainment industry.

Last year, Nielsen found that every one of the top 15 broadcast and top 5 cable telecasts of the year were NFL games. While live sports have served as the last lifeline for cable and broadcast, its transition to streaming is in full swing. Prime Video has scooped up the rights to Thursday Night Football, while Peacock and ESPN+ cover most of the games on Sunday and Monday night. Netflix has even gotten in on the action, securing the rights to the Christmas Day games despite a general disinterest in hosting live sporting events.

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As the entertainment industry continues to split into more and more niche interests through streaming and social media, live sports serve as a final hub for mass audiences. This year’s Super Bowl is expected to have an audience comparable to last year’s, which received an estimated 127.7 million US viewers.

With so many families tuning in, many parents have expressed their concerns over the Super Bowl halftime show, which has transformed into an often highly sexualized performance that promotes excessive ideologies. This year’s performance is expected to be no different, and earlier this month, the headliner, Bad Bunny, announced he would honor queer icons during his appearance.

“If the Super Bowl Halftime Show couldn’t get any worse, there are reports that Bad Bunny is going to wear a dress on stage during his performance to honor queer icons,” sports analyst Jon Root shared on Instagram.

“And don’t forget, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that this decision to have Bad Bunny perform in the first place was carefully thought through. And he also said it’s going to be a unified moment. What are we going to unify on: gender delusion, anti-God ideologies, anti-Trump, and anti-ICE? This will go down as the worst Super Bowl halftime show in the history of the league,” Root added.

While hundreds of millions of people will tune into the show nonetheless, parents should consider an alternative to the traditional halftime show rather than allow their children to be exposed to this performance. It remains to be seen how Disney will approach the halftime show when it hosts in 2027, but given the company’s record of promoting ideologies that are not family friendly, it is more likely than not that next year’s show will feature a similarly disturbing performance.

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