Disney Plus will stream Super Bowl LXI
Disney announced that Super Bowl LXI will stream on Disney Plus on February 14, 2027, alongside its broadcast on ESPN and ABC. This represents a major milestone for streaming as one of the world's biggest sporting events comes to a major streaming platform, following the success of last year's Super Bowl on Peacock.
The game will feature the same broadcast talent as the linear channels, including commentators Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, alongside reporters Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge. Disney Plus will air the Super Bowl in more than 55 international markets including Latin America, South Africa, and Australia. Ahead of the main event, Disney Plus subscribers will watch two Monday Night Football games, with the first scheduled for 26 October between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.
- Super Bowl LXI comes to Disney Plus on 14 February 2027
- Simultaneous broadcast on ESPN and ABC with same commentators
- Reaching 55+ international markets; Disney Plus also streams two Monday Night Football games
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The Super Bowl is the championship game of American football, played annually between the two top teams in the National Football League. It is one of the world's most watched sporting events, with millions of viewers tuning in globally.
For decades, the Super Bowl has been broadcast only on traditional television networks. Its move to streaming represents a significant shift in how major sporting events are distributed, as platforms compete to offer premium content to subscribers.
This development follows the success of last year's Super Bowl, which aired on Peacock, another streaming service. It signals that even the world's biggest sporting events are becoming accessible through subscription streaming as well as traditional television.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The addition of Disney Plus as a streaming option represents natural evolution in sports media distribution that benefits modern viewers whilst maintaining universal access through traditional channels. Cord-cutters, younger audiences, and viewers in over 55 international markets gain convenient access to the Super Bowl without existing television viewers losing linear platform options. This reflects how audiences now genuinely consume content, with viewers choosing their preferred platform. Peacock's successful track record with major sporting events demonstrates that streaming infrastructure has matured sufficiently to handle such massive concurrent audiences reliably.
The case against
This announcement exemplifies a concerning trend toward fragmentation in major sporting events' distribution, even when presented as purely additive. Viewers without reliable broadband access, those unable to afford multiple streaming subscriptions, and older demographics dependent on traditional television face increasing barriers and costs. Each major event's expansion onto streaming platforms establishes precedent that will gradually shift the industry away from universally accessible broadcast toward subscription-dependent ecosystems. Streaming, despite improvements, introduces technical vulnerabilities and infrastructure failure modes that traditional television has largely eliminated, creating unnecessary risks for an event requiring absolute reliability for its global audience.