Disney is aiming high with its asking price for 30-second ad spots in the 2027 telecast of Super Bowl LXI, which marks the company’s first time televising the Super Bowl in 20 years. Perhaps too high, according to potential buyers.
Brian Steinberg of Variety reports that Disney “has told advertisers it believes they should pay $10 million for a 30-second ad in the company’s 2027 telecast of Super Bowl LXI, according to four people with knowledge of recent negotiations, but the high price tag has some marketers sitting on the sidelines.”
Super Bowl LXI, scheduled for Feb. 14, 2027, will be the first time that “The Big Game” has ever been televised on ESPN. The game will also be simulcast on ABC, which last showed the Super Bowl in 2006. And there will be a ManningCast of Super Bowl LXI, featuring Peyton and Eli Manning as commentators, on ESPN2.
Joe Buck, the ESPN play-by-play commentator for Super Bowl LXI, has referred to it as “the biggest day in ESPN history,” and the network has gone all-out in promoting the game since the moment Super Bowl LX ended.
One of the people familiar with the Disney conversations told Variety that “there is a big delta from where they started to where advertisers want to be,” regarding the $10 million initial ask.
According to Steinberg, Variety also hears from sources that Disney “also sought a $10 million match of funds that would be spent elsewhere in its media portfolio,” which could involve “broader packages of its overall media portfolio, and a range of sports inventory that includes such things as MLB.TV and Monday Night Football.”
That all could lead to more complex and detailed discussions, which, to go with the reported balked-at asking price, could lead to a delay in reaching these deals. And that might make it difficult for Disney to sell a large amount of its ad inventory before its annual upfront presentation on May 12, 2026, whereas Fox and NBC were able to sell 40-60 percent of their Super Bowl inventory by then in recent years.
While Disney’s initial asking price is $10 million, NBC’s initial ask was in the neighborhood of $7 million for a 30-second spot last March ahead of Super Bowl LX, which led to high demand from potential buyers. Steinberg reports that “the bulk of [NBC’s] Super Bowl ad inventory sold for $7 million to $8 million, according to people familiar with the matter,” though NBC claimed to sell a “handful” of spots for $10 million-plus. Last July, it was reported that NBC was selling ad spots for $8 million after selling out of units priced at $7 million ahead of the upfront season.
Steinberg adds that a common complaint among the four people familiar with conversations is that Disney “lacks a Super Bowl sales expert, someone who has managed sales for the Big Game for multiple years.”
So, it’s possible that Disney’s inexperience with hosting the Super Bowl telecast could further complicate things in this process.
In 2025, Fox generated over $800 million in ad revenue after televising Super Bowl LIX. It will be fascinating to see if Disney can succeed in getting advertisers to meet the desired asking price, as well as where the ad revenue number ultimately lands.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.