Disney has put Super Bowl LXI back on ABC for the first time since 2006, but it is not keeping the game on one local station. The broadcast will run across ABC,, Deportes and Disney+, with alternate feeds on ESPN2, ESPNU, NFL Network, Disney Channel and Disney XD.
That is why ABC affiliate groups are watching the plan so closely now. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will still do the traditional call, but it will also air on, and station groups led by Sinclair, Nexstar and Tegna say that kind of spread weakens the value of carrying the game on local ABC stations.
The stakes are easy to measure. A typical affiliate earns about 3 percent of its annual advertising revenue from the Super Bowl when the game airs on its station, and the largest owned-and-operated stations can take in around $10 million from the game alone. One station group CEO estimated the local advertising hit could fall 35 percent from last year if the audience is split across so many platforms.
That dispute is being discussed by the affiliate board, where the complaint goes beyond the game itself and into the way Disney and sell network programming. Stations pay Disney reverse retransmission fees for the right to carry that programming, and they say the Super Bowl has long helped justify those payments by giving them one rare broadcast event that still draws a huge local audience.
Disney is pushing back by pointing to what it calls a well-established industry practice. A spokesperson said marquee live events have already moved to streaming, noting that Fox and NBC have offered the Super Bowl on Tubi and Peacock and that Disney has done the same with The Oscars on Hulu and Dancing with the. The company’s own plan also comes with a catch for affiliates: Disney+ does not have geofenced dynamic ad insertion, so local stations cannot sell ads against viewers who watch there, and the national commercials will be the same on every platform. The Star Wars version will carry no ads at all.
So the question for ABC affiliates is no longer whether the Super Bowl returns to the network. It has. The real issue is whether Disney will leave the distribution plan alone even after station groups say it strips value from the one game that still matters most to them.
