The NFL season has not even started, but Disney has already sold out of Super Bowl commercials for the 2027 game. During an earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Disney Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston made the announcement, which came as a surprise to some. This is believed to be the earliest a network has sold out of Super Bowl ad inventory.
Disney properties ABC and ESPN have the rights to Super Bowl LXI, which will be played on February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The game is annually the most-watched show on television by a long shot—it often more than doubles the second-highest-rated program, usually either the NFC or AFC championship. In an age of fractured viewership, with viewers’ attention split between screens, the Super Bowl is the rare event that can draw a mass audience, which makes it desirable to advertisers.
But as recently as a few weeks ago, industry buzz had been that Disney was being too aggressive with its pricing, asking up to $10 million for a 30-second spot. That was a record price, roughly double what advertisers paid in 2016 to get in the game and a couple million more than the asking price for last year’s game.
Indications are that Disney dropped its asking price after the early posturing, which may have been its strategy all along. After all, $8 million sounds much more reasonable than $10 million, and that may have begun moving the needle on the Super Bowl ads.
Nine New Super Bowl Advertisers
There will be months to speculate over the Super Bowl commercials, which receive almost as much scrutiny has the game itself. But Disney did release some information about them.
There are nine new advertisers, coming a year after AI companies had a notable breakout presence in the game. Disney said that 58 brands have signed up so far, which represent 34 “distinct categories.” Those include financial services, always a popular Super Bowl area, as well as personal care, candy and software.
Disney proclaimed this “the broadest advertiser and category mixes in Super Bowl history,” but again time will tell—there are usually some last-minute advertisers who squeeze into the game, and occasionally a few who drop out based on the economy or business developments.
Disney Returns To The Super Bowl For First Time Since 2006
It has been almost 20 years since Disney carried the Super Bowl thanks to NFL rights deals signed by CBS, NBC and Fox that rotated the game through their networks. NBC, last year’s Super Bowl carrier, announced its sellout in September 2025, putting Disney a solid few weeks ahead of that schedule.
The conglomerate’s coverage will include an “alterna-cast” on ESPN2 where Peyton and Eli Manning, who host a similar Manningcast during Monday Night Football.
