What Is the ‘Year of the Super Bowl’ Campaign? All About ESPN, Disney and the NFL Turning One Game Into 12 Months

ESPN is not treating its first Super Bowl broadcast as a one-night job. The network, in partnership with the NFL and The Walt Disney Co., has rolled out “The Year of the Super Bowl,” a 12-month campaign that started right after Super Bowl 60 and runs through Super Bowl 61 on Feb. 14, 2027, on ESPN and ABC.The push is one of the biggest cross-company projects in ESPN and Disney history, with coordinated programming, park activations and ad inventory built around a single game. It also raises the obvious question: can fans stay locked in on the Super Bowl for an entire year without burning out on the branding?The campaign officially kicked off with “The Handoff,” a made-for-TV bridge from this year’s Super Bowl to next year’s. Chris Berman appeared from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the site of Super Bowl 60, and passed coverage to Scott Van Pelt at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, where Super Bowl 61 will be played.ESPN then turned the moment into a 24-hour activation. Shows like “SportsCenter,” “Super Bowl Live,” “First Take” and “NFL Live” moved to Disneyland Park in Anaheim, tying NFL coverage directly to Disney’s theme-park machine.“With the full strength of The Walt Disney Company and in collaboration with the NFL, ESPN has embarked on a year-long Super Bowl celebration,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said. “This fan-focused initiative unites our Company’s beloved brands with industry-leading storytelling and technology to showcase football’s greatest stories, heroes, and moments like never before.”Content is the backbone of the plan. ESPN has launched “I Scored a Touchdown,” a weekly short-form series that will highlight 61 players who have scored in the Super Bowl before the 2027 game kicks off. Former New York Giants wide receiver David Tyree, remembered for his helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII, led things off.There is also “The Biggest Game,” a weekly video podcast hosted by Jeremy Schaap. The show looks back at six decades of Super Bowl moments, from on-field performances to halftime shows and the off-field storylines that usually spill into the news cycle. The first episode features Berman, who has covered 44 straight Super Bowls.To sell the scale of the project beyond hardcore NFL fans, Disney and ESPN built a separate marketing play: “We’re Going.” The spot reimagines the “I’m going to Disney World” line that Super Bowl champions made famous, this time packing in Disney characters, ESPN faces and ABC personalities all heading to Super Bowl 61.“Few phrases are as instantly recognizable in sports as ‘I’m going to Disney World,’” Asad Ayaz, chief marketing and brand officer of The Walt Disney Co., said. “This campaign brings together the scale of ESPN, the global power of Disney’s brands and characters, and the excitement of the Super Bowl to create a shared moment that signals just how big this milestone is for our company and fans.”“‘We’re Going’” sits on top of a bigger ad play. Disney Advertising plans cross-platform opportunities across ESPN, ABC and other company properties, giving brands a shot at tying into the Super Bowl build-up months before kickoff instead of fighting for 30 seconds in the game.“‘We’re Going’ is just the beginning of a year-long adventure to our first Super Bowl,” Tina Thornton, ESPN’s executive vice president of creative studio and marketing, said. “It sets the tone for how we’re approaching Super Bowl LXI, by bringing together the storytelling power of Disney with the scale, voice, and passion of ESPN.”Over the 2026-27 NFL season, fans can expect more programming, in-park events and NFL tentpole integrations around the draft and Monday Night Football. ESPN, Disney and the NFL are betting that “The Year of the Super Bowl” can keep fans engaged for 12 months and still have something left for kickoff in Los Angeles.