Super Bowl LXI

Last updated

Super Bowl LXI
SoFi Stadium 2023.jpg
SoFi Stadium in 2023
DateFebruary 14, 2027
Stadium SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
TV in the United States
Network Broadcast:
ABC/ESPN
ESPN Deportes (Spanish)
Streaming:
NFL+/NFL.com/NFL app
ESPN+
Radio in the United States
Network Westwood One

Super Bowl LXI is the planned American football championship game of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2026 season. The game is scheduled to be played on February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. This would be the ninth Super Bowl hosted by the Greater Los Angeles area, and the second at this venue, the first being Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

Contents

The game is planned to be nationally televised by ABC and ESPN, marking the first Super Bowl simulcast between the two sister networks, the first time ABC has aired the Super Bowl since Super Bowl XL (21 years earlier), and the first time that ESPN has aired the Super Bowl. There is also the option for Disney Channel and/or Disney XD to produce an alternate telecast similar to Nickelodeon's Super Bowl LVIII. [1] [2]

Background

Host selection

The league has made all decisions regarding hosting sites from Super Bowl LVII (held in February 2023) onward. There is no bidding process per site: the league selects a potential venue unilaterally, the chosen team puts together a hosting proposal, and then the league votes to determine whether it is acceptable. [3]

On December 13, 2023, the NFL announced that SoFi Stadium, home of both the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers, was selected as the Super Bowl site. [4] [5] [6]

Broadcasting

United States

Television

Super Bowl LXI will be televised nationally by ESPN and simulcast on ABC as part of the 11-year NFL television contract, which allows a four-year rotation between CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC/ESPN. This would mark the first time ABC has aired the Super Bowl since Super Bowl XL, and the first time ever that ESPN has aired the Super Bowl. [2] [7] When ESPN took over the Monday Night Football package from ABC in 2006, the NFL was reluctant to give the cable network any broadcasting rights to the Super Bowl or any playoff games. ESPN was then given the rights to air a first-round Wild Card playoff game on the channel after the conclusion of the 2014 season. [8] The cable-only playoff game experiment would only last one season, and ABC would start simulcasting ESPN's Wild Card playoff game in the 2015 season. [9] But the NFL refrained from having an ABC/ESPN simulcast of the Super Bowl until Super Bowl LXI. [2]

It is expected that ESPN Deportes will air a Spanish-language feed of the game.

There is also the option for one of or both of Disney Channel and Disney XD, two children's channels operated by The Walt Disney Company, to carry an kid-focused alternate broadcast of Super Bowl LXI in a similar way to Nickelodeon's simulcast of Super Bowl LVIII. Disney XD has simulcasted the Pro Bowl (both under its original guise and the Pro Bowl Games format) alongside ABC and ESPN since 2019 [10] and Disney+ and ESPN+, two of The Walt Disney Company's streaming services, aired a kid-focused alternative broadcast of an NFL regular season game themed around the Toy Story franchise in 2023 known as "Toy Story Funday Football". [11] In addition, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney+ and ESPN+ have aired alternate broadcasts of NHL games themed around the Disney animated series Big City Greens [12] [13] [14] and Disney XD has aired Overwatch League esports matches during the OWL's run as part of its short-lived D|XP block. [15] [16]

Streaming

The game is planned to be streamed live on NFL+ via mobile devices.

Radio

Westwood One holds the national radio rights to the game. [17]

International

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References

  1. ↑ "The NFL's New Broadcast Rights Deals". sportsmedia. March 23, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Schefter, Adam (December 13, 2023). "Super Bowl LXI in 2027 to be played at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles". ABC7 Los Angeles. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  3. ↑ Teope, Herbie (May 23, 2018). "Arizona New Orleans Chosen As Super Bowl Hosts". www.NFL.com. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  4. ↑ Jones, Jonathan (December 13, 2023). "Super Bowl expected to return to SoFi in 2027: Los Angeles area to host big game for second time since 2022". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ Chavkin, Daniel (December 13, 2023). "SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles Expected to Host Super Bowl LXI, per Report". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  6. ↑ "NFL to play 2027 Super Bowl in Los Angeles". ESPN.com. December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Next NFL TV Deal Could End AFC NFC Split On Sunday Afternoons". SportingNews.com. March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  8. ↑ Chase, Chris (April 22, 2014). "ESPN to broadcast first ever NFL playoff game in 2015". USA Today. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  9. ↑ Coelho, Ana Livia (May 11, 2015). "NFL Wild Card Playoff Game Will Return to ESPN – and Be Simulcast for the First Time on ABC" (Press release). ESPN MediaZone. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  10. ↑ "2020 NFL Pro Bowl Returns to Orlando for the Fourth Straight Year on Sunday, January 26". August 8, 2019.
  11. ↑ "HOW ESPN, PIXAR SCORED WITH NFL'S TOY STORY SUNDAY FUNDAY ANIMATED SIMULCAST". VFX Voice. October 10, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  12. ↑ Petski, Denise (February 14, 2023). "ESPN & Disney Channel Team Up With NHL For Big City Greens Classic Animated Special". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  13. ↑ Steinberg, Brian (February 14, 2023). "Disney Will Animate ESPN Coverage for Disney Channel to Get Kids Into Hockey". Variety . Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  14. ↑ Lemire, Joe (November 10, 2023). "NHL Big City Greens Classic returning to ESPN". Sports Business Journal . Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  15. ↑ "Disney signs multi-year deal to broadcast Overwatch League across ESPN and ABC platforms". Awful Announcing. July 11, 2018. Archived from the original on March 2, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Overwatch League to air on ESPN, Disney XD, ABC". ESPN.com. February 7, 2019. Archived from the original on March 2, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Westwood One Has A New Deal With All Primetime Games". Awful Announcing. March 28, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
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