Disney+ To Stream Monday Night Football For The First Time
Disney has announced that Monday Night Football will be coming to Disney+ later this month in the United States, with the upcoming match between the San Francisco 49ers and the Indianapolis Colts, which is set to air on December 22nd, 8 p.m. ET on Disney+ and simulcast on ABC, in addition to remaining available on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and the ESPN App. This marks a milestone for The Walt Disney Company and the NFL as 49ers-Colts will be the first traditional NFL game broadcast available to stream on Disney+ for standalone subscribers.
This NFL game on Disney+ builds on the platform’s growing live sports portfolio, which features the upcoming Monsters Funday Football – the third iteration of a real-time, animated Monday Night Football alternate-telecast, NBA, NHL, MLB and college football games. Previous Funday Football alternate-telecasts, all of which streamed on Disney+, have included The Simpsons Funday Football (2024) and Toy Story Funday Football (2023). The Monsters Funday Football event streams on Disney+ on December 8th 2025.
ESPN’s ability to stream a Monday Night Football game on Disney+ was part of a new rights agreement between ESPN and the NFL, announced in August. ESPN’s right to designate an additional Monday night ABC simulcast was agreed to when the 2025-26 NFL schedule was announced in May.
Monday Night Football’s Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will be in the broadcast booth at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for 49ers-Colts, with Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge providing reports from the sidelines.
Monday Night Football is currently on pace for its second-most-watched season in the ESPN era through Week 12 (2006-present). Over the next two months, ESPN will bring fans eight more NFL games (six regular season and two playoff), featuring a plethora of teams vying for playoff spots and top seeding. For the third year, the Monday Night Football season will culminate with ESPN’s Week 18 doubleheader and postseason action with a Wild Card and Divisional Round game.
Roger’s Take: This is a significant shift for Disney+ as ESPN becomes one of its content cornerstones to drive engagement and subscriber growth. It wouldn’t be a massive surprise if we see more NFL games stream live on Disney+, similar to how other streaming platforms offer games to their subscribers, to keep them engaged.
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