An exclusive report from Variety indicates that advertisers are pushing back on Disney’s initial $10 million ask for a 30-second commercial slot for 2027’s Super Bowl LXI.

Super Bowl LXI Commercials

Super Bowl LXI, taking place in Los Angeles in 2027, will be hosted by Disney’s ESPN for the first time in 20 years. Disney is planning on broadcasting the game on ABC and ESPN with a separate “alterna-cast” led by Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN2. Super Bowl LXI will also be playing on Valentine’s Day (February 14), which Disney sees as a big opportunity to bring everyone together.

As such, Disney has started their initial ask for $10 million for a single 30-second commercial slot. Advertisers are pushing back against this amount, even though Super Bowl ad prices have steadily increased in the past few years. For reference, Super Bowl ads sold for around $5 million in 2016.

2026 Super Bowl LX top sales executive Mark Marshall revealed that NBC sold a handful of commercial slots for over $10 million. However, the initial starting price was $7 million, which sparked so much demand that there was too much interest in too little supply, driving the price higher and higher. The bulk of commercial slots were actually sold between $7 million and $8 million.

Disney remains optimistic and claims they are in active conversations and have “more requests than inventory to sell,” but registrations are not the same as orders. In recent years, broadcasters like NBC and Fox have managed to sell 40% to 60% of their ad schedule before the sale season kicks off in May, but Disney has not made similar progress so far. Another potential problem for Disney is that they lack a Super Bowl sales expert, someone who manages sales for the game.

What do you think of Disney’s initial commercial bid amount? Let us know on social media.

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