MIAMI, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 02: tHE KANSAS CITY CHIEin Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
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The Super Bowl will take place on Valentine’s Day in 2027, and ESPN thinks you’ll love that.
ESPN will air its first Super Bowl next February. And the countdown to kickoff will start directly after the dust settles on Super Bowl LX between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks on February 8.
“The Handoff” will begin at 11:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 8, and continue for 24 hours through Feb. 9.
What is “The Handoff,” Exactly?
ESPN’s 24-hour programming block effectively hands off coverage of the Super Bowl to the cable sports giant, a year before it airs Super Bowl LXI.
Scott Van Pelt will be at the site of next year’s game, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., to recap the Patriots/Seahawks game and offer first glimpses at next year’s coverage. Laura Rutledge will also recap this year’s game during Super Bowl Live (also from SoFi Stadium) before looking ahead to the offseason and next NFL season.
On Feb. 9, various ESPN programs will air live from Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., while parts of ABC’s Good Morning America will originate from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. ABC World News Tonight and Jimmy Kimmel Live will also have Super Bowl content integrations.
2027 Super Bowl TV Details
SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, will host its second-ever Super Bowl on February 14, 2027. The building, which opened in 2020, was also the site of Super Bowl LVI when the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20.
Monday Night Football announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman have already been tabbed to call Super Bowl LXI, though that will only be part of the larger efforts ESPN and parent company Disney put together around the game.
In 2024, ESPN’s Burke Magnus already shared that there will be a ManningCast for Super Bowl LXI, given the popularity of the alternative feed with brothers Eli and Peyton Manning that typically airs on ESPN2 for Monday night games.
ABC will also simulcast the Super Bowl, and you would imagine several more multicast integrations are coming as Disney aims to bolster subscriber numbers for its larger bundle and/or its ESPN Unlimited and Disney+ apps.
ESPN has had simulcasts for major events for years, with this year’s College Football Playoff National Championship Megacast amounting to about a dozen different feeds across streaming and traditional TV.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 21: The New York Giants G-Line drumline, Mascot App-E and ESPN celebrate the launch of the new ESPN app with a “E” train takeover on August 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for ESPN)
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Impact Of The NFL And ESPN’s Larger Business Relationship
The NFL has always been directly involved in the presentation of its product on TV, and in particular, the fanfare around the Super Bowl. But in 2027, it will have more involvement in how the Super Bowl appears on TV than ever before.
Last summer’s deal between ESPN and the NFL gave the league 10% ownership in the network, while ESPN acquired NFL media properties like RedZone and NFL Network.
That transaction created immediate concerns around media independence on how it would impact ESPN’s coverage of the NFL going forward. That question will remain in the year-long lead up to Super Bowl LXI – especially if there ends up being controversy around teams or players participating in next year’s game (or around the NFL overall).
ESPN has long received criticisms around impartiality when it comes to the NFL, and that was before the league had any financial stake in the network. Its business relationships with the SEC are also a regular topic of conversation when it comes to its college football coverage, and were again this December when Notre Dame was not among the teams selected for the College Football Playoff field.
Alternatively, however, there’s the possibility (hope?) that ESPN and the NFL’s relationship allows for unprecedented pre-game access going into Super Bowl LXI. And adding NFL Network into the larger Super Bowl coverage plan could at least provide an avenue for more substantive player (and former player) commentary around the game.
If nothing else, fans will be hearing a lot about ESPN’s upcoming Super Bowl over the next 12 months.