Super Bowl 2026: Could Bad Bunny Kill the NFL-ESPN Deal?

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Follow me on X.

TV Answer Man, could the NFL picking Bad Bunny to sing at the Super Bowl hurt the chances of the NFL-ESPN deal? – Steve, town withheld.

Steve, the NFL and ESPN in August signed an agreement that will give the sports network the ownership of the NFL Network, and the linear (cable, satellite) distribution rights and branding rights to the NFL RedZone Channel. In return, the NFL will get a 10 percent stake in ESPN.

But here’s the problem: Over the next year or so, the deal must be approved by federal regulators (FCC, Justice Department, FTC) which are now controlled by the Trump Administration. And the Trump Administration now is not terribly happy with the NFL because the league just awarded the Super Bowl halftime musical spot to Bad Bunny, a vocal critic of the president’s immigration policies.

You might say that one should have nothing to do with the other; that the NFL and ESPN deal should be viewed strictly on its merits and impact on the American consumer. But if you say that, you haven’t been paying attention to the Trump administration for the last 10 months.

Trump and his federal appointees, including FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, have openly acknowledged that they will use the tools of power to further the administration’s agenda. And that agenda includes influencing private corporations, such as the NFL and Disney, which owns ESPN, to moderate their views. Naming Bad Bunny to be the musical guest at the Super Bowl halftime is viewed by the president as a naked act of rebellion towards the administration’s policies. And that will not sit well with Carr and others who will review the ESPN-NFL deal over the next year.

Unlike with the Jimmy Kimmel kerfuffle, Carr will likely temper his public remarks regarding Bad Bunny; critics said the FCC chief threatened publicly to take action against Kimmel’s employer, Disney/ABC, if he stayed on the air. (Carr said his Kimmel remarks were misinterpreted, but many analysts said they were politically damaging to the administration.) But you can bet that Carr and Attorney General Pam Bondi will still be hopping mad when Bad Bunny takes the stage in February – a time when their regulatory employees are reviewing the ESPN-NFL deal.

I’m not saying the administration will ultimately kill the deal, or that the NFL needs to pull the Bad Bunny invitation. But I am saying that the NFL and ESPN will need to do something to make amends.

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