The Disney+ OTT platform will air American football’s NFL in Sweden after striking a new three-year rights deal ahead of the first full weekend of fixtures in the 2026 season.
The deal will see Swedish Disney+ subscribers gain access to up to seven games a week, including four games per week at Europe-friendly time slots, NFL RedZone, which offers live cut-ins of games, and the flagship season-ending Super Bowl, via Disney-owned ESPN.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The package includes Thursday, Sunday, and Monday Night Football aired live, as well as replays in the morning, with Swedish commentary by two former American football players, Carl-Johan Björk and Philip Minja.
The first game aired as part of the new agreement was yesterday's (September 13) clash between the Houston Texans and the Buffalo Bills, at 7 pm local time.
The deal adds to Disney+'s offering in Sweden after securing a four-year deal to air Spain’s top-tier LaLiga across Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland starting from the 2026-27 season.
Disney+ also holds the rights to the Copa del Rey and DFB-Pokal, Spain and Germany’s domestic cup competitions, respectively.
The OTT service also has rights in the country to European soccer’s UEFA club competitions, including the men’s top-tier Champions League, second-tier Europa League, and third-tier Conference League, as well as the women’s top-tier Champions League.
For the NFL, meanwhile, the new deal comes as the league expands its European broadcast partner slate, having secured a new agreement with YouTube channel CayoTV to air 18 games live during the 2026 season in Spain.
The new rights agreement complements the NFL’s current rights deals in Spain with pay-TV broadcaster Mediaset, which extended its tie-up in May, and streaming platform DAZN, which runs through the 2027-28 season.
Last month, Irish commercial broadcaster Virgin Media renewed and expanded its rights to air at least 22 NFL games per campaign, including 18 regular-season Sunday games, three playoff games, and the flagship Super Bowl, through the 2028 NFL season across its free-to-air channels and Virgin Media Play streaming service.
The new FTA deal stands alongside the league’s existing primary media rights partnership in the country, the long-running broadcast deal with pay-TV heavyweight Sky Sports that was renewed last year.
In France, NFL secured FTA coverage through deals with L'Équipe, the FTA digital and terrestrial channel, and public-service broadcaster France Télévisions (France TV) ahead of the 2026 season.
The two deals came days after BeIN Sports, the international pay-TV heavyweight, renewed and expanded rights to the NFL in France.
Germany’s Sky Sports, meanwhile, will air over 200 NFL games per year for the next three seasons, through an expanded rights deal struck by the league with Sky's owner, RTL Deutschland, covering the entire DACH region – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein.
Earlier this year, another rights tie-up in Germany and the DACH region, with sports subscription service DAZN, was terminated ahead of schedule. That agreement – also unveiled in September 2022 – was due to finish next February, but instead came to an end following the 2025-26 season.
