• Disney and the NFL staged a joint lovefest at Tuesday’s upfront, reflecting their new ESPN-NFL Network partnership deal
• Monday Night Football’s season opener is set for September 14: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos
• A Week 9 international game will take the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals to Madrid, Spain on November 9
• Super Bowl LXI will air on ABC for the first time in 20 years, with a star-studded analyst roster including Steve Young, Emmett Smith, Nick Foles, and the Manning brothers
• Disney projects a 55% increase in NFL impressions year over year and says it will deliver 40% of all football impressions this season

Disney didn’t just show up to the upfronts Tuesday — it showed up with the NFL on its arm. The two powerhouses were practically inseparable at Disney’s 2026 presentation in New York City, and the chemistry made a lot of sense given what they’ve built together: an earlier-this-year deal that handed ESPN control of NFL Network and other league media assets, while giving the NFL a 10% stake in ESPN itself.

That partnership was all over the stage. ESPN’s Monday Night Football play-by-play voice Joe Buck walked out alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and the moment quickly became one of the event’s most talked-about bits. Buck leaned in and gave Goodell an exaggerated, full-on hug — mimicking the way college prospects embrace the commissioner after hearing their name called at the NFL Draft. “We can all dream,” Buck said. Goodell, clearly in on the joke, smiled and echoed it right back: “We can all dream.”

Schedule Sneak Peeks Ahead of Thursday’s Full Reveal

By arrangement with the league, upfront presenters who hold NFL rights are permitted to release select schedule details before the league’s official full reveal, which is set for Thursday. Disney used that window to drop two notable matchups.

The first Monday Night Football game of the season will kick off September 14 with the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Denver Broncos — a divisional rivalry that always draws. And for Week 9, the NFL goes global: the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals will face off on November 9 in Madrid, Spain, continuing the league’s international expansion push.

A Stage Full of Super Bowl MVPs

The bigger flex of the afternoon was the Super Bowl. ABC will air Super Bowl LXI next February — its first time carrying the game in 20 years — and Disney made clear it intends to treat that like the television event of the decade. The game will also stream on ESPN and other Disney platforms.

To drive the point home, MNF studio analyst Jason Kelce — fresh off his playing career and already a fan favorite in the booth — was told the plan was to assemble the “greatest Super Bowl team ever.” He promptly walked off stage, then returned a minute later leading out a parade of Super Bowl MVPs who will all be part of Disney’s coverage: Steve Young, Emmett Smith, Nick Foles, and several more legends took the stage to a roaring crowd. Eli and Peyton Manning, who are already deeply embedded in the ESPN universe through their ManningCast and other ventures, also appeared to hype the broadcast.

Adding to the sheer scale of the moment: in 2027, ABC will air four of the biggest live events in television — the College Football Championship, the Grammy Awards, the Super Bowl, and the Oscars. Rita Ferro, Disney’s President of Global Advertising, made sure advertisers felt the weight of that. “You have the Grammys one Sunday and the Super Bowl on Valentine’s Day,” she said, letting that combination sink in.

Disney’s Football Footprint Is Getting Massive

Ferro, who was introduced on stage by Paul Anthony Kelly — star of the upcoming Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette — framed Disney’s sports position in stark terms for the room full of advertisers. “With the addition of the NFL Network and the Super Bowl, we expect to see a 55% increase in NFL impressions year over year,” she said. “And when you combine NFL and college football, Disney will deliver 40% of the football impressions this upcoming season. That puts us in a position that no one else can match.”

She also teased what else is coming across Disney’s broader slate — Ryan Murphy has a major announcement in the works, and there’s news coming around Dancing with the Stars as well. New Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange earlier in the day to mark the occasion, set the tone at the top of the event before Ferro took the stage to drive it home.

For now, all eyes turn to Thursday, when the NFL drops its full schedule. But Disney already made sure everyone in that room knows exactly where to watch.

The post Disney and NFL Go All-In Together at 2026 Upfront appeared first on Cream.

• Skip Bayless returned to ESPN’s First Take on May 8, 2026 — his first appearance since leaving for FS1 in 2016
• The reunion was billed as a one-time event, but insiders and observers expect him back regularly
• Bayless and Stephen A. Smith hit their familiar talking points: LeBron James, the Dallas Cowboys, Tim Tebow
• The appearance follows Bayless’s 2024 exit from FS1 and Shannon Sharpe’s own departure from First Take
• The blueprint already exists — Chris “Mad Dog” Russo started as a one-off guest and ended up with a weekly chair

Don’t let anyone tell you this was a one-time thing. Skip Bayless walked back onto the First Take set on May 8 for what ESPN framed as a nostalgic, one-off reunion with Stephen A. Smith — and the moment it was over, the clock started ticking on his next appearance.

The two hadn’t shared a desk in nearly a decade, not since Bayless’s final First Take appearance on June 21, 2016, two days after the Cavaliers beat the Warriors in the NBA Finals. He left for FS1 that fall to launch Skip and Shannon: Undisputed alongside Shannon Sharpe — a move that, by all accounts, did not sit well with Smith at the time. Now, ten years later, they were back in the same room, arguing about LeBron James like it was 2014.

What the Reunion Actually Looked Like

The greatest hits were all there. LeBron’s place in NBA history. The Dallas Cowboys. Tim Tebow. The degrading nicknames. Bayless and Smith settled back into their rhythms quickly, and fans on social media were clearly happy to see it — the nostalgia factor was real and immediate.

But let’s be honest about what Friday’s show actually delivered: a Temu version of their best debates. The chemistry that made First Take essential viewing in the early 2010s was built on years of daily competition, genuine friction, two guys who couldn’t stand to lose an argument because they’d be back at it again the next morning. That edge doesn’t just switch back on for a reunion special. The same dynamic plays out whenever Mike Francesa and Chris Russo get back together — they’re too happy to be in the same room to really go at each other the way they used to.

Pull up any of those original Bayless-Smith clips on YouTube and the 2026 versions simply don’t hit the same way. That’s not a knock on either of them — it’s just the nature of nostalgia television. The first time back is always warmer than it is electric.

Why the Timing Actually Makes Sense

The reunion happening now isn’t random. For most of the last decade, a Bayless return to First Take would have been genuinely complicated. For eight years, he was Smith’s direct competition, running what amounted to a First Take knockoff on FS1 with Sharpe. And when Sharpe himself joined First Take, bringing Bayless in alongside him would have been its own kind of awkward.

Then last summer, ESPN moved on from Sharpe as he dealt with a since-settled sexual assault lawsuit, and suddenly the door was open. Bayless had already left FS1 in 2024 after eight years — he’d signed a four-year extension in 2021 but ultimately walked away. He’s been hosting a weekly podcast, The Skip Bayless Show, and co-hosting a show for Underdog. The two had already reconnected publicly — appearing together on Bayless’s podcast in 2025 and photographed side by side in November of that year. The pieces were in place.

When Bayless first left FS1 in 2024, ESPN had shut down any talk of a return. Clearly, that position evolved.

The Mad Dog Blueprint

Here’s the thing about one-off appearances on First Take: they have a way of becoming something more. Chris Russo’s first cameo was also framed as a one-time deal. He generated enough buzz that he was welcomed back, then welcomed back again, and eventually handed a weekly chair. Smith and Bayless were far too warm and comfortable with each other on Friday for this to genuinely be a handshake-and-goodbye situation.

ESPN and Smith aren’t going to lose sleep over whether you thought the reunion lived up to the hype. They’re going to look at the ratings. They’re going to look at what happened on social media. And by those metrics, Bayless and Smith together — even a slightly defanged version — still move the needle in a way that most sports television simply doesn’t.

The rubbernecking appeal fades fast if they’re together five days a week. But in doses — say, when the NFL season kicks off and Bayless has Cowboys takes to dispense — it works. Smith gets that particular energy he still clearly enjoys when he’s in a real screaming match. Bayless gets the exposure that his podcast and digital ventures can’t quite replicate. And ESPN gets the social media moment machine it’s been chasing since the format peaked.

Everyone in sports media complains that Bayless and Smith spawned a generation of hot-take artists who can’t quite pull it off the way they did. The solution, apparently, is just to bring back the originators. And now that the pleasantries are out of the way and the nostalgia itch has been properly scratched, the next time Bayless shows up, the gloves might actually come off.

There will be a next time. Count on it.

The post Skip Bayless Is Coming Back to First Take — Again appeared first on Cream.