The proposed agreement between the NFL and Disney is subject to federal approval.
At least one NFL owner feared that choosing Bad Bunny to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show could jeopardize a pending deal in which the league is set to acquire an equity stake in ESPN.
On Friday, an ESPN article examined the controversial decision to book a musical act openly hostile to President Donald Trump.
“Within the NFL, at least one owner met the decision to book Bad Bunny with skepticism, particularly given the league’s pending agreement to sell NFL Network and other assets to ESPN in exchange for a 10 percent stake in the media company,” reported Kalyn Kahler.
For background, the proposed agreement between the NFL and Disney is subject to federal approval.
“Shortly after the Bad Bunny announcement, an NFL owner told Roger Goodell that he feared the decision could threaten the government’s antitrust approval of the pending deal,” a source with firsthand knowledge of the discussion told ESPN.
Bad Bunny performs onstage at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
During an October league meeting in midtown Manhattan, Goodell acknowledged backlash from Trump and his supporters but said the league had no intention of changing the halftime performer.
“I told Roger he should’ve thought through that better,” the owner said, according to the source who spoke to ESPN.
The article states that Goodell and the league are intrigued by Bad Bunny because of his global popularity. Three club executives told ESPN they believe Bad Bunny helps advance the league’s “goal of expanding internationally.”
Bad Bunny is a polarizing choice in a politically divisive climate. Last September, he omitted the United States from his “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” world tour in protest of ICE. That said, Trump and the federal government are not going to block the NFL-Disney deal in retaliation.
Multiple industry sources tell OutKick the deal is close to closing and could become official soon. The agreement would result in a tighter relationship between the NFL and ESPN, with ESPN taking operational control of NFL Network.
The league also sent a clear message that it had no such concerns last week by announcing Green Day as the Super Bowl LX opening ceremony performer at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The band is even more explicit in its opposition to Trump than Bad Bunny.
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day holds a Donald Trump mask while performing onstage. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)
Last Saturday, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong altered lyrics during performances of “American Idiot” and “Holiday” to target Trump in support of anti-ICE protesters.
Armstrong changed the line in “American Idiot” from “I’m not part of the redneck agenda” to “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.” During “Holiday,” he replaced “The representative from California has the floor” with “Ladies and gentlemen, Stephen Miller now has the floor.”
On stage, Armstrong said the song was “anti-fascist” and originally written to criticize former President George W. Bush’s administration and the war in Iraq.
That is who the NFL chose.
And while the performances won’t cost the NFL a stake in ESPN, the decisions to book Bad Bunny and Green Day remain unnecessarily risky for the league.
It was not until last February that the league regained the support among Republican viewers that it lost during the Colin Kaepernick kneeling controversy in 2016 and 2017. Promoting Bad Bunny and Green Day risks alienating the exact fans who just returned after a decade-long absence. For what it’s worth, Trump voters represent a significant portion of its audience.
As argued last week, the NFL would be better served selecting musical acts who, well, stick to music.
Read the full article here
