The Walt Disney Co. may ultimately have to make a hard choice: the NFL or Jimmy Kimmel. In today’s dicey sports media environment, that may not be much of a choice at all. Disney would likely favor its multibillion-dollar NFL relationship over ABC’s late-night host.
That’s the prediction Front Office Sports got from multiple sources after Disney pulled ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air “indefinitely” on Wednesday.
Critics exploded when they perceived that Kimmel used his monologue to accuse Republicans of trying to “score political points” from the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. They were also outraged when Kimmel seemed to link Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s shooting, to President Donald J. Trump’s MAGA movement.
Trump threatened to yank the broadcast licenses of ABC and other networks that criticize him. “All they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that. They’re an arm of the Democrat party,” the president told reporters on Air Force One.
During his visit to the United Kingdom, the president was asked if free speech was under attack. “Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump answered. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person, he had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago. You can call that free speech or not. He was fired for lack of talent.”
At the same time, former and current late-night hosts from Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman to Jay Leno and Jon Stewart have rallied around Kimmel, noting he didn’t take aim at Kirk, founder of the political advocacy group Turning Point USA. The creative community in Hollywood is also warning about the growing censorship they see spreading from the second Trump Administration. In the wake of CBS cancelling Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, the Kimmel saga has ignited further debate about the First Amendment–and the future of late-night TV.
As Conan O’Brien warned on X/Twitter: “The suspension of @jimmykimmel and the promise to silence other Late Night hosts for criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the Right, Left, and Center. It’s wrong and anyone with a conscience knows it’s wrong.”
Put it all together and it’s a major problem for Bob Iger, CEO of ABC and ESPN parent company Disney.
The NFL and ESPN just signed a blockbuster deal for the league to swap the NFL Network, RedZone brand, NFL Fantasy Football, and other media assets for a 10% stake in ESPN worth an estimated $2 billion. But that agreement faces months of regulatory scrutiny from government agencies working with the Trump Administration.
Within sports media circles, there’s also concern Trump will settle old scores with the NFL and ESPN by seeking to block the deal.
Don’t forget NFL owners rejected Trump’s bid to buy the Bills in 2014—sparking his first run for president, according to Stephen A. Smith at this week’s Tuned In event in New York. During the Colin Kaepernick–inspired player protests for racial justice in 2017, Trump called on owners to pull “son of a bitch” players off the field for “disrespecting” the American flag.
During his first administration, Trump also publicly feuded with ESPN after host Jemele Hill called him a “white supremacist” on Twitter. Trump’s spokeswoman at the time called Hill’s comments a “fireable offense.” Like the rest of the sports world, the NFL and ESPN have been walking on eggshells around Trump in his second term.
So far, so good. In February, Trump became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, spending time with commissioner Roger Goodell. The president also warmly supported the league’s decision to hold the NFL Draft in Washington, D.C., in 2027, with Goodell in attendance at an Oval Office celebration.
Still, the opportunity to meddle in the NFL-ESPN deal may prove to be “political catnip” for Trump, warned Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary to President George W. Bush. Especially since the president threatened to withhold approval for a new D.C. football stadium unless the Commanders revert to their previous name.
“Given his interest in the NFL, and his history of using media mergers for leverage, it’s hard to see him not playing around with this,” Fleischer told FOS. “I doubt this will be a straightforward commercial transaction.”
Iger is increasingly being accused of bowing to political intimidation by a saber-rattling Trump administration. Even former Disney boss Michael Eisner took a rare public swing at his successor, posting on X: “Where has all the leadership gone? If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the First Amendment? The ‘suspending indefinitely’ of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the Chairman of the FCC’s aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out-of-control intimidation.”
Disney has a vital long-term relationship with the NFL. The Shield is ESPN’s most important business partner. The network pays the league $2.7 billion a year for the rights to Monday Night Football. That’s more than any other media partner. During their last negotiation, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro won the right for ESPN to enter the lucrative Super Bowl TV rotation after the 2026 and 2030 seasons.That’s been a corporate dream of ESPN since its founding in 1979.
Do Disney and ESPN want to risk their long-term multibillion-dollar relationship with the NFL over Kimmel? Especially when ESPN—after spending years in the NFL doghouse—seems to have finally achieved favored nation status on Park Avenue?
Yes, Kimmel is a vital talent for ABC, leading the network’s late-night franchise for 22 years, and hosting the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. But the comedian told the Los Angeles Times last year he might retire at the end of his current contract, which runs through 2026. If he gets fired or quits, the Mouse House could have a ready-made replacement: Stephen A Smith.
The featured commentator of First Take has told FOS several times about his interest in late-night TV. He’s even substituted for Kimmel on his show, drawing positive reviews from critics. But Smith has also made it clear he would never contemplate such a move unless he was asked by Iger and Pitaro and given the blessing of Kimmel himself. With a new five-year contract paying him an estimated $100 million at ESPN, the addition of a sweet new Monday Night Countdown gig, and a lucrative outside deal with SiriusXM, Smith may be too well-compensated and busy to worry about late-night TV.
“Could it happen eventually? Possibly. But right now I think that’s a long shot,” says one source.
Smith respects and likes Kimmel. During his YouTube show this week, he credited Kimmel and Iger with giving him the chance to guest-host Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2021.
“To hear the news about Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air, I was not happy about it. Not at all. Because I do think he’s a good man. I do think his heart is in the right place. I do think he’s done an incredible service to the ABC and Walt Disney family spanning decades. His work and the level of results, the quality of results he’s produced over that span, speaks for itself,” Smith said. “I certainly hope that ultimately he ends up back on the air, and if he doesn’t end up back on the air, I hope he lives a very long and well and prosperous life.”
At the same time, Smith questioned Kimmel’s decision to address Kirk’s murder—and Trump’s muted reaction—on a comedy show. That “didn’t appear to be the wisest move in the world,” he noted. With late-night TV ratings and advertising revenues plunging in recent years, it might have behooved Kimmel not to poke the bear, added Smith. Especially at a time when Trump and his MAGA allies are seeking to settle family business with their perceived enemies in the media.
“This President seems to be on a mission,” warned Smith.
For now, Disney appears to be trying to thread the needle between dumping Kimmel and mounting a full-throated defense of the comedian’s freedom of speech.
His Disney bosses are trying to “de-escalate” the situation by urging him to “tone down his rhetoric” before putting his show back on the air, according to the New York Post. But a Friday meeting between Kimmel and Disney TV chief Dana Walden ended “without a resolution,” reported Matthew Belloni and Kim Masters of Puck News. The comedian and his bosses appear to be at loggerheads on how to de-escalate a crisis making worldwide headlines. Kimmel would prefer an “on-air clarification,” writes Beloni, but Walden and her team believe that would only “inflame tensions and further jeopardize Disney’s station licenses and other business.”
Kimmel makes an estimated $16 million per year. If Disney dumps him while he’s still under contract, he could file a major lawsuit. The company is also facing a possible revolt by the creative community in Hollywood. But if Disney stands by him, it risks the wrath of the Trump Administration and Republicans. The collateral damage could extend to the NFL if its ESPN deal (which Pitaro told us took years to complete) falls apart. With FCC chief Brendan Carr on the attack, Disney also has to worry about affiliates and advertisers fleeing ABC.
Cooler heads could still prevail. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) predicted Friday that conservatives will regret trying to cancel Kimmel. “That will end up bad for conservatives. There will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House. They will get rid of everything America that’s conservative,” Cruz said on his podcast. “They’ll get rid of every podcast. They’ll get rid of everything. They will silence us. They will use this power and they will use it ruthlessly and that is dangerous.”
In short, it’s the type of no-win corporate crisis only the most skillful negotiators could possibly navigate. But that’s why Disney just named its new Manhattan headquarters after Iger.
