ESPN Announces Special Week-Long Coverage Plans For Super Bowl 61

Super Bowl LXI will be the first-ever Super Bowl to be broadcast exclusively by ESPN. As the Worldwide Leader in Sports prepares for its bigger broadcast ever, it's making some big moves to prepare.

The Super Bowl is going to be played at SoFi Stadium outside of Los Angeles, so ESPN has decided to set down its tent in one of L.A.'s most iconic destinations for the week leading up to it: Santa Monica Beach and the Santa Monica Pier.

According to Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal, ESPN will have a week-long presence there for the week leading up to the big game. The announcement was confirmed by ESPN shortly after.

"ESPN is bringing @SuperBowl week to SoCal's coastline," ESPN announced. "Ahead of #SBLXI, ESPN will establish a significant presence at Santa Monica Beach & its iconic Pier for live TV, fan activations & much more."

ESPN's Super Bowl

NFL fans and analysts were thrilled by the announcement and are already looking forward to getting to check it out:

"This is gonna look really cool," Ryan Glasspiegel wrote on X. "ESPN is going all out for its SB presentation."

"Moving the ESPN desk to the Santa Monica Pier is a 10/10 move," wrote another.

"SoCal setting for Super Bowl week is a vibe 🌴🔥 Santa Monica beach takeover is going to be massive!" a third wrote.

ABC will also be broadcasting the Super Bowl, marking their first time getting the privilege in 20 years. Over the last two decades the biggest game of the season has been on a rotating three-network schedule between CBS, FOX and NBC.

Also worth noting is that both ABC and ESPN are under the Disney umbrella, and with the massive collection of IPs under their control, there really isn't any limit to how big they can make the spectacle for Super Bowl LXI.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 2:32 PM.