The Walt Disney Co. is protective of its iconic characters and intellectual property. The National Football League is too. The league wants its teams showcased in the best light, and Disney wants its characters to shine.
On Thursday afternoon, in New York’s Jacob Javits Center, the world of Disney collided with the world of the NFL, all in service of an unusual new consumer product line, one that mixes some of Disney’s characters with all 32 NFL teams.
That’s how Darth Vader, flanked by a pair of Storm Troopers, found himself on stage at Fanatics Fest alongside NFL legend and Las Vegas Raiders owner Tom Brady, Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, with Marvel chairman Kevin Feige looking on from the audience.
Vader was the first pick in the “Disney Fan Draft,” held on the floor of the convention, which served as a launchpad for the “Disney | Champion NFL Collection,” which pairs Disney characters with an NFL team.
Darth Vader, Fernando Mendoza, Tom Brady and Roger Goodell at the Disney Fan Draft at Fanatics Fest.
Alex Weprin
The apparel line launched at the Fest with eight teams (and characters), with all 32 launching in August.
In addition to Vader and the Raiders, the collection includes the Buffalo Bills and Beast from Beauty and the Beast; the Dallas Cowboys and Toy Story’s Woody; the New England Patriots and Marvel’s Captain America; the New York Giants and Wreck-It Ralph; the New York Jets and Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Captain Hook; and the Washington Commanders and Toy Story’s Hamm.
“The Disney | Champion NFL Collection reflects our continued commitment to creating consumer products and experiences that sit at the intersection of culture, fandom, and storytelling,” Paul Gitter, executive VP global brand commercialization for Disney Consumer Products, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “As we build toward ESPN’s ‘Year of the Super Bowl,’ we’re expanding how fans engage with Disney across sports through moments that drive relevance, connection and long-term brand affinity.”
According to Bret Healey, director of graphic design at Disney Consumer Products, the Disney products team really did draft the characters for each team. While what happened on stage at Fanatics Fest was in service of the show, the Disney team put a lot of thought into each pairing.
“We did the draft based on the team first: What’s the team’s personality? What are their colors? What’s their team name? What are their fans like? What’s their city like? What are their ‘like ‘if you know you know’ moments? So I took that all into consideration with my team, and we essentially drafted all 32 of the teams together,” Healey says.
And while many of the characters are Disney “all-stars,” so to speak, he says that they were deliberate in their choices.
“Whichever character worked best for that team, that’s the story we were going to tell, even if they are a tertiary character,” he says.
Consumer products are one of the core parts of Disney’s corporate flywheel. The business generated revenue of $974 million in the company’s latest quarterly report, with operating income of $479 million, enormous margins that reflect Disney’s heavy focus on licensing through partners like Champion.
With its latest effort, the company is banking that it can bring some NFL fans along for the ride too.
