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Gary Neville’s media network, The Overlap, has signed a sponsorship and distribution deal with Disney+, securing a major broadcasting partnership for the 2026–27 football season, according to reports by RTÉ and The Independent. Under the agreement, hit digital series Stick to Football and a newly announced Manchester United program will stream globally on Disney+ while maintaining their traditional YouTube presence.
The multi-platform partnership arrives as digital sports networks aggressively scale their distribution footprint. According to The Independent, the agreement serves as a direct commercial response to Gary Lineker’s rival The Rest Is Football podcast deal with Netflix, which captured top streaming charts during its coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Disney+ Expands Slate With Stick to Football and Wayne Rooney
Disney+ subscribers will gain access to 40 episodes of Stick to Football during the upcoming 2026–27 campaign, according to RTÉ. The flagship series is hosted by Gary Neville alongside Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Ian Wright, and Roy Keane. In addition to the standard run, Disney+ has commissioned extra episodes of the show that will remain exclusive to the streaming platform for a limited window before landing on YouTube.
The network’s content expansion features a brand-new series titled Stick to United with Wayne Rooney. According to RTÉ, the program will broadcast 50 episodes focused entirely on Manchester United, offering exclusive extra content and debate surrounding the club. Record United goalscorer Wayne Rooney will co-host the series alongside digital creator Mark Goldbridge.
Mark Goldbridge and Fan-Led Media Integration
The partnership integrates fan-led football culture directly into mainstream streaming. Mark Goldbridge—whose YouTube channels, United We Stand and That’s Football, were acquired by The Overlap in April—welcomed the agreement as a watershed moment for digital creators. According to The Independent, Goldbridge called the deal a historic milestone for fan-led media.
Wayne Rooney stated in reports from RTÉ that expanding his media work felt like a natural progression after appearing on Stick to Football and The Overlap’s fan debate programming. Alongside his co-hosting duties on Stick to United, Rooney’s family life will also feature on Disney+ in the upcoming reality series The Real Rooneys, featuring his wife Coleen and their four sons.
Gary Neville Outlines Growth Without Compromise
Addressing the strategic direction of the network, Gary Neville emphasized that the partnership with Disney+ scales their audience reach without altering the core identity of their programming. According to RTÉ, Neville noted that the network’s established community will continue enjoying content on YouTube exactly as before, while Disney+’s global audience discovers the shows for the first time.
Representatives for The Overlap stated that the Disney+ agreement reinforces the company’s long-term commercial ambition to establish the leading non-live football media platform worldwide.
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