{"id":8372,"date":"2026-07-17T06:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8372"},"modified":"2026-07-17T06:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:42:22","slug":"disney-nfl-champion-apparel-line-launches-with-darth-vader-tom-brady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8372","title":{"rendered":"Disney NFL Champion Apparel Line Launches with Darth Vader, Tom Brady"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe Walt <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/disney-2\/\" id=\"auto-tag_disney-2_1\" data-tag=\"disney-2\">Disney<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tOn Thursday afternoon, in New York\u2019s 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\u2019s characters with all 32 NFL teams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThat\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tVader was the first pick in the \u201cDisney Fan Draft,\u201d held on the floor of the convention, which served as a launchpad for the \u201cDisney | Champion NFL Collection,\u201d which pairs Disney characters with an NFL team.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:3000px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((2250\/3000)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DarthDisneyFanatics-1.jpg?w=3000\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"\" height=\"2250\" width=\"3000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"a-font-secondary-s lrv-u-margin-r-025\">Darth Vader, Fernando Mendoza, Tom Brady and Roger Goodell at the Disney Fan Draft at Fanatics Fest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"a-font-accent-uppercase-xs lrv-u-color-grey-dark\">Alex Weprin<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe apparel line launched at the Fest with eight teams (and characters), with all 32 launching in August.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn addition to Vader and the Raiders, the collection includes the Buffalo Bills and Beast from <em>Beauty and the Beast<\/em>; the Dallas Cowboys and Toy Story\u2019s Woody; the New England Patriots and Marvel\u2019s Captain America; the New York Giants and Wreck-It Ralph; the New York Jets and<em> Toy Story\u2019s<\/em> Buzz Lightyear; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Captain Hook; and the Washington Commanders and <em>Toy Story\u2019s<\/em> Hamm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThe Disney | Champion NFL Collection reflects our continued commitment to creating consumer products and experiences that sit at the intersection of culture, fandom,\u00a0and storytelling,\u201d Paul Gitter, executive VP global brand commercialization for Disney Consumer Products, tells <em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. \u201cAs we build toward ESPN\u2019s \u2018Year of the Super Bowl,\u2019 we\u2019re expanding how fans engage with Disney across <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/sports\/\" id=\"auto-tag_sports_1\" data-tag=\"sports\">sports<\/a> through moments that drive relevance, connection and long-term brand affinity.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAccording 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cWe did the draft based on the team first: What\u2019s the team\u2019s personality? What are their colors? What\u2019s their team name? What are their fans like? What\u2019s their city like? What are their \u2018like \u2018if you know you know\u2019 moments? So I took that all into consideration with my team, and we essentially drafted all 32 of the teams together,\u201d Healey says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnd while many of the characters are Disney \u201call-stars,\u201d so to speak, he says that they were deliberate in their choices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cWhichever character worked best for that team, that\u2019s the story we were going to tell, even if they are a tertiary character,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tConsumer products are one of the core parts of Disney\u2019s corporate flywheel. The business generated revenue of $974 million in the company\u2019s latest quarterly report, with operating income of $479 million, enormous margins that reflect Disney\u2019s heavy focus on licensing through partners like Champion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tWith its latest effort, the company is banking that it can bring some NFL fans along for the ride too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u2019s Jacob Javits Center, the world of Disney collided with the world of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DSC00863.jpeg?crop=0px%2C50px%2C2304px%2C1289px&resize=1440%2C810","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}