Disney Headlines for August 29th, 2025
This week: a not-so-new Disney theme park trend goes viral.
Also, Disney blows its entire marketing budget for the year on one new app and some baseball.
Cinderella Castle
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover in Disney Headlines. So, let’s get started!
Do You Have One?
Brooks Barnes has been covering the Disney beat at The New York Times for a long time now.
That’s why I’m a bit amused that Barnes finally got around to a trend that’s been happening for a while.
Picture: Disney Parks Blog
Barnes wrote an article about the Shoulder Plush craze that has swept across the land.
Anyone who has visited the parks over the past few years remembers the moment when they first noticed.
Stitch shoulder plush
All of us have been walking through the parks and suddenly thought, “Huh, is that Groot?”
We’re not at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind when we say it, either.
Photo: Disney
No, we’re just strolling the parks when we notice someone wearing a tiny Groot on their shoulder.
A few years ago, Disney started selling Shoulder Pushes, and each one caused love at first sight for Disney fans.
Zazu Magnetic Shoulder Plush
The instant we see one, we know we’re going to buy one. After all, who wouldn’t want a park friend?
You just buy a Shoulder Plus, stick it on your shoulder, and then it makes you smile all day!
Image: Disney Store
The Disney Store sells a lot of them, and my wife owns enough that you can accessorize at the parks.
Whenever she wants to go matchy-matchy with her outfit, she’ll add a Shoulder Plush of the appropriate color.
Kronk Shoulder Plush
Mostly, she just picks Stitch, though. We all have our favorites. I’m partial to Anger from Inside Out.
Barnes notes that many of us have our favorites, as the Shoulder Plush seems to appeal to Disney adults the most.
Inside Out 2 Shoulder Plushes in Disney Ever After – Anger
We like having a semi-subtle way to show off our fandom. Plus, Disney did something smart with the design.
The plushes have magnets. So, they won’t go anywhere. They’ll ride your shoulder the entire park visit.
ESPN and MLB Do…Something
We’re still awaiting the specifics at the time I write this on Sunday evening, but we know a deal is coming.
A few months ago, ESPN dumped Major League Baseball as publicly as possible.
MLB
Then, in a very scorned teen move, MLB’s Commissioner, Rob Manfred, pulled a Taylor Swift.
He swore, “We are never ever getting back together again.” In a predictable turn of events, they got back together.
MLB
Manfred happily besmirched the good name of Taylor Swift in exchange for a reported $550 million.
That’s a fascinating number, as it’s how much the Wall Street Journal has indicated ESPN will pay MLB.
Photo: Wikipedia
Not that long ago, when ESPN dumped MLB, it canceled an annual contract for *checks notes — $550 million.
That was a LOT of hot air and angry diatribes just to get back where we started. Such is sports licensing.
Photo: Major League Baseball
The whole thing is fascinating in that ESPN even made a “Welcome to Dumpville” post.
Here’s a quote from it: “The sides agreed to a seven-year deal in 2021 that averaged $550 million per season.”
Baseball Pool – All-Star Sports
So, that agreement should have lasted for another few years. ESPN had an opt-out, though.
The company exercised that clause because ESPN and Disney weren’t getting what they wanted in the deal.
MLB
MLB had sold smaller slices of broadcast rights to Roku and Apple TV+, which annoyed the Worldwide Leader.
Frustrated, ESPN took its ball and went home…but the parties needed one another.
MLB
MLB needs Disney’s money, which it quickly reclaimed. Meanwhile, ESPN needs content.
A lot is riding on the new ESPN app, and we could tell from the advertising spend this past week.
Subscribe to ESPN!
I’m a night owl and self-described vampire. So, I watched with amusement and bemusement the other night.
When the clock struck midnight on August 21st, Disney’s marketing machine turned aggro.
Photo: ESPN
Suddenly, no matter which major site I visited or app I used, an ESPN ad appeared.
I legitimately may have seen 100 ads for the new app during its first day in existence.
ESPN
That’s not even an exaggeration. ESPN commercials were everyone, which spoke to a truth.
Disney desperately needs this to work, as the conventional linear/cable television model has collapsed.
ESPN
ESPN’s subscriber base topped 100 million in 2011. The 2025 estimate suggests 61 million subscribers.
That’s…not great. Somehow, it’s not even the worst part, though. The 2020s decline has Disney terrified.
ESPN
From 2011-2019, ESPN lost 16 million subscribers. From 2020 through now, the cable channel is down 23 million.
That rate of regression keeps accountants up at night. Disney CEO Bob Iger knows what this means, too.
ESPN
Iger came up through the live sports broadcast industry, working under the legendary Roone Arledge.
Under Iger’s leadership, Disney has built its entire marketing model around widely viewed sporting events.
Photo: Disney
People watch SEC football and NBA playoffs and Caitlin Clark basketball games.
Most importantly, a shocking number of Americans consume any and all NFL games.
Photo: ESPN
By running ads during all these events, Disney sells its movies and television shows, which then juice merchandising sales.
This finely oiled machine hasn’t proven as effective in the 2020s, and the decline of ESPN is an unheralded reason why.
Photo: ESPN
That’s the reason why Disney will push the ESPN app tirelessly for the next few years.
Should this project fail, Disney would suffer mightily.
Photo: Disney
So, you can expect an exhaustive amount of ESPN app marketing until Disney has secured the product’s future.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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