Disney+ has secured the rights to Gary Neville’s The Overlap podcast content in a multimillion-pound deal, pitting the Stick to Football brand against Gary Lineker’s Netflix-backed series in a major streaming platform rivalry.
The media landscape centered on former football players turned broadcasters shifted again as Disney+ entered the sports podcast arena. Under the terms of the agreement, which includes title sponsorship, the streaming service will broadcast 40 episodes of Stick to Football this season featuring the core lineup of Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Ian Wright, and Roy Keane.
In addition to the flagship show, Disney+ secured 50 episodes of a new programme titled Stick to United with Wayne Rooney. The companion series will be co-presented by content creator Mark Goldbridge. Both shows will continue to stream on YouTube, but Disney+ subscribers will gain access to six additional episodes of Stick to Football and select exclusive windows.
Corporate Ownership and the Rise of Fan-Led Media
The partnership highlights the growing commercial power of digital sports media produced by former athletes and independent creators. Neville launched The Overlap alongside former Sky Sports producer Scott Melvin in 2021. The channel expanded rapidly to become one of the UK’s most popular football content destinations, pulling in 38 million monthly views on YouTube this year after achieving 2.2 billion views across all platforms in 2025.
Ownership changes preceded the Disney+ agreement. The multimedia company Global, which owns LBC and podcasts such as The News Agents, acquired a majority stake in The Overlap in January. Global followed that investment in April by purchasing Goldbridge’s YouTube channels, The United Stand and That’s Football, consolidating fan-led commentary under the same corporate umbrella. Goldbridge described the new co-hosted Manchester United show as an historic milestone for fan-led media
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“We’re immensely proud to be partnering with Disney+ It’s a partnership that expands our reach without compromising our identity. What’s exciting is that we’re not changing who we are. Our community will continue to enjoy our content in exactly the way they always have through YouTube, while at the same time Disney+’s incredible global streaming audience will now be able to discover and enjoy it too.”
Gary Neville, via The Guardian
Streaming Titans Battle for Sports Podcast Supremacy
The deal places Disney+ directly in competition with Netflix over athlete-led audio and video content. The investment follows a similar agreement announced last month between Netflix and Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger production company. That pact brought the Rest is Football series—featuring Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards—onto Netflix for a run spanning the World Cup and the domestic season.
The Rest is Football maintained a constant presence in Netflix’s daily top 10 charts throughout its 40-day World Cup run and secured more than 7 million monthly streams last season. Those metrics prompted Lineker to remark that rival programming was languishing miles behind
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Disney+ executives indicated the acquisition fits a broader strategy to diversify unscripted offerings. Sean Doyle, Disney+ EMEA’s vice president of unscripted, noted that adding both shows complements an existing catalog spanning drama, comedy, documentary, reality television, and ESPN programming on the platform.
“As we move into a new era of sports entertainment on Disney+, we’re excited to be bringing one of the UK’s most popular and distinctive sports shows to the platform. What Gary and the team at The Overlap have created with Stick to Football – and now Stick to United with Wayne Rooney – is truly unique. Adding both shows broadens our local original content offering as we continue to expand into new sports formats, complementing our existing catalogue of drama, comedy, documentary, reality and ESPN on Disney+.”
Sean Doyle, Disney+ EMEA’s VP, Unscripted, via Deadline
Broadcast Timelines and Upcoming Releases
Under the financial terms of the arrangement, The Overlap retains its intellectual property rights while Disney+ pays millions to attach its branding and distribute the catalog. Beyond the podcast episodes, Disney+ acquired the rights to a family-oriented documentary about Wayne Rooney titled The Real Rooneys.
Audiences can expect the new programming to roll out immediately. Stick to United with Rooney is scheduled to stream weekly beginning next Tuesday, August 18, while weekly episodes of Stick to Football will launch in the UK and Ireland starting Thursday, August 20.
Worth a look
