Disney Advertising and United Airlines will stage a live fantasy football draft from the cabin of a United aircraft next week, using the airline’s Starlink satellite broadband to keep a presenter on air at 35,000 feet.
ESPN host and fantasy expert Tyler Fulghum will make his picks on board while the rest of the panel drafts from ESPN’s broadcast studio in Bristol, Connecticut. For UK business travellers the point is not the American football. It is the proof that a passenger seat can now sustain a two hour live broadcast without dropping out.
How the live draft will work
The 2026 ESPN Fantasy Football Draft is scheduled for 25 August, from 9pm to 11pm Eastern, which falls between 2am and 4am UK time on 26 August. It airs on ESPN and is co-streamed to the NFL on ESPN YouTube channel. Joining Fulghum from Bristol are NFL Insider Field Yates, writer and analyst Mike Clay, and fantasy and betting writer Liz Loza.
ESPN social correspondent Omar Raja will capture behind the scenes footage before, during and after the flight and share it across social channels. Fulghum will also film a new broadcast commercial on board, produced by Disney Advertising, ESPN and United, which will air as part of ESPN’s coverage of the 2026 ESPN Fantasy Football Marathon.
“Sports fans don’t want to miss the moments they care about, especially when they’re traveling. Fantasy Football draft day is a can’t-miss event for millions of fans, and until now, being in the air could mean handing over your picks to auto-draft. Starlink Wi-Fi on United flights is changing that,” said Maggie Schmerin, United’s Chief Advertising Officer. “This live draft with ESPN shows how Starlink on United is opening up a new era of possibilities on board, where moments that matter don’t stop when you take off.”
What United Starlink Wi-Fi means for working in the air
Broadcast-grade uplink from a cabin is a useful benchmark for anyone who has tried to join a client call over legacy air-to-ground wi-fi. If a live two hour feed holds, then video meetings, VPN sessions, cloud file transfers and shared document editing should hold too, which changes what an SME traveller can realistically schedule into a transatlantic sector rather than writing the day off.
United signed an agreement with SpaceX in 2024 to fit Starlink across its mainline and regional fleets, at the time the largest deal of its kind in the industry, and made the service free for MileagePlus members. Starlink is now active on more than 500 United mainline and United Express aircraft, and the airline has already flown its first widebody transatlantic flight with the system fitted.
The practical caveat is that the rollout is not finished. Not every United aircraft carries Starlink yet, so travellers who intend to work in the air should check the aircraft type against United’s Starlink Wi-Fi information before committing to a meeting slot, and join MileagePlus in advance if they want the free access. Membership is free to sign up for and the wi-fi benefit is tied to it.
The wider inflight connectivity race
United is not alone in using a live event to make the point. Virgin Atlantic staged a Sugababes performance at 35,000ft over the same satellite network, and British Airways has committed to free Starlink wi-fi across its fleet.
For corporate travel buyers, that competition is starting to matter at the point of booking. Connectivity has moved from a nice extra to a line item that affects productivity, duty of care and how much of a working day is lost to a long-haul sector. On routes where two carriers are otherwise close on price and schedule, the one with reliable, free, high-speed wi-fi is now the easier justification, and stunts such as this draft are how airlines intend to prove the difference.
