ESPN is planning another Monday Night Football pregame shake-up, according to executives with knowledge of the network’s plans. A year after a complete makeover of the set under the stewardship of Scott Van Pelt, Robert Griffin III’s spot is in jeopardy, while the network is aggressively pursuing retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce for Monday nights. (Matt Rourke/AP)
The broadcast network, which had several NFL matchups on its slate already for the fall, will simulcast the remaining portion of the MNF schedule (10 games’ worth) with ESPN. The move will likely increase Monday Night Football’s overall audience over games that are only on ESPN — the Sept. 11 season opener on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 drew the biggest audience since the franchise’s move to cable — and will also complete what had been a rather fluid ABC schedule for the fall, as it and other networks try to program a full week while writers and actors remain on strike.
The NFL showdown between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills, which was postponed in the first quarter after Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field, was the most-watched Monday Night Football telecast in ESPN history, averaging 23.8 million viewers, according to preliminary ratings. Nielsen said Wednesday that the broadcast had an average of 23,788,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 from approximately 8:30 to 10:09 p.m.
The NFL announced just over an hour after the injury to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin that the game would not resume. When or if the teams would return to the field was not immediately clear. Hamlin collapsed on the field, was administered CPR and then taken to a hospital, where the NFL said Monday night that he was in critical condition. Above, the Buffalo Bills players praying for teammate Damar Hamlin. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Exclusives
NFL ratings are booming in just about every timeslot this season, and Monday Night Football is no exception. It kicked off on September 12 and drew 19.8 million total viewers, its biggest audience since 2009. Now, the Disney franchise is mixing things up with an eye toward opening up even more advertising opportunities. Two games will air at overlapping times tonight on ABC and ESPN, a twist on the back-to-back doubleheaders that aired for more than a decade in Week 1 on ESPN.
Circle City Broadcasting’s CW affiliate WISH Indianapolis will air two NFL Monday Night Football games this season. In the first game, the Indianapolis Colts host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. […]
Following a 20-year run as an announcing team for Fox, Troy Aikman and Joe Buck have signed multiyear agreements to join ESPN as the new voices for Monday Night Football, as well as contribute content to ESPN+. Aikman and Buck will make their regular-season MNF debut on Sept. 12.
Hall of Famer Troy Aikman is expected to leave Fox Sports to become the main analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football, the New York Post is reporting. Aikman’s ESPN deal will be for five years, according to sources, and his yearly salary is expected to approach or exceed the neighborhood of Tony Romo’s $17.5 million per year contract with CBS. The deal is not yet signed, but it is near completion.
ESPN is contemplating a pursuit of legendary play-by-player Al Michaels for Monday Night Football. The potential interest in returning Michaels, 77, to his TV football home — he was the longtime voice of MNF — comes as Michaels is deep into negotiations with Amazon Prime Video about becoming the main voice of its exclusive Thursday Night Football package that begins next fall, according to sources.
An alternate Monday Night Football becomes an instant hit on what was once a dull evening. Any public consensus is a marvel in 2021. Polarized America can barely bring itself to agree on the day of the week. But the Mannings? America in lockstep loves the Mannings, and their newly-coined “Manningcast,” and the numbers bear it out, with ratings rising each week.
After years of trying to secure top sports celebrities to boost its flagship Monday Night Football coverage, the Disney-backed sports outlet said it has enlisted both Peyton and Eli Manning to co-anchor a second broadcast of its signature show, starting this fall. The famous football brothers will lead the new broadcast on ESPN2, and the sports-media giant said it may also place their show on its streaming-video ESPN Plus. The pair will start their duties in the fall of 2021 and continue through the 2023 season, handling a total of 30 games over three seasons.
Each Monday Night Football broadcast this season takes place as the NFL and the TV networks that air its games are holding critical negotiations about rights contracts that, if they aren’t renewed, could determine nothing less than the fate of traditional TV itself. To be sure, networks make tweaks and improvements to regular programs all the time, but this season, any changes to gridiron TV take place under a new and intense spotlight.
The original corporate home of Monday Night Football is poised to return to the NFL business in a very big way. The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC broadcast network is in an increasingly strong position to score its first live NFL game package in 15 years, sources say. ABC broadcast MNF from 1970 to 2005, blazing the NFL’s path into primetime TV. But sister Disney cable network ESPN took over MNF in 2006, absorbing ABC Sports in the process.
ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” will return to a two-man booth when it kicks off its 50th season later this year. The network announced Wednesday that Joe Tessitore will be back […]
It remains unclear whether Manning is interested in pursuing a career as an analyst at this time.
ABC will reportedly be among the networks submitting bids for Thursday Night Football television rights during the 2018 season. ABC could go up against CBS and NBC for the rights which, along with ESPN’s current Monday Night Football deal, would give parent company Disney a substantial stake in NFL distribution.
On Monday night, Beth Mowins will call the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers in the second game of ESPN’s Monday Night Football doubleheader — the first woman in 30 years take the microphone in an NFL game, and the first for a national broadcast.
Todd Juenger, senior media analyst for Bernstein Research, estimates the Walt Disney Co. spends $1.9 billion a year for this content. Dropping it from its schedule could increase operating income by 50% from its current level of $4 billion a year.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Sept. 26 debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is expected to reduce ratings for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Ad buyers are predicting about 10.3 million to 11 million viewers, which would be down 15% to 20% from last year’s average Monday Night Football rating. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.
WCVB To Show Undefeated Patriots On ‘MNF’
WRTV Anchors Take The Field To Promote NFL Game
Audience ratings for ESPN’s Monday Night Football are down 12% so far in a season that’s been dominated by criticism of the National Football League’s handling of domestic abuse allegations against players.
Some highly rated December games, including this week’s Atlanta-San Francisco matchup, has helped ESPN’s Monday Night Football finish its season with the franchise’s best numbers in three years.
‘Monday Night Football’ Tops Cable, B’cast
ESPN’s Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers averaged 15.77 million total viewers, according to Nielsen, a season high and up from 10.96 million for last week’s contest between the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was the most-watched show of the night on broadcast or cable, topping ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, the night’s No. 2 show with 13.8 million. MNF also finished as the night’s top show in 18-49s, drawing a 5.8 rating, nearly two points better than the 3.9 last week’s contest averaged.
BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Hank Williams Jr. will no longer sing the words “Are you ready for some football?” on Monday nights on ESPN. Each side claimed Thursday it had […]
BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — ESPN pulled Hank Williams Jr.’s classic intro song from its broadcast of Monday night’s NFL game after the country singer famous for the line “Are you […]
ESPN is answering critics who publicly accused the media company of wild, indiscriminate spending with its eight-year, $15.2 billion deal to extend its rights to Monday Night Football.
The National Football League and ESPN have agreed to a deal that will keep Monday Night Football on the cable sports network through 2021, extending the current contract by eight years, the two sides said on Thursday.
Don Meredith, NFL star and an original member of ABC’s Monday Night Football broadcast team died Sunday in Santa Fe, N.M., after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
