Total Pro Sports
ESPN has made a massive announcement regarding its ‘Monday Night Football’ coverage heading into the 2025 NFL season.
The network has revealed that it will move away from overlapping doubleheaders as part of its new partnership with the NFL. The change, which will see simultaneous broadcasts across ESPN and ABC, should be a welcome one among fans and is designed to improve the viewer experience.
The overlapping broadcasts started in 2021 under the old media rights deal between the two entities. It saw staggered kickoff times, lower ratings, and did not go down well with fans.
ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro confirmed the change via The Athletic.
“We’re getting out of this side-by-side business and moving those three games over,” he said. “So you’re going from 22 clean windows to now 28 clean windows for NFL games across ESPN networks.”
The new agreement will see ESPN move three ABC-exclusive windows and one ESPN+ exclusive game to the NFL Network, which The Worldwide Leader in Sports is set to buy in a deal worth a reported $2.5 billion.
NFL Network will continue to broadcast seven games every season, with four to come from ESPN’s inventory.
“There are currently three side-by-side games, meaning games on ABC and ESPN. Those three games, once the deal closes, we’ll move over to the NFL Network. Then the game that we have on ESPN+ will move over to the NFL Network. So we’ll maintain seven games within the network,” Pitaro explained.
This all comes as part of ESPN’s plan to consolidate its NFL offerings before the launch of its new direct-to-consumer streaming service. The $29.99 monthly subscription will give fans access to all ESPN linear networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, and ESPN on ABC, along with NFL Network and other sports programming.
ESPN will keep one traditional doubleheader for Week 18, but removing overlapping Monday Night Football fixtures signals a significant change.
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