As part of a broadcast agreement that boosted Disney’s yearly game count, the NFL has featured multiple simultaneous Monday Night Football games on ABC and ESPN for the past few seasons. However, the NFL’s schedule of hosting double Monday Night Football games has now come to a stop.
“This speaks to another theme of how we’re always talking to our partners,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL Media executive vice president and COO. “One of the things we realized with Disney collectively, when we did the deal five years ago, we thought adding two games on Monday night would be a great thing for fans. It was more free football that was outside of a Sunday afternoon. And I think we collectively struggled and realized fans felt like they were conflicted to choose between those games.”
Now, according to a recent report by Front Office Sports, the NFL and YouTube are in advanced talks for a five-game package. Although a deal between the two has not yet been finalized.
Following ESPN’s acquisition of the NFL Network, the NFL possesses additional inventory available for sale. Under the terms of the agreement, ESPN took over the broadcasting rights for games previously shown on the league’s cable channel, but in return, it gave up its Monday Night Football doubleheader broadcasts.
The price and duration of the YouTube package are yet unknown, nor are the game’s times known. Previously, the NFL Network’s game selection mainly featured international matchups that began at 9:30 a.m. ET. Last year, YouTube aired a primetime week 1 match between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs that took place in Brazil. In 2023, YouTube TV secured the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket package through a seven-year agreement valued at $2 billion.
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