Are you ready for some more football?
The Walt Disney Company will simulcast a higher number of “Monday Night Football” games between ESPN and ABC this year, after earlier saying it would pull back on the number of shared National Football League (NFL) telecasts between the two networks.
Last year, ABC offered nearly all Monday Night Football games due to dual Hollywood labor strikes that ground scripted and unscripted television production to a halt, leaving the network with fewer options outside of sports, news and some shows that were finished prior to the strikes.
This year, around a half-dozen regular season and playoff games were expected to be shared between ESPN and ABC, with the broadcast network getting two or three “double-header” games that were different from the match-ups airing on ESPN.
Now, ABC and ESPN will share no fewer than 14 regular season and playoff games, with the network expanding its simulcasts to include two games this month (October 14, October 21), three games next month (November 4, November 18, November 25) and a Monday Night Football telecast two days before Christmas.
ABC already offered an ESPN simulcast on September 9, and offered the secondary game on September 23 and September 30. Other games that will air on ABC will be played on October 28, December 9, December 16 and December 30.
The expanded simulcasts follow an agreement between Disney and the NFL to bring more live football games to ABC this year. Disney has the rights to Monday Night Football games through 2032, and will host the Super Bowl several times during its telecast agreement with the league.
The increased number of games offered on ABC means football fans won’t need a cable, satellite or streaming cable-like subscription to watch football — they can simply use an over-the-air antenna to watch games aired on their local ABC station or affiliate. Those ABC stations and affiliates will continue to air games in the home markets of the two teams playing each Monday.
