By: Simran Guliani
October 22, 2024
Photo Credit: Sporting News
MNF Doubleheaders: Do They Divide Viewers or Double the Fun?
The National Football League has experimented with doubleheaders for Monday Night Football (MNF), scheduling two games on the same night with staggered start times. The NFL hopes to attract more viewers, while offering fans more football to watch. However, is the NFL’s strategy of overlapping MNF games hurting or helping viewership?
The Concept of MNF Doubleheaders
Historically, MNF has been a traditional primetime event, offering a singular game to close out the NFL week. This slot attracted millions of viewers, cementing MNF as an industry regular in American sports. According to Sporting News, ESPN’s 10-year contract with the NFL (signed in March of 2021) allows for expanded MNF coverage, increasing the number of games from 17 to 23 each season. This expansion includes four doubleheader Monday night games this season, allowing ESPN and ABC to capture viewership across multiple time slots.
Mixed Viewership Results
While the NFL and ESPN hoped doubleheaders would boost overall viewership, the data suggests a different outcome. Start times are no longer 7 pm & 10 pm ET, but are now 7:30 pm & 8:15 pm ET, so viewers can no longer have have the best of both worlds. Moreover, MNF doubleheaders usually feature one more anticipated matchup alongside a less competitive game. According to Front Office Sports, neither MNF game draws as large an audience as it would on its own, so ESPN promotes the total average viewership in the two-hour window when the games start overlapping. The Week 3 Bills-Jaguars game started at 7:30 pm and averaged 6.4 million views, while the Commanders-Bengals game started 45 minutes later and averaged 17.4 million viewers. While the total viewership numbers do look strong on paper, each game is not maximizing its full potential audience.
Fan Reaction and Viewer Experience
Fans have had mixed responses to the MNF doubleheaders. Some love having two games to watch, while others find the overlapping start times frustrating. Traditionally, MNF has been an exclusive event, spotlighting two teams, but now avid football fans have to pick and choose. The NFL has also been putting less exclusive match ups on MNF, diluting the whole experience.
Financial Implications for ESPN and the NFL
ESPN’s motivation to invest in MNF doubleheaders is clear: they aim to maximize the return on their $2.6 billion annual deal with the NFL. The second game helps justify the high cost of broadcasting rights, but advertisers are concerned about the split viewership and divided channels.
Future Considerations
As the public continues to evaluate Monday Night Football doubleheaders, both quantitative viewership metrics and qualitative fan feedback needs to be considered. At this moment, viewership statistics are nuanced and the fan experience is questionable. It remains to be seen whether the NFL will stick with the MNF doubleheaders, adjust start times so fans can watch both games, or revert back to the solo game slot.
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