This article is about broadcasts of National Football League games currently being broadcast on ESPN. For games broadcasted on sister network ABC, see
NFL on ABC
. For games broadcasted prior to 2006, see
ESPN Sunday Night Football
. For games broadcasted after 2006, see
Monday Night Football
.
American TV series or program
The
NFL on ESPN
is the branding used for broadcasts of
National Football League
(NFL) coverage on the networks of
ESPN
. NFL coverage first aired on the network in
1980
, when ESPN broadcast the
1980 NFL draft
. ESPN did not air live NFL games until
1987
, when it acquired the rights to
Sunday Night Football
.
In
2006
, ESPN lost the rights to
Sunday Night Football
and began airing
Monday Night Football
instead.
Former
NFL Commissioner
Paul Tagliabue
credits ESPN with raising the "profile" of the league, by turning "a potential six- or seven-hour television experience into a twelve-hour television experience," factoring in both
Sunday Night Football
and the network's pregame show
Sunday NFL Countdown
and still is to this day.
Under its current broadcasting deals lasting through 2033, ESPN/ABC airs live coverage of
Monday Night Football,
one exclusive game on
ESPN+
, the
Pro Bowl games
, the
NFL Draft
, one Wild Card round playoff game, one Divisional round playoff game, and the
Super Bowl
in 2027 and 2031. Studio programming includes
Monday Night Countdown
,
Sunday NFL Countdown
,
NFL Live
,
NFL Primetime
,
NFL Matchup
,
Monday Blitz
, and
Fantasy Football Now
.
[1]
Overview
[
edit
]
In 1979, several months after the founding of ESPN, then
ESPN President
Chet Simmons
asked the NFL if ESPN could air the
NFL Draft
. NFL commissioner
Pete Rozelle
, despite questions about viewership potential, granted ESPN the rights.
[2]
The first draft ESPN aired was in
1980
.
Bob Ley
hosted the initial coverage from
Bristol, Connecticut
.
Howard Balzer
,
Upton Bell
and
Vince Papale
joined Ley as studio analysts while
Joe Thomas
and four reporters were on site at the NFL Draft in
New York City
. Despite ESPN only reaching 4 million homes at the time, the NFL considered the initial NFL Draft broadcast a success and ESPN has aired the NFL Draft every year since.
[3]
In
1988
, the NFL moved the draft from weekdays to the weekend and ESPN's ratings of the coverage improved dramatically.
[4]
As part of its new television package in 1987, the NFL granted ESPN the rights to air a series of Sunday night games, which were to air over the second half of the regular season. The NFL thus became the last major North American professional sports league to begin airing its games on
cable television
.
[5]
However, the games were typically
simulcast
on regular
over-the-air
television stations in each participating team's local market, so that households without cable television could still see the telecasts of their local team. While
ABC
had been airing occasional Sunday night NFL games (usually one per season) under its
Monday Night Football
banner since
1978
, the concept of playing a regular series of Sunday night professional football games on ESPN was originally a concept designed for the
United States Football League
(USFL). As part of the abortive
1986 USFL season
,
ESPN
was to carry a weekly Sunday night game throughout the fall season.
[6]
As part of the league's television contract renewal with ABC in 1989, ABC was awarded the television rights to
Super Bowl XXV
and
Super Bowl XXIX
, and the first round of NFL playoffs. The
Monday Night Football
announcing team anchored the telecasts, except for the first of two Wild Card Playoff games, in which
ESPN's Sunday Night
NFL crew of
Mike Patrick
and
Joe Theismann
presided over that telecast. However, the original crew for one of the two Wild Card Playoff games from
1990
to
1995
consisted of
Brent Musburger
and
Dick Vermeil
(both of whom did
college football broadcasts for ABC
during those two seasons).
Following
The Walt Disney Company
's purchase of both ESPN and ABC, the two network's sports departments merged in 1997. Beginning with the
1997 season
, the
ESPN Sunday Night Football
crew called the first
Monday Night Football
game of the season on ABC, with the
ABC Monday Night Football
crew calling the second game. ESPN provided wraparound studio programming, with part of the pre and postgame airing on ABC, and ESPN's
Ron Jaworski
often appeared from the studio for extra analysis during the first game. This arrangement lasted from 1997 through
2005
, except for
2002
when ESPN/ABC's college football crew did the early game. Super Bowls on ABC in this period were treated as ESPN events.
In
2003
, ABC and the NFL dropped the
Monday Night Football
game for the final week of the regular season. The move, which had been in effect for the first eight years of the broadcast (
1970
?
1977
), was the result of declining ratings, as well as problems involved for potential playoff teams, as there was a potential of only four days rest between their final regular season game and first-round playoff game. ABC replaced the telecast with an opening weekend Thursday night game, and in exchange ESPN got a Saturday night game on the final weekend.
After the
2005 season
, ESPN ended this package in favor of picking up the broadcast rights to
Monday Night Football
from ABC.
NBC
picked up the rights to ESPN's Sunday night games. To replace
Sunday Night Football
ESPN moved its late-season
Sunday Night Baseball
broadcasts back to the network and replaced most of the rest of the open weeks with
NBA
telecasts.
As part of their 2011 rights agreement, ESPN was given the exclusive rights to the Pro Bowl from
2015
through 2022.
[7]
Since
2018
, the game has been simulcast on ABC.
On April 22, 2014, the NFL announced that it had exercised an option in ESPN's recent contract extension for
Monday Night Football
rights to air a first-round Wild Card
playoff
game on the channel after the conclusion of the
2014 season
. This was the first time that an NFL playoff game was ever broadcast exclusively on cable television in the United States, in lieu of any of the league's broadcast network partners.
[7]
[8]
[9]
The
MNF
broadcast team of
Mike Tirico
,
Jon Gruden
and sideline reporter
Lisa Salters
called the game, the first of the
2014?15 NFL playoffs
. The NFC South Champion
Carolina Panthers
defeated the
Arizona Cardinals
27?16.
[7]
[8]
As with all
MNF
games, the matchup was simulcast on local affiliates
WJZY
(a Fox affiliate) in Charlotte and
KASW
(a CW affiliate) in Phoenix. This was because of the NFL's rule that requires local affiliates to allow viewers over-the-air access to the game. However, the cable-only playoff game experiment would only last one season, as on May 11, 2015, it was announced that ABC would simulcast ESPN's Wild Card playoff game for the
2015 season
.
[10]
This was the first NFL game broadcast nationally on ABC since
MNF
left the network at the end of the 2005 season. The game, announced by the broadcast team of Tirico, Gruden and Salters, was the first of the
2015?16 NFL playoffs
. The
Kansas City Chiefs
defeated the
Houston Texans
30?0. The ESPN/ABC simulcast has continued ever since.
[11]
[12]
Since
2018
,
ABC
has simulcast ESPN's coverage of the final day of the
NFL Draft
. Beginning in
2019
and every year since, ABC has aired a
College GameDay
branded version of the Draft on the first two days, separate from ESPN's coverage.
[13]
On March 18, 2021, the NFL announced that ESPN had renewed its rights to
Monday Night Football
. Under the new deal, ESPN will gain a Saturday doubleheader on the final weekend of the season beginning in 2021 (which will be simulcast by ABC), As a result of this change ESPN will no longer air an NFL Doubleheader on NFL Kickoff Weekend. And beginning in
2023
, it will gain four additional regular season games (with three airing on ABC as Monday doubleheaders, and one Sunday morning
NFL International Series
game exclusive to ESPN+),
flex scheduling
beginning in Week 12, the ability to feature up to four teams twice per-season, as well as produce many alternate broadcast feeds of select games, under their Megacast series. All
MNF
games will stream on ESPN+, and ESPN will also gain rights to a divisional playoff game, and two future Super Bowls for them and ABC.
[1]
[14]
In January 2024 it was reported that the league were in advanced stages of discussion with
The Walt Disney Company
to acquire a stake of ESPN in exchange for NFL media (which includes
NFL Network
and
NFL RedZone
) coming under control of The Walt Disney Company. If enacted the acquisition will have to approved by a majority of NFL owners to be enforced.
[15]
Results
[
edit
]
Current
[
edit
]
Play-by-play
[
edit
]
- Joe Buck
? lead play-by-play (2022?present)
- Chris Fowler
? #2 play-by-play (2021, 2023?present)
- Troy Aikman
? lead color commentator (2022?present)
- Louis Riddick
? co-#2 color commentator (2022?present); co-lead color commentator (2020?2021)
- Dan Orlovsky
? co-#2 color commentator (2022?present)
Sideline reporters
[
edit
]
- Lisa Salters
- lead sideline reporter (2015?present)
- Laura Rutledge
- fill-in sideline reporter (2020?present); #2 sideline reporter (2021?present)
Rules analyst
[
edit
]
- John Parry
? rules analyst (2019?2023)
Studio hosts
[
edit
]
- Scott Van Pelt
- Monday studio host (2023-present)
- Sam Ponder
? Sunday studio host (2020?present)
Studio analysts
[
edit
]
- Randy Moss
? Sunday studio analyst (2016?present)
- Rex Ryan
? Sunday studio analyst (2017?present)
- Tedy Bruschi
? Sunday studio analyst (2019?present)
- Alex Smith
- Monday rotating studio analyst (2021-present); Sunday studio analyst (2023-present)
- Robert Griffin III
? Monday studio analyst (2022?2023)
- Larry Fitzgerald
- Monday rotating studio analyst (2022-present)
- Marcus Spears
- Monday studio analyst (2023-present)
- Ryan Clark
- Monday studio analyst (2023-present)
Insiders
[
edit
]
- Adam Schefter
? lead insider (2015?present)
Contributors
[
edit
]
- Chris Berman
? contributor (2017?present)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"NFL announces TV deals with ESPN/ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Amazon"
.
ESPN.com
. ESPN Internet Ventures, LLC. March 18, 2021
. Retrieved
December 14,
2021
.
- ^
Vasilogambros, Matt (April 28, 2016).
"The Roots of NFL Draft Obsession"
.
The Atlantic
. Retrieved
September 8,
2023
.
- ^
Ellenport, Craig (April 22, 2020).
"A Bold New Network, a Preposterous Idea: How the NFL Draft Came to TV"
.
Sports Illustrated
. Retrieved
September 8,
2023
.
- ^
Sandomir, Richard (April 22, 1991).
"TV SPORTS; ESPN Show Was a Draftnik's Nirvana"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
October 28,
2011
.
- ^
Pierson, Don (March 16, 1987).
"Nfl Finally Opens The Door To Cable"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
January 10,
2016
.
- ^
ESPN, minus USFL, has 66 hours to fill
.
Associated Press
via St. Petersburg Times (August 5, 1986). Retrieved January 23, 2016.
- ^
a
b
c
"ESPN to air 1st NFL playoff game in 2015"
.
ESPN
. April 22, 2014
. Retrieved
April 22,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
Chase, Chris (April 22, 2014).
"ESPN to broadcast first ever NFL playoff game in 2015"
.
USA Today
. Retrieved
April 22,
2014
.
- ^
Pro Bowl#Television
- ^
Coelho, Ana Livia (May 11, 2015).
"NFL Wild Card Playoff Game Will Return to ESPN ? and Be Simulcast for the First Time on ABC"
(Press release). ESPN MediaZone
. Retrieved
August 24,
2015
.
- ^
Stoneberg, Allie (May 17, 2016).
"NFL Wild Card Playoff Game Will Return to ESPN and ABC"
. ESPN Media Zone
. Retrieved
August 8,
2016
.
- ^
Fang, Ken (May 17, 2016).
"ESPN TO AGAIN SIMULCAST ITS NFL WILD CARD PLAYOFF GAME ON ABC"
. Awful Announcing
. Retrieved
May 17,
2016
.
- ^
"NFL expanding television coverage for 2018 NFL Draft"
.
nfl.com
. March 21, 2018
. Retrieved
December 14,
2021
.
- ^
"NFL completes network/Amazon rights deals through 2033, bringing in $10 billion per year along the way"
.
Awful Announcing
. 2021-03-18
. Retrieved
2021-03-18
.
- ^
Steinberg, Brian (2024-01-14).
"Disney, NFL in Talks That Could Give League ESPN Stake, Put NFL Media Under Disney"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
2024-01-16
.
External links
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]
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