ABC will simulcast six more ESPN “Monday Night Football” games, including Monday’s AFC East matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets.
The addition of the six games means ABC will air 17 this season — 14 simulcasts with ESPN (including two playoff games) and three games exclusively on ABC.
The decision to simulcast more games was a joint decision between the NFL and The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN.
The other added games are Baltimore at Tampa Bay (Oct. 21), Tampa Bay at Kansas City (Nov. 4), Houston at Dallas (Nov. 18), Baltimore at Los Angeles Chargers (Nov. 25) and New Orleans at Green Bay (Dec. 23).
The only two Mondays the rest of the regular season when ABC will not have a game are Nov. 11 and Dec. 2.
ABC had games all 18 weeks last season due to an agreement with the NFL since there was no new original fall programming because of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes. With more games on network television, “Monday Night Football” averaged 17.36 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, a 29% increase over 2022.
It was the best audience number for the league’s seminal prime-time package since 2000. Last season’s Super Bowl LVII rematch between Philadelphia and Kansas City averaged 29.03 million.
Coming into the season, ABC had eight scheduled simulcasts, including two Saturday Week 18 games and two playoff games, and three exclusive MNF games when there were doubleheaders.
It also continues Disney’s move toward putting more sports programming back on ABC. Super Bowl LXI from Los Angeles in 2027 will be on the network and the College Football Playoff championship game will also move to ABC the same year.
More games on ABC will also boost the ratings. Kansas City’s 26-13 victory over New Orleans on ESPN averaged 15.91 million, the fourth-most-watched Monday night game not simulcast on ABC. However, the audience was down from the 17.38 million that viewed last season’s Week 5 game between Green Bay and Las Vegas.
The upcoming game not only includes the quarterback matchup between the Jets’ Aaron Rodgers and Bills’ Josh Allen, it is the first for the Jets under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich after Robert Saleh was fired following a 2-3 start to the season.
