Saddled with a substandard schedule and even worse ratings in recent years, ESPN is on record as wanting better out of the NFL this season.
In an appearance at the CAA World Congress of Sports yesterday, ESPN EVP/programming and scheduling Burke Magnus said the network has had “very candid conversations with the NFL, particularly in the last six months,” about the quality of its Monday Night Football schedule.
Entering tonight’s NFL schedule release, Magnus said ESPN has “high expectations because we’ve been as engaged with the league as we ever have been in terms of what the results are going to be. We’ve done everything we can possibly do to communicate with the league and guide them in terms of our preferences, and now we’ll see.”
The network has typically been limited to just one game per season involving the league’s marquee teams, such as the Cowboys and Patriots, and has been frequently saddled with low-wattage games that would not even lead off a 1 PM regional window on FOX or CBS. The network is paying $1.9 billion/year for NFL rights, though MNF does not account for all of the massive fee (more than any other single network pays for any U.S. sports rights).
Last season, ESPN averaged a mere 6.8 rating and 11.4 million viewers for MNF, the lowest rated and second-least watched season in franchise history. It was also the lowest rated NFL season on ESPN since it aired Sunday night games in 2005.
(Tue. quotes from Sports Business Daily 4.20)
