After a successful simulcast in Week 2, ESPN’s Monday Night Football is headed back to ABC twice next month.
As first reported last week by the Buffalo News and Rochester (N.Y.) ABC affiliate WHAM, the December 7 Bills-49ers and December 28 Bills-Patriots Monday Night Football games will be simulcast on both ESPN and ABC. A source confirmed the plan to Sports Media Watch on Friday. ESPN plans to make an official announcement as the games draw nearer.
It was not immediately clear why ABC would simulcast these particular games, both involving Buffalo.
ABC previously simulcast ESPN’s Saints-Raiders game in Week 2, a move made to recognize the 50th anniversary of the first Monday Night Football game in 1970. The game averaged 9.2 rating and 15.59 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks, the highest for MNF this season.
Prior to this year, ABC had not aired any Monday night games since it last held MNF rights in 2005 — though it annually simulcasts ESPN’s Wild Card playoff game, Pro Bowl and NFL Draft.
ABC is widely considered a contender to acquire an NFL broadcast package in the league’s next set of media rights deals. The New York Post reported earlier this month that ESPN/ABC is pursuing NBC’s Sunday Night Football package, with games likely to air on ABC if it wins the rights.
