The NFL is trying something different with the Monday Night Football schedule this year.
On one Monday night during the 2022 season, the league will schedule one game on ESPN and one on ABC, according to Sports Business Journal.
The plan is for the two games to kick off about an hour apart, so they will be airing simultaneously for at least half of the game. That’s unusual; the NFL ordinarily doesn’t like to compete against itself in prime time.
But ESPN and ABC are both owned by Disney, and the network and the league have apparently decided it’s worth trying and seeing how fans like it. It is unknown when this Monday night doubleheader will take place, but it is expected to be within the first four weeks of the season.
The 2022 season is the final year of the current Monday Night Football contract. With the next contract, which begins in 2023, ABC will air three Monday Night Football games per year, and the rest will air exclusively on ESPN.
