Impact of the NFL ESPN Deal Explained

Ever find yourself flipping between ABC and ESPN on a Monday night, wondering why the same football game is on two different channels? It’s not a mistake. This is the direct result of a massive new NFL ESPN deal that is already changing how millions of fans watch their favorite teams.

To secure these games, ESPN’s parent company, Disney, is paying the league a staggering $2.7 billion per year. Live NFL broadcasts are the most valuable and most-watched events on television, making the exclusive right to show them a prized possession for any network.

This huge investment is now reshaping your viewing habits, pushing some Monday Night Football games exclusively onto streaming apps like ESPN+. This guide breaks down what the deal means for you, making sense of the new landscape of sports streaming rights—no business degree required.

Why the NFL Gets Paid Billions: The Power of Your Eyeballs

That giant price tag—around $2.7 billion a year from ESPN and Disney alone—might seem staggering. But the reason for it is surprisingly simple: the NFL delivers something that has become incredibly rare and valuable in modern entertainment. It delivers a massive, live audience.

In a world where we can stream almost anything on demand and fast-forward through commercials, live NFL games are an exception. Tens of millions of people tune in to watch at the exact same time every week. You can’t skip ahead, which means everyone also sees the ads.

This captive audience is a goldmine for advertisers. Companies will pay a fortune to put their commercials in front of so many potential customers at once. For a network, broadcasting an NFL game is like hosting the Super Bowl every single week—a guaranteed blockbuster that advertisers are desperate to be a part of.

ESPN sees that multi-billion dollar fee not as a cost, but as an investment. They are willing to pay the NFL an enormous sum because they know they can make that money back—and then some—by selling commercial time to companies eager to reach you. It’s a high-stakes deal where the main product being sold is your attention.

What Are “Media Rights”? A Simple Landlord and Tenant Analogy

So how does a network like ESPN actually get to show NFL games in the first place? The answer lies in a concept called “media rights.” A simple way to understand this is to think of the NFL as a landlord that owns the most popular properties in town—the games themselves. These aren’t physical buildings, but they are incredibly valuable assets that people are clamoring to get into every week.

Just like tenants competing for a great apartment, TV networks like ESPN, CBS, and FOX all bid for the opportunity to “rent” these properties. This is why you see different games on different channels; each network signs a separate lease for a specific package of games, whether it’s the Sunday afternoon games, Sunday Night Football, or, in this case, Monday Night Football. The NFL, as the landlord, simply rents out its games to the highest bidders.

This massive new deal is essentially Disney and ESPN signing a very long and very expensive lease. They’ve secured the exclusive rental rights to the Monday Night Football property for the next decade, ensuring that they are the primary home for the NFL’s marquee weekly event.

Your Guide to Watching Monday Night Football Now

Okay, so ESPN has the rights. What does that mean for your TV screen on a Monday night? For the most part, it’s simple: the main Monday Night Football game will be right where you expect it, on the main ESPN channel. This is the traditional broadcast with the standard play-by-play announcers and analysts. If you have cable or a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV, you’re all set for most weeks.

But what about the games you sometimes see on ABC? Several times a year, Disney will simulcast the game—a fancy word for showing the exact same broadcast on both ESPN and ABC at the same time. This is great news for viewers who don’t have cable, as ABC is a broadcast channel you can get for free with a simple TV antenna, bringing these big games to a much wider audience.

Beyond just where you watch, the new deal also gives you different ways to watch. The most popular example is the “Manningcast.” While the main game is on ESPN, you can flip over to ESPN2 to watch an alternate broadcast featuring former quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. They offer a more casual, conversational viewing experience, analyzing plays and interviewing celebrity guests from their living rooms. It’s like watching the game with two football experts.

So on any given Monday, you now have a few choices on your TV:

Traditional Game: On ESPN (and sometimes simulcast on ABC).
Manningcast: On ESPN2.
Spanish-Language Broadcast: On ESPN Deportes.

This setup covers the games on traditional television channels. However, the deal also created a new home for certain games you can’t find on TV at all.

What Is ESPN+ and Why Do I Suddenly Need It for Some Games?

The deal also hinges on ESPN+, the streaming service that’s causing confusion for some sports fans. Think of it like Netflix or Disney+, but for sports. It’s a separate app you download and subscribe to, and it is not the same as having the ESPN channel through your cable provider. You pay a separate monthly or annual fee directly to ESPN for it.

So why would ESPN put a big NFL game here instead of on its main channel? The new media deal allows the network to make certain games “streaming exclusives.” This means the only way to watch is through the ESPN+ app. It’s a strategy to get more people to sign up for the service, using a popular, must-see game as a powerful incentive for fans to subscribe.

For example, each season, one of the NFL’s International Games—played in cities like London or Frankfurt—is now broadcast exclusively on ESPN+ in the United States. If you tried to find that game on your regular TV channels, you were out of luck. The only way to see the game live was to be an ESPN+ subscriber.

Moving a popular NFL game behind a streaming paywall is a major change and a clear signal of where sports broadcasting is headed. But this deal with Disney and ESPN isn’t just about a few regular-season games—it’s also changing where you’ll be watching the biggest game of the year.

More Than Just Mondays: Super Bowls are Coming to ABC

The biggest prize in sports broadcasting is the Super Bowl, and this deal brings it back to a familiar home. For the first time in over two decades, ABC will broadcast the Super Bowl following the 2026 and 2030 seasons. This officially adds ABC and ESPN into the exclusive rotation with FOX, CBS, and NBC, ensuring Disney gets its turn to showcase the single most-watched event in American television.

Beyond that ultimate championship game, the agreement also tackles a common fan complaint about the regular season: being stuck with a boring game. You’ve likely experienced it—a December Monday night matchup between two teams with losing records that was scheduled months in advance and has no meaning. It’s a primetime slot with a dud of a game.

To fix this, the deal introduces “flexible scheduling” for Monday Night Football for the first time. This gives the NFL the power, late in the season, to swap a scheduled poor matchup for a more compelling one with playoff implications. The result for you is simple: a much higher chance of watching a great, meaningful game every Monday night toward the end of the year.

These changes give ESPN and ABC the best of both worlds: the blockbuster appeal of the Super Bowl and the week-to-week ability to make their broadcast better. With games now appearing on ABC, ESPN, and the ESPN+ streaming service, figuring out where to watch can feel like a game in itself.

The Bottom Line: Your Simple NFL Viewing Plan

So what does this mean for you next Monday night? Here’s your simple game plan for finding every NFL game controlled by ESPN and ABC.

Your new cheat sheet:

Main Monday Game: Check ESPN first. If you don’t have cable, see if the game is also being shown on ABC.
Different View: Flip to ESPN2 for the laid-back “Manningcast” and hear Peyton and Eli’s casual take on the action.
Morning/Weird Game?: If a game is scheduled for a strange time (like a Sunday morning), it’s almost certainly an exclusive that requires an ESPN+ streaming subscription.
Better Late-Season Games: Expect more exciting matchups in December and January, as the league can now swap in better games thanks to “flex scheduling.”

This is the long-term impact of the new NFL television contract—a blueprint shaping your viewing habits for the next decade. By knowing where to find games on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN+, you can be confident that you won’t miss a snap.