The Walt Disney Company will be broadcasting a National Football League doubleheader on prime time television on Monday night as two games air on ESPN and ABC. The opening matchup, starting at 7:15 p.m. EST/4:15 p.m. PST, features the New Orleans Saints visiting the Carolina Panthers on ESPN and simulcasting on ESPN2. One hour later, the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers face off in their rivalry matchup on ABC where Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Lisa Salters will deliver the call of the action.
Chris Fowler, Dan Orlovsky, Louis Riddick and Laura Rutledge will work the game from Charlotte, N.C. and several other matchups within Monday Night Football’s “Two Games, One Night” venture throughout the season. This is the first such experiment where there will be more than four hours of consistent NFL action across Disney-owned networks under the new 10-year media rights extension, reportedly worth $2.7 billion annually.
When the two games are overlapping on ESPN and ABC, both broadcasts will cross-promote by drawing attention to the other game during select points. There will be a double-box view that will give people the ability to watch both games at once, although it will not be in the user’s control as to when that appears on the screen. Each network will also have a smaller score bug that will display information about the concomitant game in real time.
When the games hit halftime, Monday Night Countdown host Scott Van Pelt will bring viewers traditional information and analysis, in addition to live look-ins of action going on in the other matchup. He will do this for both matchups before presenting a special postgame show on ESPN with Ryan Clark recapping the Saints-Panthers tilt and providing more extended look-ins to Browns-Steelers. There is no word on what would happen if Browns-Steelers was to finish before Saints-Panthers, although such a scenario is highly unlikely unless the first game were to enter into a protracted 10-minute overtime.
Once Browns-Steelers ends, Van Pelt will transition to his edition of SportsCenter where there will be more game recaps and highlights from the two Monday night NFL matchups and other events around different leagues. Rather than broadcasting live from the site of one of these games, Van Pelt will instead be situated in the network’s Bristol, Conn. studios for the show. He usually hosts his iteration of SportsCenter from Washington, D.C. but has plenty of experience operating out of the network’s flagship studios from the past.
Starting all of the action is Monday Night Countdown featuring the new cast of Van Pelt, Clark, Robert Griffin III and Marcus Spears at 5 p.m. EST/2 p.m. PST on ESPN. ABC will broadcast a special half-hour edition of the show beginning at 7:30 p.m. EST/4:30 p.m. PST before that game begins, preceded by local programming. ESPN2 will also air the Monday Night Football postgame show once the ABC matchup concludes.
Monday Night Football’s “Two Games, One Week” endeavor will return in Week 3 with an NFC clash between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers on ABC; and an interconference showdown featuring the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. Week 14 will mark the final occurrence of the doubleheader scenario. It is not yet known how a potential sale of ABC would affect the company’s media rights deals with professional and collegiate sports entities.
