For the first time in the history of the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, the contest will be broadcast live on ESPN and simulcast on ABC. The preseason matchup between the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans will take place on Thursday, Aug. 1 at 8 p.m. EST from Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The Monday Night Football broadcasting team of play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, analyst Troy Aikman and reporter Lisa Salters will call the game to begin the 105th season of the National Football League.
The Hall of Fame Game had previously been broadcast by NBC Sports for the last two seasons, with last year’s contest between the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns airing on the NBC linear television channel and streaming live on Peacock. NBC Sports presented the game every year from 2013 to 2019 with the exception of 2016 since that iteration of the matchup was canceled because of poor field conditions.
ESPN will also broadcast several events from Canton, Ohio throughout the summer, including the NFL Flag Championships from July 19 to July 21 and the Hall of Fame enshrinement on August 3. The regular-season schedule for the National Football League was revealed on Wednesday night, which includes 23 games broadcast on networks owned by The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC). The company is currently in the third year of its media rights deal with the National Football League and is coming off its most-viewed season of Monday Night Football since 2000.
During the regular season, ESPN will commence its NFL live game broadcasts with a Week 1 Monday Night Football matchup between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers. In Week 7, the network will present an NFL game exclusively on ESPN+ between the Los Angeles Chargers and Arizona Cardinals. There are five doubleheaders on its schedule during the regular season along with two playoff games – one in the Wild Card round and one in the divisional round. The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC) will broadcast the Super Bowl following the 2026 and 2030 seasons under the current media rights deal.
