The season premiere of Monday Night Football on ESPN featuring the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers drew an average of 20.5 million viewers across multiple networks and distribution platforms, marking the second-most watched Week 1 matchup in the 19 seasons of the company. Viewers were able to watch the game on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes, which also included the concurrent alternate presentation of Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli. Former New England Patriots head coach and general manager Bill Belichick joined the broadcast with Peyton and Eli Manning during the first half of the game, something he will do throughout the year as part of his media work with ESPN and Omaha Productions. The two entities agreed to a nine-year deal earlier in the year that will continue the ManningCast and other original content production.
On the traditional broadcast, play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, analyst Troy Aikman and sideline reporters Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge were on the air live from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The matchup fell short of surpassing last year’s Monday Night Football opener featuring the Jets and Buffalo Bills, during which Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers injured his achilles during the team’s first offensive drive, which averaged 22.7 million viewers.
Factoring in all weeks of the Monday Night Football broadcast property on ESPN, which began during the 2006 season, the Jets-49ers game is the sixth most-watched contest in its history. Four of the preceding five took place during the 2023 season when the property averaged 17.9 million viewers, representative of a 7% year-over-year increase. Leading into the game, the two-hour, on-site edition of Monday Night Countdown featuring Scott Van Pelt, Ryan Clark, Jason Kelce, Marcus Spears and Adam Schefter averaged 1.3 million viewers.
This contest aired amid a carriage dispute between The Walt Disney Company and DirecTV, affecting more than 11 million subscribers. The strife takes place nearly a year after Disney and Charter Communications had a stalemate; however, that plight was resolved shortly before kickoff of Monday Night Football. A similar resolution did not occur this time around, and both companies have released statements in which they provide their points of view. In addition to this predicament, Disney was also unable to launch the Venu Sports joint streaming venture with FOX Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery after FuboTV garnered a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the entities.
