Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football (often abbreviated as MNF) is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that primarily broadcast on Monday nights. ESPN has aired MNF games since 2006, while sister network ABC has simulcast or exclusively aired games since 2020. Debuting in 1970, MNF aired on ABC until it moved exclusively to ESPN in 2006, which remains the main channel for the broadcast. In 2020, MNF returned to ABC in select simulcasts with ESPN, and in 2022, it began featuring select exclusive ABC telecasts. During its initial run on ABC, it became one of the longest continuously running American television series, and one of the highest-rated, particularly among male viewers. Since 1993, MNF has been preceded on ESPN by the pregame show Monday Night Countdown. In addition, ESPN2 has aired alternate telecasts of selected games since 2020 as the Manningcast, while ESPN+ has streamed MNF simulcasts in the United States since 2021. Monday Night Football is broadcast in Canada on TSN and RDS, in most of Australia on ESPN Australia, in Portugal on SportTV 3 and SportTV HD and on TV 2 Sport in Denmark, and in some other regions of the world outside the U.S. on ESPN International. A Spanish-language version airs on ESPN Deportes in the U.S. and on ESPN International in Latin America, while a Portuguese version airs on ESPN Brasil. Per an NFL broadcasting policy intended to allow those who do not subscribe to cable or satellite television to see games televised by a pay television network, the games are also made available on over-the-air television stations in each participating team's local market. In 2011, ESPN extended its MNF contract for an additional eight seasons, giving it rights to the broadcasts until 2021. The deal, valued around 15 billion, also gave ESPN rights to expanded highlights, international, and streaming rights. A new deal signed in 2021 sees ESPN retain these rights through 2033.