Beginning 2026, the NFL has at least one game scheduled every day of the week, except Tuesdays. After all, more football means more fun, and the league aspires to satisfy its fans. But that wasn’t the only change that stood out. Since the media rights deal between the NFL and ESPN kicked in a few years ago, the fans have had one headache: the Monday Night Football doubleheaders. 

Whether the games were concurrent or back-to-back, the fans were split on which game to watch. With some games starting post 10 pm and many having to wake up early the next day, the viewership eventually reduced. The NFL is America’s favorite pastime, but only if it is not past the time on weekdays, amirite? In the annual NFL meeting last month, the league accepted that the MNF doubleheaders were a mistake. Now, they have put their mistake into words.

“Yes, the Monday night doubleheaders are a thing of the past,” NFL broadcast planner Mike North said on The Schrager Hour. “I don’t know why that didn’t work. Quite honestly, I thought it was fine. I thought it was good for us.

“That Monday night game, if it wasn’t your game on Monday, it would’ve been Sunday at 1, among eight, nine, or ten other games. You probably weren’t going to watch it anyway. Having it on Monday, a national broadcast. It just didn’t work. The fans didn’t appreciate it, and it probably wasn’t a good use of an NFL asset.”

The NFL was trying to experiment with its schedule since the 2021 media rights deal and planned to push most of the MNF doubleheaders to the beginning of the season. When the fans disapproved of it, it still tried to tweak things around.

For instance, in 2025, the NFL moved two Pacific time zone team matchups in Week 2 to a later slot. Meanwhile, the Eastern and Central time zone team games remained in the first slot. Pushing doubleheaders to the beginning of the season also helped. But the fans’ perspective wasn’t wrong either.

Not many can stay up late at night and then go to work early in the morning. It’s not sustainable. The NFL also tried to put less interesting games at the later time slots, but it could only help so much. The viewership ultimately started dying.

Historically, Monday Night Football ratings see a massive boost whenever ABC simulcasts across networks, including the ESPN feed. In 2024, the Week 1 broadcast pulled in 20.5 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, and ESPN2, but viewership plummeted to just over 15 million the next week when ABC wasn’t part of the broadcast. In April, the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Media, Hans Schroeder, acknowledged the format’s loopholes.

“When we did the deal (with Disney) five years ago, we thought adding two games on Monday night would be a great thing for fans,” Schroeder said. “It was more free football that was sort of outside of a Sunday afternoon. I think we collectively struggled and realized that fans felt that they were conflicted to choose between those games.”

Considering that the NFL’s biggest appeal is the primetime slot, the reduced fan appreciation and involvement proved that MNF doubleheaders were not the best strategy for the league. But this doesn’t mean it will just get rid of the fans that easily.

The NFL is already over the MNF doubleheaders

After a decision to get rid of the doubleheaders in April and the schedule release date in mid-May, the league did not have a long time to ponder what to do with the games scheduled to be doubleheaders. But the NFL always has a way. One thing it has successfully experimented with is the holiday games.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Black Friday, name whichever holiday comes to your head in the NFL season period, you already have a plan on how you will watch your favorite team play. The NFL knows it perfectly, too.

It has not hidden the fact that not only does the NFL bring the families together, but it is also part of the extended family at this point.

“When we look at the calendar, and look at other natural nights that could serve our fans and deliver unique-sized audiences, that’s a night that jumps out to us,” Schroeder said in April. “Thanksgiving is about football, family, friends increasingly, and we think we’re a big part of that. You saw that last year with some of the numbers on Thursday, and really throughout the year. Great numbers on Black Friday, too.”

The NFL is exploring unconventional slots – like the season opener on a Wednesday night instead of a Thursday. If there’s any other holiday left, you know the league will be coming out for that, too.

This streamlined approach comes at a perfect time, though. ESPN will broadcast its first-ever Super Bowl at the end of the 2026 season. The network has every reason to make Monday night football a must-watch television again.