The ESPN+-Exclusive ‘Monday Night Football’ Game Was a Rating Disaster

This week, for the first time ever, ESPN decided to air a Monday Night Football game exclusively on Disney+.

In what has become an increasingly common schedule, Week 7 of the NFL season called for two Monday Night Football Games. It was the third week that featured a Monday night doubleheader. However, as opposed to airing one game on ESPN and the other on ABC, as in previous weeks, Disney simulcast the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. the Baltimore Ravens on both networks.

The game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Arizona Cardinals, then, was relegated to ESPN+.

Photo: Sporting News

By doing so, Disney could theoretically drive fans to its streaming platform and gauge their interest in an NFL game on ESPN+. As it turns out, however, there isn’t much.

The Experiment Was a Disaster

According to Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk, the game between the Chargers and Cardinals drew an abysmal 1.8 million viewers. That number includes those who watched on traditional television in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

For comparison, the Ravens-Bucs game drew 16 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, and ESPN2.

Photo: ESPN

Based on the disastrous ratings, it is hard to imagine a world in which Disney decides to broadcast an NFL game exclusively on ESPN+ again.

ESPN+ Could Not Deliver

While larger streamers such as Amazon Prime and Peacock have found success with NFL games, ESPN+ does not appear to have the audience to carry the load.

It should also be noted, however, that the game between the Chargers and Cardinals was not exactly a marquee matchup.

Photo: NFL

With ESPN Flagship set to launch next year, the network’s future is clearly in streaming. For now, however, ESPN+ is not a viable distribution method.