By the time the Eagles kickoff their home opener at Lincoln Financial Field against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football tonight, a second NFL game will be nearing halftime, reports The Philly Inquirer.
For the first time since taking over Monday Night Football in 2006, ESPN has two games scheduled simultaneously. First up will be the Tennessee Titans at the Buffalo Bills, which will kickoff at 7:15 p.m. Eastern on ESPN called by Steve Levy, Dan Orlovsky, and Louis Riddick, with Laura Rutledge reporting from the sideline.
A little over an hour later, Vikings-Eagles will kickoff at 8:30 p.m. on ABC, called by new Monday Night Football announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who joined ESPN in the offseason after spending 20 years at Fox. Returning for her 11th season on Monday Night Football is reporter and King of Prussia native Lisa Salters.
ESPN and ABC are both owned by Disney and ABC has aired ESPN-branded sports programming for years. ABC will broadcast the Super Bowl in 2027 and 2031 as part of ESPN’s NFL deal, the network’s first since 2006.
This is ESPN’s only scheduled doubleheader this season, but starting next year, the network will have three per season as part of its new deal with the NFL. As a result, ESPN will be experimenting Monday night with an approach that might seem at times more like NFL RedZone, the league’s addictive whip-around subscription show that airs on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
During portions of both broadcasts, ESPN will activate a double-box view which will allow live look-ins of each game, with SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt offering highlights and game updates for both. There will also be a second scorebug of Vikings-Eagles on ESPN and Titans-Bills on ABC to keep fans in the loop.
During halftime of both games, host Suzy Kolber and analyst Booger McFarland will go over highlights and offer live game action look-ins. Once Titans-Bills ends, ESPN will cut to SportsCenter hosted by Van Pelt, who will offer extended looks at the last quarter of Vikings-Eagles.
As far a pregame shows go, Monday Night Countdown will air on ESPN from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. ahead of Titans-Bills, featuring Kolber, McFarland, Hall of Famer Steve Young, and former Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III. On ABC, the crew will return to host a 30-minute version of Monday Night Countdown ahead of Vikings-Eagles from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
That’s a lot of moving parts, which is probably why Peyton and Eli Manning won’t be hosting their popular “Manningcast” alternate feed Monday night on ESPN2. Instead, the network will simulcast ESPN all night, airing Titans-Bills and sticking with Van Pelt for postgame coverage.
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