Both die-hard and casual football fans probably know the familiar jingle that emanates from their televisions around 8:15 pm ET on Monday night. It's something of a sensation online, with countless tweets and comments about how catchy ESPN's "Monday Night Football" song, otherwise known as "Heavy Action," is.
It's so popular, in 2022 ESPN teamed up with Grammy-nominated DJ Marshmello to remix the tune, with the DJ calling the partnership a "dream come true." And at least one groom incidentally featured the song in the middle of his nuptials.
Put simply, "Heavy Action," is synonymous with 2-3 hours of good football.
Monday Night Football Is Evolving
While the rest of the world can be busy and chaotic, football watchers have relied on one constant for years: football is on ESPN on Monday nights. It's something many of us have come to rely on at the end of a long day, no matter how unexciting the matchups are. But that could all be about to change.
In 2021 ESPN announced it reached an agreement to feature more content, including exclusive matchups, more playoffs, multiple Super Bowls, enhanced game quality and new game schedule flexibility. Much of that flexibility will affect "Monday Night Football" games, starting next season (2023-24).
"This landmark agreement guarantees that ESPN’s passionate fan base will continue to have access to the best the NFL has to offer," then-Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Chapek said of the change. "Bringing all the considerable and unique capabilities of The Walt Disney Company and ESPN to the table opens up so many opportunities across our industry-leading direct-to-consumer, broadcast, cable, linear, social and digital outlets. Special thanks to Roger Goodell and the NFL owners for continuing to embrace new ways to appeal to their fans, especially through increasingly important platforms like ESPN+."
Flex scheduling is especially important to ESPN since it will have the capability to swap games based on importance or ratings -- something especially valuable for ESPN as it works to attract further advertising revenue through its viewership.
"First, the schedule will be more flexible than in years past with the ability for the NFL to swap a more meaningful game into the Monday Night Football slot with 12 days’ notice from Week 12 on," the presser reads. "Additionally, top teams will appear more often, as a result of the agreement which provides ESPN the ability to showcase any four teams at least twice, leading to even more compelling games."
NFL Commissioner Goodell Comments on Flex Scheduling
This week in Phoenix at an NFL presser ahead of Super Bowl LVII, Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke to the upcoming flexibility as it relates to EPSN and weekly matchups carried by other networks -- such as Amazon (AMZN), which recently nabbed the rights to "Thursday Night Football. (TNF)"
"Not today," Goodell said when he was asked about flex scheduling coming to TNF. "But it’ll certainly be something that’s on our horizon."
The NFL Network carried TNF for 16 years before it was moved to Amazon for the 2022 season.
Goodell even hinting at the possibility for football to get further schedule flexibility is a big indicator; ESPN should no doubt see a boost when it implements flexing next season and competing networks would be wise to follow.
"It’s a wide-ranging agreement unlike any we’ve reached with the NFL, and we couldn’t be more energized about what the future holds," ESPN and Sports Content Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said.
If viewership goes up as ESPN flexes to more high-interest games, it may be the boost the legacy sports network needs. Disney's Q1 2023 earnings revealed ESPN advertising was down 4% and its deal with the NBA -- another high-interest category -- expires after the 2024-25 season.
