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On paper, the “Monday Night Football” matchup of the woeful New York Giants hosting the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 11 seems ripe for “flexing” to a more rating-friendly matchup.
But NFL media partner ESPN and sister Walt Disney Co. network ABC are likely stuck with an unattractive Week 14 game due to the vagaries of the league schedule, said sources.
Ultimately, flex calls are made by the league. Unfortunately, the New York Jets are scheduled to play the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, the day before, with TV coverage on CBS Sports.
It will also be difficult for the NFL to take Giants vs. Packers off the ABC broadcast network because ESPN/ABC will be offering the last of their three prime-time doubleheaders this season.
While ABC is scheduled to air the currently 2-7 Giants against the 3-5 Packers on Dec. 11, ESPN is set to simultaneously broadcast the Miami Dolphins vs. Tennessee Titans starting at 8:15 pm ET.
The 3-5 Titans are in last place in the AFC South. But the 6-3 Dolphins are among the league’s highest-scoring and most exciting teams. The league and ESPN might not want to mess around with their final Monday Night doubleheader of the season.
The crosstown Giants and Jets have shared a $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium since the 2010 season.
They are two of the four NFL franchises to split the same home field. The Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers have shared a $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium since the 2020 season.
Despite its popularity with viewers, it shows flex scheduling is not a magic wand that can clear away lousy, late-season matchups.
To the chagrin of other NFL media partners, NBC Sports’ “Sunday Night Football” has been the only network with flex scheduling privileges since the 2006 season.
For the first time, the league is giving ESPN’s MNF and Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” flex rights this season as part of its $110 billion, long-term media rights deals that run through 2033.
ProFootballTalk reports that NFL schedule-makers can flex MNF games for more competitive matchups during Weeks 12-17.
Driven by ratings gains by MNF and TNF, the NFL’s overall viewership rose 6% through the halfway point of the 2023 regular season, according to Bloomberg.
Excluding last night’s MNF, ESPN is averaging 15.5 million viewers, up 12% compared to the previous season. If you don’t count the Week 3 presentation of two games vs. one game last season, ESPN viewership would be up 20% to 16.5 million viewers.
Meanwhile, season-to-date viewership of Amazon’s TNF is up 25%. Live game streams are averaging 12.52 million viewers vs. 10.01 million last year.
Looking ahead, CBS Sports sits in the driver’s seat as it gears up to broadcast Super Bowl 58 from Las Vegas.
The Tiffany network is “virtually” sold out of ad inventory, according to Variety. In-game, 30-second commercials reportedly sell for between $6.5 million and $7 million.
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