For the last few seasons, the NFL tested the waters by forcing fans to split their attention between ABC and ESPN on Monday nights. It sounded like a massive win in the boardroom. On the living room couch? It created pure chaos.
Hans Schroeder, EVP and COO of NFL Media, stepped to the microphone on Tuesday and admitted the hard truth: they misread the room completely. The league thought giving fans free football outside of the Sunday window would dominate the ratings. Instead, viewers suffered from choice paralysis.
Sitting in the media room as Schroeder spoke, you could feel a collective sigh of relief from the beat writers and analysts. No more tracking two separate two-minute warnings at 11:15 p.m. Fans across the country can finally put down the remote, crack open a beverage, and focus on one high-stakes matchup without feeling like they are missing out on the action elsewhere.
With the dual-broadcast format dissolved, the league now has five unassigned games for the 2026 schedule. Four of those stem directly from the death of the double-MNF Mondays.
“We collectively struggled and realized fans felt like they were conflicted to choose between those games. There’s a better way for us to deploy those four games.”
— Hans Schroeder, EVP and COO of NFL Media
So where do these extra matchups go? The NFL schedule release drops in May, and the league is actively hunting for new, highly profitable windows. Schroeder openly floated the idea of “Thanksgiving Eve” or loading up late-season Saturdays.
The calendar is already incredibly tight. Netflix just locked down two Friday games for Christmas 2026, and Fox grabbed a third. But the massive Disney-NFL Network merger—greenlit by the DOJ just weeks ago—changes the entire broadcast strategy. By giving the league a 10% equity stake in ESPN, Disney guaranteed they want massive, singular audiences for their flagship Monday night window. Splintering the viewership across their own networks no longer makes financial sense.
Expect the NFL to test a standalone Wednesday night block or completely saturate the Saturday slate in December to unload those remaining games. The league owns the days of the week now; they just have to decide which ones to conquer next.
