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Afternoon Edition

October 20, 2025

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The end of ESPN’s double dose of Monday Night Football might be closer than you think—and it all comes down to a pending equity deal with the NFL.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]] and Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

ESPN’s ‘MNF’ Doubleheaders Will End—If NFL Equity Deal Clears [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

ESPN’s fourth and final Monday Night Football doubleheader of the season is likely to also be the network’s last time utilizing the much-panned broadcast strategy—so long as the league’s ESPN equity deal is finalized on time.

ABC and ESPN will simulcast Buccaneers-Lions at 7 p.m. ET, and ESPN will air Texans-Seahawks at 10 p.m. ET, capping off this season’s slate of MNF doubleheaders, which have been widely scrutinized by fans and media pundits who prefer a single primetime game.

ESPN has been broadcasting more back-to-back and overlapping MNF games for the past three seasons, since its latest NFL media-rights deal that went into effect in 2023 expanded the number of games the network has. This season, ESPN has a record-tying 25 game broadcasts, including two playoff matchups.

Deal Making

In August, Disney and the NFL agreed to a deal [[link removed]] that will see ESPN acquire NFL Network and the distribution rights to NFL RedZone, among other assets, in exchange for giving the league a 10% equity stake in ESPN (valued at $2 billion). The deal is subject to standard regulatory approval from the U.S. government.

As part of that pending deal, ESPN’s total number of games will increase to 28 (not including the Super Bowl). ESPN opted to buy three of the seven games NFL Network currently has the rights to each season. The league will take the other four to market.

All 28 of those ESPN-controlled games are guaranteed to be stand-alone TV windows, an ESPN spokesperson confirmed to Front Office Sports; 21 will air on ESPN (including some ABC simulcasts) and 7 on NFL Network.

ESPN would air a single MNF game in Weeks 1–17, its traditional Week 18 Saturday doubleheader, and two playoff games. NFL Network’s games could be international contests, late-season Saturday matchups, or other new TV windows the league creates.

The strategy shift from ESPN should make most fans happy, but when that happens remains up in the air.

A source told FOS the NFL-ESPN deal likely needs to be finalized by some time in the spring for it to fully take effect in the 2026 NFL season. The league typically releases its schedule in May, so if the deal is still in limbo at that time, then ESPN would have its same 25-game slate again, and likely bring back the MNF doubleheaders for one more year.

Ratings Report

Last season, MNF games on ESPN averaged 15 million viewers. So far this year, just one of the six doubleheader games has surpassed that figure [[link removed]], as the dueling games often mean lower ratings for each individual telecast.

Week 2: 13.5 million viewers (combined average)

Bucs-Texans: 17.4 million Chargers-Raiders: 9.6 million

Week 4: 21.41 million viewers during two-hour overlap

Jets-Dolphins: 8.47 million Bengals-Broncos: 13.2 million

Week 6: 21.9 million viewers during two-hour overlap

Bills-Falcons: 10 million Bears-Commanders: 12.9 million

Viewership for Monday’s doubleheader is expected to be released Wednesday.

SPONSORED BY PEPSI

Cheesesteaks, Crabfries, and Chaos in Philly

Eagles fans bring the same energy to the food as they do to the field. In the latest episode of Stadium Eats [[link removed]] presented by Pepsi, Front Office Sports teams up with local food creator TwoChomp to take on Philadelphia’s wild tailgate scene and top stadium eats. [[link removed]]

From Nonna’s tailgate spaghetti and Chickie’s & Pete’s legendary crabfries, to birria fries, cheesesteak pie, and the stacked Vincent sandwich—we taste it all, rate it, and crown the top Philly bite [[link removed]].

Watch Episode 2 now [[link removed]] and see which dish takes our top rating.

Mariners–Blue Jays Game 7 Drama Likely to Drive MLB Ratings Surge [[link removed]]

Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

An MLB postseason already rife with drama, and surging viewership, is set for another major chapter Monday night.

The Mariners and Blue Jays will square off in the seventh and deciding game of the American League Championship Series. The winner will face the Dodgers, the National League pennant winners [[link removed]], in the World Series starting Friday, but before that happens, Seattle and Toronto will play one of the most important games in the history of both franchises.

That’s certainly the case for the Mariners. The only MLB club to never reach the World Series, Seattle is attempting to break through an often-difficult history that saw three ALCS losses between 1995 and 2001, and then a 21-year absence from the postseason that set a record for the longest playoff drought among the four major U.S. men’s pro sports leagues.

The Blue Jays, which entered MLB in 1977 with the Mariners as an expansion franchise, has its own frustrations to overcome. After back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993, Toronto has not been back to the World Series since, and it has reached the postseason only six times in the 32 years since that last championship, including ALCS losses in 2015 and 2016.

“I was born ready. I was born ready. And I want it all for this city,” Blue Jays star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said on Sportsnet [[link removed]] after helping force Game 7 with a home run Sunday night.

The son of Baseball Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr., the younger Guerrero has reached another level this month, hitting .462 in the playoffs and helping affirm the $500 million contract extension he signed with the Blue Jays in April [[link removed]]. The pact is the third-largest player deal in MLB history, trailing only those for Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto.

Viewership Lift

The deciding game between the Mariners and Blue Jays will likely be a boon for Fox, which is among the MLB rights holders enjoying steady lifts in viewership for the MLB postseason, and not just because of Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement process [[link removed]].

The wild-card round on ESPN set a record [[link removed]] in the four-year history of the current format, while the overall audience for the division round rose 17% to a 14-year high [[link removed]]. Initial viewership in the U.S. for the ALCS was tracking more than 30% ahead of last year’s Guardians-Yankees matchup, shown on TNT Sports.

Tonight’s ALCS Game 7, meanwhile, marks the sixth series of the 2025 postseason to go the full length, following three such elimination games in the wild-card round and two more in the division series. That overall number is a league record, surpassing the five such games played in 2012 and again in 2020.

Early Data Shows ESPN, Fox One Are Off to Strong Starts in DTC Push [[link removed]]

ESPN

ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service [[link removed]] and Fox One [[link removed]], two of the major sports-related streaming products to hit the market this year, each continue to add subscribers at a steady pace.

Third-party data provider Antenna said Monday that ESPN’s DTC effort garnered 2.1 million sign-ups between its Aug. 21 debut and Sept. 30. The number for ESPN alone is more than double the roughly 1 million combined sign-ups disclosed [[link removed]] on Sept. 16 at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit.

Fox One, which also debuted Aug. 21, reached 1.1 million sign-ups, according to the new Antenna data. Like for ESPN, this is the first number attached specifically to that service, as Antenna had previously said only that ESPN had garnered the majority of the signups among the two services.

The networks have not detailed subscriber numbers for their respective services, and in the case of ESPN parent company Disney, there won’t be any such disclosures as it said earlier this year it will stop reporting streaming subscription totals as part of quarterly earnings reports. That decision follows a similar shift made by Netflix.

The Antenna figures, however, continue to provide a glimpse into the two major corporate priorities as both ESPN and Fox continue their evolution from a prior, linear-focused business model. A majority of the ESPN sign-ups were for the full, unlimited version of ESPN compared to the more limited ESPN Select.

Sunday Bumps

For both services, there have been steady, weekly jumps in sign-ups near or during NFL games. In particular, Antenna said that Fox One saw a “particularly notable spike” around the Week 2 matchup between the Eagles and Chiefs, a Super Bowl LIX rematch that, at least for now, stands as the league’s most-watched game of the 2025 season [[link removed]].

More such bumps are expected as Fox shows the World Series beginning Friday, and both networks have a steady upcoming run of college and pro football.

“This more complete data snapshot suggests that the early momentum seen in the first days following the services’ launches continues,” Antenna said in a company blog post [[link removed]].

Appearing recently at an industry event arranged by Spectrum [[link removed]], the No. 1 U.S. pay-TV provider, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said the DTC project remains a long-term effort.

“We’re still in the first inning here. I’ve said that repeatedly,” he said. “We feel like we’re just getting started.”

In addition to running their separate services, ESPN and Fox are also offering a joint bundle of the two [[link removed]], specifically targeting sports fans. That bundle became available Oct. 2 for $39.99 per month.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Ohtani Economics With Joon Lee

FOS illustration

Billy Napier is out at Florida after more than a year of speculation, and the Gators owe him more than $21 million for the buyout. Why is this becoming the norm in college football and could Lane Kiffin replace him? FOS newsletter writer David Rumsey explains.

Plus, the Dodgers have already seen a full return on their $700 million deal with Shohei Ohtani—reportedly offset by first-year merchandise and ticket sales, according to baseball reporter and analyst Joon Lee. He joins Baker Machado and Renee Washington to explain Ohtani’s economic impact and evaluate how a potential “international” World Series between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays would position MLB in the global marketplace.

Also, FOS Asset Class author Ben Horney talks through expansion in the NHL and MLB, the Savannah Bananas could be worth $100 billion someday, and the Colts and Broncos fight for the top spot as the NFL’s must-watch team.

Watch the full episode here. [[link removed]]

STATUS REPORT Two Up, One Down, One Push

Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Stanford ⬆⬇ The ACC fined the school $50,000 [[link removed]] for fans storming the field Saturday following the 20–13 upset over Florida State, which violated the conference’s event security policy, since fans entered the field of play before the visiting team and officials left the competition area.

United States Grand Prix ⬆ Formula One announced over the weekend it has extended its contract to race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin through 2034. The track has hosted an F1 race since 2012.

Young golfers ⬆ More than 100,000 rounds of golf were played by Youth on Course members during the first six months of the nonprofit’s “Golf With Us” program—launched at The Masters in April and backed by Bank of America—that gave free one-year memberships to more than 86,000 kids (ages 6–18). Founded in 2006, Youth on Course lets its members 18 and under play rounds of golf for $5 or less.

Spanish soccer ⬇ Outcry continues to intensify against a plan to stage a Barcelona-Villareal match in December at Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium, as players in three separate LaLiga matches last weekend refused to move for the 15 seconds in protest of the international contest. The moves, coordinated with the aid of the Spanish Footballers’ Association, followed comments last week by Barcelona coach Hansi Flick that he and his players were “not happy” about the forthcoming U.S. trip.

Conversation Starters Crumbl Cookies cofounder Jason McGowan, whose cookie company is headquartered in Utah, paid for BYU’s $50,000 Big 12 fine [[link removed]] for storming the field after beating its rival Utah. The United Soccer League has announced that Reno has been awarded a franchise and is set to build an $80 million, 6,000-seat stadium. Check out the renderings [[link removed]]. Texas Tech has officially asked its fans to stop their tortilla-throwing tradition [[link removed]] after the Big 12 increased potential fines to $100,000. Editors’ Picks Mac Jones, Daniel Jones Cash In on Big Incentive Money [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]Both quarterbacks have hit big contract incentives just halfway through the season. BYU Lost Its Star QB This Summer. Now It’s One of the Best Teams in College Football [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The Cougars are thriving with a true freshman at quarterback. Beyond Ohio State, It’s Another Massive Shake-Up in the CFB Top 25 [[link removed]]by Colin Salao [[link removed]]Nine of the top 10 teams changed positions in Week 9. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Show [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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