why are there two monday night games

There are two Monday Night Football games on certain Mondays because of a recent NFL broadcast agreement that increased the number of Monday night games from 17 to 23 per season. Since the NFL regular season has only 18 weeks, these extra games need to be scheduled, so the league and broadcasters ESPN and ABC decided to have several "Monday Night Football" doubleheaders each season. On those nights, there are two games scheduled close to each other, sometimes overlapping, to fit all the extra games into the prime-time Monday schedule. Specifically, Disney (owner of ESPN and ABC) secured rights in a 2021 deal that started in 2023 to air 23 Monday night games per season. To accommodate those extra six games beyond the usual 17, four doubleheader Monday nights were introduced in 2025. This means on those nights, two games are broadcast—one on ESPN and one on ABC, with start times staggered by about an hour. This approach allows more games to be aired nationally while keeping the traditional Monday night slot strong. In short, two Monday night games exist because of the expanded TV contract and scheduling strategy to maximize televised NFL games on Monday nights during the season.