When the NFL expanded the playoff field to 14 teams in the 2020 season, it slid one of the wild-card games to Monday night. That game could now be sliding away from ESPN and ABC.
NFL Media EVP and COO Hans Schroeder recently explained in an appearance on the SBJ Sports Media Podcast that the game is up for bid for the 2026 season.
“I’m sure we’ll talk to Disney and I’m sure there’ll be others interested,” Schroeder said. “People see that window and the attractiveness of it. And again, we thought that that’s been a great change and a great evolution we’ve taken. And so we’ll have those conversations now in the next couple months about what we do and how we partner and think about that Monday night window.”
The Saturday night game is also in play, but it’s currently expected to remain a streaming-only broadcast and it’s likely to stay with Prime Video.
However it plays out, these playoff games become big money for the NFL. And this wrinkle in the current TV deals gives the NFL a chance to get a little (or a lot) more cash.
The current playoff structure creates three prime-time windows for wild-card weekend. It also gives the Monday night winner a short week before the next game. The Texans, who won the Monday night game this year, had to travel home from Pittsburgh and to New England with only five days between contests, while the Patriots (who played on Sunday) had a full six days off with no travel requirements between the wild-card round and the divisional round.
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