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The Lions are the REAL America’s Team.
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fans “went wild” after Hutch sacked Lamar….. 
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This week’s MNF will possibly have historic ratings as well… well historically bad anyway
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No doubt it was heavily watched, but the numbers for Monday Night at least are skewed by the fact that it’s now broadcast on both ESPN and ABC.
Still well above the average game on MNF since the simulcast started…. 50% higher than the average game in 2024.
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How does this skew it? Maybe i am not processing well this morning but being on multiple channels in today’s world of streaming and direct access shouldn’t really skew ratings right?
MNF used to be only broadcast on ESPN, so that eliminated anyone who didn’t have cable from watching it. Now that it’s on ESPN and ABC (over the air network), it’s open to a much wider audience.
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Right, see @StormGuyNovi’s post above.
I’m not saying people don’t love to watch us, I just feel these “all-time” Monday night numbers are bloated. There were some awesome, heavily-watched games before 2023 as well. But yes, since 2023 this was a biggie undoubtedly.
But the population globally increasing combined with the NFLs efforts to expand the game globally also skews the ratings no? I guess I just dont see how expansion of available audience isn’t by default occurring regardless of how many channels it’s on.
With that said, I do get the idea that if someone doesn’t have a service with espn and only does broadcast television sure.. how much of the population is that in 2025?
Shouldn’t we expect new ratings records to consistently occur vs holding it against records of past years? I mean this specifically to sporting events where the viewership and fan base is more fanatical than later night television or your favorite sitcom.
I don’t know. Maybe? You could say the same about other sports.
My only point was that the way it is now is different than how it was for the vast majority of Monday Night Football history. More networks = more viewership. Especially when one of them is not a pay network.
Fair and I am going to be honest… I just dont really care that much about ratings to have an educated take. I suppose I just think with growing population and increased global penetration these ratings records become somewhat meaningless overtime anyway.
Kinda sounds like we agree I just hadnt considered broadcast TV as being the same factor in 2025 where the vast majority, to my understanding, have access through streaming services. Either way you and @StormGuyNovi helped clarify that for me so appreciated.
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Forgive me if I’m wrong but wasn’t MNF just shown on ABC way back in the day? I didn’t have cable growing up and I remember watching MNF on ABC.
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It was, yes, but JUST ABC.
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Yep, it was originally an ABC show. Then it was moved over to ESPN exclusively, and then it was re-added to ABC as a simulcast when ABC/Disney bought ESPN.
I think the only thing that gives much of an impression to me is when you have say Carolina vs Arizona. And the numbers are 8M by half time 
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ABC actually bought ESPN over 40 years ago.
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Oh damn, I thought that was a part of the recent merger.
Hard to tell these days with so much pirated streaming. I think the number was closer to 300 million.
The main reason they added it back in such numbers was due to the recent writer’s strike, they lost their scripted shows for a while
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