ESPN Owns Monday Night Football

By Todd McClamroch in News on Dec 21, 2006 2:03PM

ESPN saw its NFL ratings jump with their move from Sunday night football last year to the "Monday Night Football" slot this season. ESPN will look to keep up the momentum and offer football fans almost year-round "Monday Night Football" action. The Arena Football League and ESPN entered into a five-year agreement for television rights earlier this week. The course of the Arena Football League season runs from March, just a month after the Super Bowl, right up to the start of NFL training camp in July.

The Deuce will offer the regular season Monday Night Football coverage. Between ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC, a minimum of 17 regular season games and 9 post-season games will be televised. The complete 2007 AFL on ESPN schedule can be found on ArenaFootball.com.

The defending champion Chicago Rush will get plenty of airtime this year. The Rush's first game of the season against Kansas City will be aired regionally on ABC. Rush fans will get their chance to write a witty sign to catch the attention of SportsCenter when the Rush host three regular season games televised on ESPN2: Los Angeles on April 1, Bon Jovi's Philadelphia Soul on April 30, and John Elway’s Colorado Crush on May 7. The last regular season match featuring the Rush will air from Colorado on June 18.

Chicagoist was surprised the Rush's home opener versus the San Jose SaberCats, a rematch of the American Conference Championship game from 2006, was not selected to be televised nationally. It is prior to this match that the Chicago Rush will unveil their AFL Championship banner. Fans can view the entire 2007 Chicago Rush schedule on the team’s website.