- Monday Night Football’s Broncos-Chiefs matchup headlines coverage
- Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli returns for sixth season
- Monday Night Countdown, The Pat McAfee Show, NFL Live and Good Morning Football deliver nine hours of live coverage from Kansas City leading into the AFC West showdown
- Sunday NFL Countdown, NFL GameDay Morning ring in the first Sunday of the season
ESPN’s journey to Super Bowl LXI begins with a packed Week 1 schedule featuring live game coverage, expansive onsite studio programming from Kansas City, marquee personalities, and the return of fan-favorite shows across ESPN and NFL Network. As part of ESPN’s largest NFL game portfolio ever, Week 1 coverage spans nearly 20 hours of dedicated NFL programming on Sunday and Monday, culminating with Monday Night Football.
Monday Night Football opens the season
Monday Night Football’s Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge open the season when the Denver Broncos face the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET across ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes. This game officially kicks off ESPN’s first Super Bowl campaign, with the quartet set to call Super Bowl LXI in February.
On ESPN2, Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli returns for its sixth season, offering fans an alternate viewing experience featuring Peyton and Eli Manning. The season will culminate with an alternate presentation of Super Bowl LXI. More information on the ManningCast can be found here.
ESPN & NFL Network shows take over Kansas City
Monday begins long before kickoff, with ESPN and NFL Network delivering nine hours of coverage from Kansas City. Postgame coverage immediately follows from the studio on both networks.
- Good Morning Football (8-11 a.m.) – From KC Live!
- The Pat McAfee Show (12-2 p.m.)
- NFL Live (3-5 p.m.)
- Monday Night Countdown (6-8 p.m.)
- Monday Night Football (8 p.m.)
- SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt & NFL GameDay Final immediately following the game
Complementing ESPN’s extensive onsite reporting from Arrowhead Stadium and around the city, Get Up (8-10 a.m.), First Take (10 a.m.-noon), Big Day with Peter Schrager (2-3 p.m.) and SportsCenter (5-6 p.m.) will cover the biggest developments with breaking news, analysis, interviews and reaction from ESPN’s studio in New York City and Bristol, Conn.
NFL Network further adds to the complementary programming with The Aftermath (12-3 p.m.) making its debut, diving into press conferences from head coaches across the league. Fans can also catch up on the latest fantasy developments on NFL Fantasy Live (5-6 p.m.). For the first time, both NFL Live and Monday Night Countdown will also be available on NFL Network on Mondays.
Monday Night Countdown makes its season debut
Host Scott Van Pelt returns alongside Jason Kelce, Marcus Spears, Pat McAfee and Jason McCourty to lead ESPN’s two-hour pregame show. Adam Schefter will provide breaking news and insight, while Michelle Beisner-Buck contributes features and interviews from onsite.
Pat McAfee brings the show to Kansas City
The Pat McAfee Show will broadcast live from Kansas City on Monday, with Pat McAfee onsite ahead of Monday Night Football. He’ll be joined in Indianapolis by Boston Connor, Ty Schmit, Tone Digs, Darius Butler, and AJ Hawk for Overreaction Monday surrounding Week 1.
Award-winning NFL Live again expands to two hours on Monday
Fresh off its second consecutive Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show – Daily, Rutledge, Kyle Brandt, Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky and Marcus Spears will be live for two hours from inside Arrowhead Stadium, while Schefter will contribute virtually. Each week of the season, the expanded, two-hour Monday edition of NFL Live will again originate from the site of Monday Night Football.
Good Morning Football hits the road
NFL Network’s Good Morning Football will begin its traveling schedule in Week 1, originating from KC Live! ahead of Monday Night Football. Hosts Jamie Erdahl, Kyle Brandt and Manti Te’o will bring their signature mix of football news, analysis and personality directly from the site of one of the season’s biggest opening week matchups. The trio will be joined by Laura Rutledge and Alex Smith, as well as special appearances by actor Eric Stonestreet and former Chiefs fullback and inductee into the team’s Hall of Fame, Christian Okoye. Fans are invited to attend the show.
Sunday NFL coverage begins Sept. 13
Before Monday night’s showdown, ESPN and NFL Network kick off Week 1 on Sunday, Sept. 13, with seven hours of combined coverage. Sunday NFL Countdown (10 a.m.-1 p.m., ESPN) returns with Mike Greenberg, Randy Moss, Rex Ryan, Tedy Bruschi, Alex Smith, Adam Schefter, Erin Dolan and Katie Feeney, plus live reports from across the league:
- Courtney Cronin – Bears-Panthers
- Kimberley A. Martin – Buccaneers-Bengals
- Dan Graziano – Bills-Texans
- Sal Paolantonio – Falcons-Steelers
- Jeff Darlington – Browns-Jaguars
On NFL Network, NFL GameDay Morning (9 a.m.-1 p.m. ET) features Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Steve Mariucci, Gerald McCoy, Colleen Wolfe, Ian Rapoport and Daniel Jeremiah, along with sports betting insight from Erin Dolan and live reports from games across the league.
- Mike Garafolo – Ravens-Colts
- Sara Walsh – Browns-Jaguars
- Stacey Dales – Saints-Lions
NFL Primetime returns
ESPN’s iconic NFL Primetime is back for another season, with Chris Berman and Booger McFarland teaming up for their seventh consecutive year. The signature highlights program streams every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on the ESPN App and remains available on demand through Wednesday.
NFL Matchup Brings the X’s and O’s
NFL Matchup returns for the 2026 season, previewing the Week 1 slate with in-depth analysis and film breakdowns. The 30-minute show is hosted by Sal Paolantonio alongside Greg Cosell and Darius Butler. The season premiere airs Saturday at 8:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2, with re-airs at 11 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. on NFL Network, followed by an additional airing Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on NFL Network.
2026-27 brings fans ESPN’s largest NFL season ever, culminating with Super Bowl LXI
As ESPN enters its first-ever Super Bowl season, Week 1 marks the beginning of the company’s most expansive NFL campaign to date. The 2026-27 season will feature 28 games, including a marquee slate of Monday Night Football matchups, postseason action and Super Bowl LXI from Los Angeles on Feb. 14, 2027.
The season also marks a historic milestone for Monday Night Football as Buck and Aikman begin their record-setting 25th season together as an NFL broadcast duo, extending one of the longest-running and most decorated partnerships in sports television. Joined by Salters and Rutledge, the award-winning team returns to call some of the NFL’s biggest games throughout the season. A full look at ESPN’s NFL coverage plans for the 2026-27 season can be found here.
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