ESPN and the NFL reached a deal today for ESPN to be the home of the Monday Night Wild Card game through 2025. The first Monday Night Wild Card game on ESPN will be on January 17, 2022, ending Super Wild Card Weekend.
With the new deal, ABC and ESPN will air the traditional telecast of the games with Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Louis Riddick, Lisa Salters and John Parry. ESPN2 and ESPN+ will air Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli. Additional coverage will be announced later.
The Monday Night Wild Card game will be available to stream across devices on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ABC, and NFL digital properties, and on mobile via Yahoo Sports and the mobile properties of the two participating teams.
The 2021 season’s Wild Card game will be ESPN’s eighth NFL Playoff game, having begun airing an annual Wild Card game following the 2014 regular season. Beginning in the 2023 NFL Season, ESPN will add an NFL Divisional round game to its postseason slate, while continuing to air its existing Wild Card game. In the regular season, Monday Night Football has aired on ESPN since 2006 and beginning this season, ESPN and ABC will air a Week 18 doubleheader (January 8, 2022) to conclude its regular season coverage.