NFL fixes one fan complaint while expanding the rest of the schedule
Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The NFL has made the right call before the 2026 season by ending overlapping Monday Night Football doubleheaders, but that decision should not be mistaken for restraint across the wider schedule. The league has listened on one clear broadcast complaint. Fans did not need two national games fighting for attention in the same Monday night window.
But the 2026 calendar still tells the bigger story. The NFL has not pulled back. It has simply moved its expansion into cleaner windows, more countries and more parts of the week.
The NFL was right to end overlapping Monday Night Football games The old Monday Night Football experiment was always too clever for its own good. ESPN once promoted two Monday night games with staggered kickoff times and overlapping action. That was the problem in one phrase.
Monday Night Football works best when it feels like the one game everyone is watching. Splitting the night across ABC and ESPN made the product busier, not better. That is why the league deserves credit for ending overlapping Monday Night Football doubleheaders.
It corrected a format that asked viewers to choose between two league-owned showcases. Mike North, the NFL vice president of broadcast planning, has acknowledged the format had not worked as the league wanted. That matters because it shows the NFL understood the issue was not the amount of football.