ESPN opens its first season as a Super Bowl broadcaster on Monday, September 14, when Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge call the Denver Broncos against the Kansas City Chiefs at 8 p.m. ET across ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes. The same four will call Super Bowl LXI from Los Angeles on February 14, 2027.
The Monday build is nine hours long and almost all of it comes from Kansas City. Good Morning Football runs 8 to 11 a.m. from KC Live!, The Pat McAfee Show takes noon to 2 p.m., NFL Live runs 3 to 5 p.m., and Monday Night Countdown fills 6 to 8 p.m. before kickoff. SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt and NFL GameDay Final follow the game from the studio.
Who Is On Each Show
Scott Van Pelt hosts Monday Night Countdown with Jason Kelce, Marcus Spears, Pat McAfee and Jason McCourty, with Adam Schefter on news and Michelle Beisner-Buck on features from Arrowhead Stadium. NFL Live expands to two hours from inside the stadium with Rutledge, Kyle Brandt, Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky and Spears, and it will originate from the Monday Night Football site every week this season. The show just won its second straight Sports Emmy for outstanding daily studio show.
Good Morning Football starts its traveling schedule in Week 1 with Jamie Erdahl, Brandt and Manti Te’o, joined by Rutledge, Alex Smith, actor Eric Stonestreet and former Chiefs fullback Christian Okoye. NFL Network also debuts The Aftermath from noon to 3 p.m., built around head coach press conferences, and for the first time both NFL Live and Monday Night Countdown will air on NFL Network on Mondays.
Sunday Comes First
Sunday NFL Countdown returns September 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on ESPN with Mike Greenberg, Randy Moss, Rex Ryan, Tedy Bruschi, Alex Smith, Schefter, Erin Dolan and Katie Feeney, plus reporters at five games. NFL GameDay Morning runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on NFL Network with Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner, Steve Mariucci, Gerald McCoy, Colleen Wolfe, Ian Rapoport and Daniel Jeremiah. Chris Berman and Booger McFarland bring NFL Primetime back for a seventh year together, streaming Sundays at 7:30 p.m. on the ESPN App.
On ESPN2, Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli returns for a sixth season and will end with an alternate presentation of the Super Bowl. Peter Schrager’s Big Day, which premiered September 10, takes the 2 to 3 p.m. slot on Monday alongside Get Up, First Take and SportsCenter out of New York and Bristol.
The Largest NFL Season ESPN Has Had
The 2026-27 season carries 28 games, the most the network has ever held, and Week 1 alone spans nearly 20 hours of dedicated NFL programming across Sunday and Monday. Buck and Aikman also begin their 25th season calling games together, a record for an NFL broadcast pairing.
NFL Matchup opens its season Saturday at 8:30 a.m. ET on ESPN2 with Sal Paolantonio, Greg Cosell and Darius Butler, with re-airs on NFL Network.
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