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[09/16/26 - 02:41 PM]
"Monday Night Football" Opens Super Bowl LXI Season with Record-Setting Audience; Broncos-Chiefs Becomes Most-Watched Week 1 Game of ESPN's "MNF" Era
The season opener between the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs delivered an audience of 23.2 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and NFL+.
[via press release from ESPN]

"Monday Night Football" opens Super Bowl LXI season with record-setting audience; Broncos-Chiefs becomes most-watched Week 1 game of ESPN's "MNF" era

Game drew 23.2 million viewers

ESPN's third most-watched MNF telecast ever

Monday Night Countdown delivers largest Week 1 audience on record

ESPN's Monday Night Football season opener between the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs delivered an audience of 23.2 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and NFL+, becoming the most-watched Week 1 game in ESPN's Monday Night Football era (2006-present, 36 games).

Among all ESPN Monday Night Football games, the marquee AFC West showdown ranked as the third-most-watched Monday Night Football telecast of ESPN's era (2006-present; 362 games) and the most-watched MNF game since 2023. Only two telecasts have drawn larger audiences during that span: the 2023 Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs and the 2023 Christmas-night matchup between the Ravens and 49ers.

The audience was up 5% from last season's Week 1 Vikings-Bears matchup, continuing the strong momentum of ESPN's signature NFL franchise.

Leading into kickoff, Monday Night Countdown recorded the show's largest Week 1 audience since 2010, averaging 1.9 million viewers across ESPN and NFL Network. The pregame show was up 7% compared to Week 1 last season.

ESPN's Super Bowl LXI season is underway

The Broncos-Chiefs audience marks a strong start to ESPN's most expansive NFL season ever, highlighted by 29 NFL games, including Super Bowl LXI. More information on ESPN's NFL schedule and game portfolio can be found here.

Records are based on Monday Night Football telecasts played on Monday nights only; games played on non-Monday nights, including Week 18, are excluded from all comparisons. From 2006-2020, Week 1 consisted of a Monday Night Football doubleheader.

Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel

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