The National Football League (NFL), currently the nation’s most popular sport, has been absent from Los Angeles since 1995 and has never had one of its playoff games televised on ESPN since the network launched in 1979.
At least one of those things will change next year. Unfortunately, seats at professional football-ready stadiums in the Los Angeles region will continue to remain empty.
In a move to get in on the ratings bonanza of NFL playoff games, ESPN announced April 22 it would televise a live wild-card game in January 2015. It will be the first time in ESPN’s history a postseason game is televised on the network.
The “wild card” games take place during the first weekend of NFL’s postseason play; there are four wild card playoff games televised each postseason.
Also to be televised on ESPN will be the Pro Bowl, the NFL’s annual all-star game featuring the league’s top players in an exhibition game.
ESPN already televises Monday Night Football games during the regular season.
Televising the playoff game is part of a new rights agreement between ESPN and the NFL.
The network also announced the broadcast team covering Monday Night Football will also cover both the wild card game and the Pro Bowl. That broadcast team consists of Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and sideline reporter Lisa Salters.
University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., will host the 2015 Pro Bowl. The stadium is also the site of Super Bowl XLIX, which will be played Feb. 1, 2015 and aired on NBC.
NFL playoff games have been televised on the major networks – ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC – over the course of the four-rounds of postseason play. ESPN and ABC are both part of the Disney Media Network. NBC, which reportedly televised two wild card playoff games last season, also announced on April 22 it would air a wild card playoff game on Jan. 3 as well as a divisional round postseason matchup.
The NFL stated an average of 34.7 million viewers watched the four wild card games last season, according to NBC Sports. News reports indicated CBS had its highest ratings for its televising of a Wild Card Sunday matchup in 19 years.
In its 95th iteration, the next NFL season will begin Sept. 4 and games will continue weekly through Dec. 28. The wild card games will be played Jan. 3 and 4, 2015, thought the games each respective network would air will not be determined until later in the season.
The Pro Bowl will be played Jan. 25.
