The NFL has announced airing details for 2024’s Hall of Fame game, revealing a new broadcaster for the first time in 52 years. While ABC or NBC have historically broadcast the game, this year’s showdown will appear live through another major sports streamer.
Details of the Big Game
This year’s Hall of Fame game is a clash between the Chicago Bears and the Houston Texans. They’ll kick off at 8 PM ET on August 1st, in the same place the Hall of Fame game has always been. If you’re new to football or don’t follow the pre-season schedule that much, that’ll be the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
This exhibition game will usher in the rest of the NFL calendar, from pre-season to post-season games. Where sportsbooks are concerned, the Hall of Fame game is treated no differently from other games. Once the 2024 season is in full swing, football fans can also use sports betting bonuses like free bets or boosts up to 200%. Before the summer of football can truly start, however, this Hall of Fame game will kick off pre-season and welcome new talent into NFL history.
The Hall of Fame play-by-play will be provided by the guys at Monday Night Football, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, with Lisa Salters reporting from the sideline. The more perceptive among you may realize that Monday Night Football is an ESPN production, which brings us to the big shake-up with this year’s game broadcasting.
ESPN Hosts the Hall of Fame Game
For the first time since the Hall of Fame game started in 1962, ESPN will air the game with Monday Night Football handling the calling. Historically, the Hall of Fame game has been one of the only pre-season games broadcast nationally, due to how prestigious the event is for fans. ABC coverage dominated early shows, hosted through their Wide World of Sports package and then later their version of Monday Night Football before it moved to ESPN.
Since 2005, NBC’s Sunday Night Football took over from ABC. However, on special occasions, NBC’s broadcast rights to the Olympic Games interfere with their Hall of Fame game obligations. When that happens, the game is kicked over to the NFL which auctions rights to one of the other media enterprises covering games, like Fox. With the Paris Olympics coming in the summer, NBC will be too busy providing exclusive, interactive coverage of the much larger event.
As a result, ABC and ESPN will be simulcasting the event on their own channels. ABC owns ESPN, and both are owned by the Walt Disney Company, so they’re more alike than different behind the scenes. It’s a homecoming for Monday Night Football, which last hosted the Hall of Fame game in 2005, but it also marks the first time ESPN will air the game. ESPN will also have priority with Spanish-speaking viewers, as the game will be streamed by their subsidiary ESPN Deportes.
With Troy Aikman strategizing the game, the new Monday Night Football team is arguably the best qualified to cover the Hall of Fame showdown. Aikman is a Hall of Famer himself, inducted in 2006 for his work with the Dallas Cowboys, and is familiar with the Tom Benson Stadium after storming the same field back in 1999.
Comments powered by CComment