'Monday Night Football' Scores For ESPN

With help from the large New York market, ESPN saw its "Monday Night Football" opening game post a 7% ratings gain over last year in the adult 18-to-49 demo. The game, featuring the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens, drew 8.24 million viewers in the key demo and was the first in a doubleheader Monday.

ESPN annually airs back-to-back games on the first night of "MNF, and the 7% ratings increase for this year's first game was compared to a Buffalo-New England game in that first slot last year.

As the much-hyped Jets lost, the game's 8.24 million 18-to-49 viewers demo marked the best performance for an opening night "MNF" game on ESPN.

The second game Monday, starting just after 10:30 and featuring the San Diego Chargers against the Kansas City Chiefs, drew 7.2 million in the 18-to-49 demo.

In total viewers Monday, the Jets-Ravens drew 14.97 million and Chargers-Chiefs -- which ended well past 1 a.m. Tuesday morning -- pulled in 11.89 million.

The Chargers-Chiefs game started on ESPN2 because of a lightning delay for the opener in New York, then moved over to ESPN once the first game wrapped.

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