MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Crafting Real-Time Storytelling System at Scale

Overview

As the flagship broadcast of ESPN, Monday Night Football averages over 16 million viewers every week. The team's goal was to craft the most exciting and immersive storytelling experience through our real-time graphics, ensuring that every viewer, regardless of their location, can be part of the show. Having been with the project for two years, I've been tasked with transforming traditional on-air infographics into unique "customs" weekly that stand out from the rest of our package while building a system that can be re-utilized over the years by our designers and production crew in short turnaround times.

ROLE

Lead MNF Customs Real-Time Graphics Developer

COLLABORATORS

Visual Storytelling (Design), Animation, DMED (Technology), Domestic Production (Studio/Event), International Production (Studio/Event)

RESPONSIBILITIES

Develop custom, reusable real-time graphics for ESPN's Monday Night Football Game weekly

TIMELINE

2024 - 2025 NFL Season 2025 - 2026 NFL Season

The Challenge...

With the NFL having such a significant history, there is almost always one, if not multiple, storylines in our games to focus on. They could range from a player breaking a historic record to a heated rivalry between the two teams. With such unique perspectives that change from game to game, our regular on-air graphics package, although thorough, lacks the "elevated and custom" feel our directors are looking for when presenting these stories. We needed to develop a unique look that stands out from our regular package to emphasize the story and usability while staying close to ESPN's MNF brand.

How can we achieve that...?

" How can we convey these stories of the game clearly and memorably?"

Our Approach

To conquer this unique challenge, the team conducted weekly meetings with creative and production groups.

We were able to choreograph our approach in three main focus areas before developing new graphics every week:

1. TEMPLATIZING LAYOUT

Identify information layouts that can be reused throughout the season and build for that reusability.

2. IDENTIFY STORY ELEMENTS

Create unique assets that tie into the storyline weekly and combine them with existing information layouts

3. USER FEEDBACK

Receive feedback and ask from our end-users (production team) before building the new graphic

What's the Layout?

What's the Story?

Any Specific Needs from the User?

Creative Solution Process

Step 1

Identifying the core elements:
- Layout
  - Is this something familiar, or will it be used again in the future?
- Storyline
  - Why is this important?
- Specific User Needs
  - Every game might be different

Step 3

Gathering Assets:
- Layout
  - Import different pieces from previous designs and adjust the designs accordingly to the new theme while creating new elements
- Storyline
  - Hall of fame, sepia tone, grand, glass displays...etc

Step 5

Iterative Testing
- Due to the real-time nature of the graphic shown on air, things could always change on the fly. We need to ensure the graphic is 100% editable for operators:
  - All relevant texts need to be editable to accommodate international broadcasts
  - Texts cannot extend beyond the borders of their containers
  - All elements must stay within the safe action area and accommodate the ESPN bottom line

Step 2

Choosing the direction:
- Layout
  - Yes, this is something we have templatized already from previous weeks
- Storyline
  - Bijan Robinson is about to make NFL history in the upcoming game, that's HUGE
- Specific User Needs
  - Since we won't know how many yards he will have when the graphic is shown, this needs to be sent to technology and automated

Step 4

Design, Animate, and Feedback Loops
- Deign and animate with the goal in mind: this graphic needs to stand out to the audience but still fit within the MNF brand
- After the initial designs and animation phase, the graphic needs to receive feedback from art directors, senior developers, and producers before being officially delivered

Step 6

Delivery and Maintenance
- When the graphic has been delivered to production on the day of the game, the work is not over. There will often be adjustments needed once it reaches a control room environment, so it is my responsibility to ensure the channel of communication is clear and all issues can be solved in a timely fashion once reported by the user.

Final product aired live on 12/29/2025 - LAR vs ATL, NFL Week 17

Impact

During the 36 regular-season NFL weeks in 2024 and 2025, the team created a total of over 170 custom graphics for Monday Night Football, aiding in the increase of its total viewership from 15.5 million to 17 million over the course of two seasons, achieving a 10% increase YoY while also helping Monday Night Football earn the nomination for Outstanding Live Sports Series at both the 45th and 46th Sports Emmy Awards.

The custom graphics received many exciting feedbacks on social media platforms, and internal reactions from art directors, operators, producers, and directors were overwhelmingly positive as well after the initial 2024 NFL season, which is why I was asked to stay attached to the project before the start of the 2025 NFL season.