MNF Playbook Next Gen Stats altcast Screengrab via ESPN
By Matt Yoder on

ESPN debuted a brand new altcast during the Week 16 Monday Night Football game between the Indianapolis Colts and San Francisco 49ers. The MNF Playbook feed showcased advanced stats and an analytics filled telecast. And judging by the immediate social media reaction, fans responded very positively.

Altcasts are nothing new to ESPN. We’ve seen them on just about every sport from Pat McAfee on the sidelines for college football games to Joe Buck hosting golf major coverage to Stephen A. Smith on NBA games.

But nowhere has the idea of the altcast been more mainstream than Monday Night Football. While that’s largely due to Peyton and Eli Manning and the Manningcast, football’s first family was off this week. That opened the door for ESPN to try something new with Field Yates, Dan Orlovsky, Luke Kuechly, and Brian Burke leading the way on the MNF Playbook Next Gen Stats altcast.

And judging by the very first play from scrimmage, it was easily apparent that this was going to be a brand new way to watch a football game.

While the play was happening, numbers filled the screen. This included each team’s formation, the percentage of the offense to run or pass, the defense’s percentage to blitz, and the chance that each offensive player would receive the ball.

The fun continued in between the action as Orlovsky and Kuechly were able to break down anything and everything in great detail that you wouldn’t see on a normal NFL telecast.

Altcasts are not meant for the masses. The main telecast will always get somewhere around 90-95% of the viewership for any sporting event. However, altcasts are useful tools for networks to reach more fans in a new way in a time where the battle for our attention has never been greater. Sometimes that can be a way to draw in the casual fan, and others are built more for the hardcore fans. And when it comes to the MNF Playbook altcasts, it definitely seems to be for the latter group.

Given the ManningCast doesn’t take place every week, you could see ESPN move to showcase this Next Gen Stats MNF Playbook altcast on ESPN2 for the weeks where the Mannings are off. It’s a great showcase for Dan Orlovsky, and his partnership with Luke Kuechly excelled in showcasing both sides of the ball. Field Yates worked well with the pair in setting them up in between plays, but ESPN might want to look at whether they should have an actual play-by-play announcer or should just abandon the need to call every play.

With fans responding positively to the insights and technological advances in the next gen stats altcast, we may see it expand to other sports and other megacasts that ESPN offers to fans. At the very least, it’s another great tool to have in the never-ending search to offer as much interesting and compelling content as possible in a streaming era.

If you are looking forward to catching the MNF Playbook telecast again, or want to check it out if you missed it this week, ESPN will do it all again next week.

About Matt Yoder

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