DJ Khaled is The New ‘Music Curator’ For Monday Night Football

ESPN recently announced a season-long music collaboration with DJ Khaled as its new music curator. This comes after Hank Williams Jr. was released from Monday Night Football.

With this announcement, some have speculated that Jay Z had something to do with this placement of DJ Khaled the new curator. Khaled says he will work directly with ESPN to choose tracks that reflect the energy and intensity of Monday Night Football. The music will appear in Monday Night Football promotional spots,and pre-game shows for five games this season.

The first game to feature curated music will be the Chiefs/Ravens match-up on Monday, September 28th. DJ Khaled is also selecting a song to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month for the Chargers/Saints game on October 12th.

“I’m excited to collaborate with the NFL and ESPN again as we celebrate the return of the 2020 season,” DJ Khaled says. “Last year was a movie, kicking off the Super Bowl in Miami, and now I am providing the vibes for fans everywhere as a music curator for Monday Night Football.”

Is this move something that was agreed upon when Jay Z began working with the NFL? The entrepreneur was largely criticized after it appeared that he turned his back on Colin Kaepernick. The partnership is being scrutinized on all sides.

The NFL early in this season has made an effort to support the Black community by making a few changes. They have allowed teams to support their respective communities in an effort to bridge the gap. The Pittsburgh Steelers honored 17-year old Antwon Rose Jr. who was killed by police. All but one of the players wore his name on the backs of their helmets.

The NFL has experienced lower than normal viewership this year. This comes after everyone has been quarantined for several months. It is being reported that they have seen a double-digit ratings declines, with millions of fans simply tuning out.

Emeka Ofodile, Vice President of Sports Marketing at ESPN, says the network is thrilled with the DJ Khaled collaboration.

“We’re incredibly excited to collaborate with DJ Khaled to curate music for Monday Night Football throughout the season. Music is one of the greatest tools we have to connect with fans, and the NFL on ESPN brand is a place to work with some of the best DJs and producers in the industry.”

“This curatorial role really resonated with audiences when we first introduced it with Diplo last year. And this year, we’re tapping into DJ Khaled’s talent and influence at the intersection of sports and music to provide this season’s soundtrack.”

I wonder what DJ Khaled may present to the NFL viewers this year.

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