Monday Night Football
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| ESPN NFL Monday Night Football | |
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| Genre | Sports |
| Running time | 3 Hours + |
| Creator(s) | Roone Arledge |
| Producer(s) | Jay Rothman (2006 - present) |
| Starring | Mike Tirico Joe Theismann Tony Kornheiser Michele Tafoya Suzy Kolber Chris Berman Steve Young Michael Irvin Tom Jackson |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | ABC (1970 – 2005) ESPN (2006 –) |
| Original run | September 21, 1970–Present |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Monday Night Football (MNF) is a live television broadcast of the National Football League. Originally airing on the ABC network from 1970 to 2005, Monday Night Football was the second longest running prime time show on American broadcast network television (after CBS' 60 Minutes) and one of the highest-rated, particularly among male viewers. ABC aired a total of 555 Monday night games.
On April 18, 2005, the NFL announced that Monday Night Football would be televised on ESPN in 2006, ending a 36-year run on ABC. ABC and ESPN are both owned by the Walt Disney Company.
Monday Night Football can also be seen in Canada on TSN, in Europe on NASN and in some regions of the world outside the U.S. on ESPN International. A Spanish language version airs on ESPN Deportes in the U.S.
Contents |
[edit] History
Monday Night Football enjoyed success throughout its 36-year run, with the NFL using the national spotlight as a way of rewarding the best teams and biggest stars from the previous season. However, that process has come under fire, due to late-season contests involving promising teams whose fortunes had declined during the course of the season. Two examples came during the 1981 season, when neither of that season's Super Bowl teams—the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals—had played on Monday night, and 1999, when the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl after not having appeared in a Monday night game during the year.
Franchises with the most Monday night appearances include the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, and Miami Dolphins. The most common Monday Night Football pairings are Denver vs. Oakland and Dallas vs. Washington, with each matchup having been televised 14 times.
Teams can make a maximum of three Monday Night appearances per season.
[edit] Pre-1970
During the early 1960s, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle envisioned the possibility of playing at least one game weekly during prime time for a greater TV audience. An early bid in 1964 to play on Friday nights was soundly defeated, with critics charging that such telecasts would damage the attendance at high school games. Undaunted, Rozelle decided to experiment with the concept of playing on Monday night, scheduling the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions for a game on September 28, 1964. While the game was not televised, it drew a sellout crowd of 59,203 to Tiger Stadium, the largest crowd ever to watch a professional football game in Detroit up to that point.
Two years later, Rozelle would build on this success as the NFL began a four-year experiment of playing on Monday night, scheduling one game in prime time on CBS during the 1966 and 1967 seasons, and two contests during each of the next two years. NBC followed suit in 1968 and 1969 with games involving AFL teams.
During subsequent negotiations on a television contract that would begin in 1970, Rozelle concentrated on signing a weekly Monday night deal with one of the three major networks. After sensing reluctance from both NBC and CBS in disturbing their regular programming schedules, Rozelle spoke with ABC.
Despite the network's status as the lowest-rated network, ABC was also reluctant to enter the risky venture. Only after Rozelle used the threat of signing with the independent Hughes Sports Network, an entity bankrolled by reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, did ABC sign a contract for the scheduled games. Speculation was that had Rozelle signed with Hughes, many ABC affiliates would have pre-empted the network's Monday lineup in favor of the games, severely damaging potential ratings.
[edit] 1970s
After the final contract for Monday Night Football was signed, ABC producer Roone Arledge immediately saw possibilities for the new show. Setting out to create an entertainment "spectacle" as much as a simple sports broadcast, Arledge hired Chet Forte, who would serve as director of the program for over 22 years. Arledge also ordered twice the usual number of cameras to cover the game, expanded the regular two-man broadcasting booth to three and used extensive graphic design within the show as well as "instant replay."
[edit] Jackson, Cosell and Meredith
Looking for a lightning rod to garner attention, Arledge hired controversial New York sports broadcaster Howard Cosell as a commentator, along with veteran football play-by-play man Keith Jackson. Arledge's original choice for the third member of the trio, Frank Gifford, was unavailable since he was still under contract to CBS. However, Gifford suggested former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Don Meredith, setting the stage for years of fireworks between the often-pompous Cosell and the laid-back Meredith. Curt Gowdy was Arledge's first choice for the play-by-play man in the booth, but was under contract to NBC Sports.
Monday Night Football first aired on ABC on September 21, 1970, with a match between the New York Jets and the Browns in Cleveland. Advertisers were charged $65,000 per minute by ABC during the clash, a cost that proved to be a bargain when the contest collected 33 percent of the viewing audience.
One of the trademarks of Monday Night Football is a music cue used during the opening teasers of each program, a Johnny Pearson composition entitled "Heavy Action", originally theme music for the BBC's Superstars series. ABC had acquired the rights to Heavy Action specifically for Monday Night Football.
That success would continue over the course of the season, helping establish a phenomenon on Monday nights in the fall: Movie attendance dropped, bowling leagues shifted to Tuesday nights and a Seattle hospital established an unwritten rule of no births during games.
Cosell's presence initially caused Henry Ford II, chairman of the Ford Motor Company, the show's main sponsor, to ask for his removal. Cosell dodged another controversy when he appeared to be intoxicated on the air during the November 23 game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. Already under the weather, Cosell drank at a promotional party prior to the game, then ended up vomiting on Don Meredith's cowboy boots near the end of the first half. Jackson and Meredith ended up announcing the rest of the contest.
[edit] Cosell, Gifford and Meredith
In 1971, ABC Sports president Roone Arledge dropped Jackson, who returned to broadcasting college football for ABC, in favor of Gifford. The former New York Giant had been an NFL announcer for CBS during the 1960s but never a play-by-play man prior to joining Monday Night Football. In that capacity for Monday Night Football from 1971-1985, Gifford was often criticized for his see-no-evil approach in regard to discussing the NFL, earning him the dubious nickname "Faultless Frank." Regardless, Gifford would have the longest tenure of any broadcaster on the show, lasting until 1998.
Cosell's abrasive personality gave him enough recognition to host a live ABC variety show in the fall of 1975. That show is remembered today only as a trivia question, as its title, "Saturday Night Live", prevented a new late-night sketch comedy program on NBC from using that title until the ABC show was cancelled. That seeming popularity was in contrast to the repeated criticisms in the media, as well as bar room contests in which winners were allowed to throw a brick through a television image of Cosell.
After beginning with critical acclaim, Meredith began to take his weekly assignments less seriously, while also beginning an acting career. By 1973, his motivation for the broadcasts seemed highly suspect, given incidents during a trio of contests. On October 16, Meredith was drinking during the Buffalo Bills-Kansas City Chiefs game, followed one week later by his pre-game analysis of the Denver Broncos-Oakland Raiders game: "We're in the Mile High City and I sure am" — a not-so-subtle reference to his use of marijuana at the time. Finally, during the Pittsburgh Steelers-Washington Redskins game on November 5, he referred to U.S. President Richard Nixon as "Tricky Dick."
[edit] Cosell, Gifford, Williamson and Karras
Meredith would be absent from Monday Night Football for a broadcasting and acting career on rival NBC from 1974 through 1976. Fred Williamson, a former Kansas City Chiefs defensive back nicknamed "The Hammer" for his often-brutal hits, was selected by ABC to replace Meredith in 1974, but following a few pre-season broadcasts, proved so inarticulate that he was relieved of his duties prior to the start of the regular season, becoming the first MNF personality not to last an entire season. Williamson was replaced by fellow Gary, Indiana native Alex Karras, formerly of the Detroit Lions. The highlight of Williamson's MNF career was probably at the introductory press conference where he quipped that he was hired to "bring some color to the booth."
Karras made his debut on September 16, 1974 and immediately made an impact when he jokingly referred to Oakland Raiders' defensive lineman Otis Sistrunk as having attended "The University of Mars." That would essentially be the high point of Karras' three-year tenure, with a developing movie career often distracting Karras from showing any improvement. (In reality, Sistrunk did not attend any college.)
[edit] Cosell, Gifford, Meredith and Tarkenton
Meredith returned to the ABC booth in 1977, but seemed to lack the enthusiasm that had marked his first stint from 1970-1973. While the NFL moved to a 16-week schedule in 1978, Meredith was only contractually obligated to work 14 games, leaving Cosell and Gifford to work games as a duo or with newly-retired Fran Tarkenton beginning in 1979.
One of the more somber contests in the run of the series came on November 27, 1978 when the San Francisco 49ers hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers. Earlier in the day, San Francisco mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk had been murdered at City Hall. Despite the complaints that followed, the NFL chose to play the game, a decision that mirrored the league's playing the weekend of the John F. Kennedy assassination 15 years earlier.
The opening contest of the 1979 season saw a poignant moment as former New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley was introduced to a sellout crowd at the Patriots' Schaefer Stadium. Stingley had been paralyzed in a preseason game the year before and was making his first visit to the stadium since the tragic accident.
[edit] 1980s
One of the best remembered moments in Monday Night Football history occurred on December 8, 1980, yet had nothing to do with the game or football in general. During a game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots, Howard Cosell broke the news of famed Beatle John Lennon's murder[1], news that stunned a nationwide audience. In 1974, Lennon had appeared in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth and was briefly interviewed by Cosell.
The 1982 television contract renewal also put ABC in the Super Bowl rotation for the first time, with Super Bowl XIX in 1985. A second renewal of the television contract gave them XXII in 1988.
[edit] Cosell, Gifford, Meredith and Simpson
Cosell continued to draw criticism during Monday Night Football with one of his offhand comments during the September 5, 1983 game igniting a controversy and laying the groundwork for his departure at the end of that season. In a game between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, Cosell referred to Alvin Garrett, an African American wide receiver for the Redskins, as a "little monkey." Cosell noted that Garrett's small stature, and not his race, was the basis for his comment, citing the fact that he had used the term to describe his grandchildren. In fact, a later special on Howard Cosell done by NFL Films soon after his death showed at least two occasions where he had called black players little monkey(s). Stung by the unrelenting barrage of remarks, Cosell claimed upon his departure from Monday Night Football that the NFL had become "a stagnant bore." In Cosell's book, I Never Played the Game, he devoted an entire chapter ("Monkey Business") to the Garrett episode. Also in I Never Played the Game, Cosell said that ABC should've had the right to choose its own Monday Night schedule. In his mind, Monday Night Football is what elevated the NFL in popularity over Major League Baseball. He felt this should have been ABC's reward for raising the level of the NFL's popularity.
That same year, O.J. Simpson replaced Tarkenton as a fill-in when Meredith or Cosell, who also was a broadcaster for Major League Baseball's playoffs, was unavailable. The season would serve as a study in contrasts as one of the most exciting Monday night games ever was followed the next week by one of the most badly-played in the run of the series. On October 17, 1983, the highest scoring game in Monday Night Football history took place in the Green Bay Packers/Washington Redskins game, with the Packers winning the game by a 48-47 score. Seven days later, the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals played for more than four hours before settling for a 20-20 tie. The deadlock had come after dropped touchdown passes by Cardinal wide receivers Willard Harrell and Roy Green and a trio of missed field goals by teammate Neil O'Donoghue, including two in the final 63 seconds of the overtime period.
[edit] Gifford, Meredith and Simpson
When Cosell left prior to the start of the 1984, the trio of Gifford, Meredith and Simpson handled the duties. Cosell's departure seemed to have the greatest effect on Meredith, who many believed to be a poor analyst in his absence. Falling ratings also gave indications that much of the mystique that surrounded the weekly event had disappeared.
[edit] Gifford, Simpson and Namath
After the 1984 season, ABC replaced Meredith with Joe Namath the following year, with the quarterback making his debut in the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. In a coincidental twist, both Namath and Simpson were busy prior to the telecast with their induction into the shrine.
One of the more grisly moments in Monday Night Football history occurred during a game between the Washington Redskins and New York Giants on November 18, 1985, at RFK Stadium. Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann's career would end when Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor reached from behind to drag him down and Taylor fell heavily on the quarterback’s leg in the process. On the play, which viewers could see in a gruesome slow-motion replay, Theismann suffered a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula in his lower right leg[2].
Two weeks after that painful memory, the series' most watched contest took place as the previously unbeaten Chicago Bears were defeated by the Miami Dolphins, who had not lost to an NFC team at home since 1976. That would turn out to be Chicago's only loss in 1985. The show gained a Nielsen rating of 29.6 with a 46 share.
[edit] Gifford, Michaels and Swann
Both Namath and Simpson would be replaced at the end of the 1985 NFL season, with critics noting their lack of journalistic and reportorial skills in comparison to Cosell. In their place the following year came veteran broadcaster Al Michaels, who had previously anchored ABC's pregame coverage of Super Bowl XIX and was perhaps best known to that point as the play-by-play announcer of the "Miracle on Ice" game in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
Michaels served as the play-by-play announcer, teaming with Gifford for a two-man booth in 1986. During that season, the Miami Dolphins again made Monday night history with the biggest blowout in Monday Night Football history in a 45-3 rout of the New York Jets. (The record was later tied and subsequently broken in 2005; see below.) Also in 1986, when Al Michaels became unavailable because he was calling Major League Baseball's League Championship Series, Frank Gifford moved up into the play-by-play spot while Lynn Swann filled-in as the color commentator. Gifford would once again call the play-by-play when Michaels was busy calling the World Series in 1989.
[edit] Gifford, Michaels and Dierdorf
In 1987, Gifford and Michaels were joined by Dan Dierdorf, returning the series to its original concept of three announcers in the booth. The trio would last for 11 seasons through the conclusion of the 1997 season. Also in 1987, television composer Edd Kalehoff created a new arrangement of Johnny Pearson's "Heavy Action", by that time fully synonymous with the series. This more or less replaced an original composition by Charles Fox.
[edit] 1990s
Along with the renewed television contract, ABC was awarded the telecast to Super Bowl XXV and Super Bowl XXIX, and the first round of NFL playoffs. The Monday Night Football team of announcers anchored the telecasts, except for the first of two Wild Card playoff games, where ESPN's Sunday Night NFL crew of Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann anchored that telecast. However, the original crew for one of the two wild card playoff games in 1990 and 1991 consisted of Brent Musburger and Dick Vermeil (both of whom did college football broadcasts for ABC during those two seasons).
From 1990 until 2005, ABC's MNF television package has included seventeen regular season games (from 2003 until 2005, a Thursday game and 16 Mondays -- no game on Week 17 because of playoff preparation disadvantages), the first two wild card playoff games (held on the first Saturday of the playoffs), and at times, the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.
The October 17, 1994 episode between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos featured a duel between two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Joe Montana and John Elway. With 1:29 left to play in the game, Elway scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to put the Broncos ahead 28-24. But then Montana led the Chiefs on a 75-yard drive to score the game-winning touchdown with just 8 seconds to play. The final score was Chiefs 31, Broncos 28.
In 1997, ABC began using a scoring bug showing the game clock and score throughout the entire broadcast.
[edit] Michaels, Dierdorf and Esiason
In 1998, Lesley Visser became the first female commentator on Monday Night Football. She had been the first female beat writer in the NFL when she covered the New England Patriots for the Boston Globe in the mid-1970s, and was the first and only woman to handle a Super Bowl Trophy presentation when she was a sportscaster with CBS. Visser was followed by several women on the sideline who were perceived as "eye candy", none of whom affected the ratings.
For the 1998 season, ABC pushed Monday Night Football back an hour (it has usually aired at 9:00 p.m. EST). A special pregame show that was hosted by Chris Berman from the ESPN Zone restaurant in Baltimore was created. The game would start around 8:20 p.m. for this particular season. Despite leaving the booth, Frank Gifford stayed on one more year as a special contributor to the pregame show.
A mildly infamous incident came during the final 1998 telecast when Dierdorf asked Michaels, prior to a halftime interview with Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie, "Are you gonna tell 'em how you're sick of all this B.C. stuff?" Michaels (thinking that they had gone into a commercial break and that his microphone was off) replied, "No shit."
Nielsen numbers for the first 17 weeks of the 1998 TV season showed that Monday Night Football averaged a 13.9 rating, down 8 percent from 1997's 15.0--the previous standard in ratings futility. In actuality, MNF ratings had been hitting all-time record lows for the previous four years.
[edit] Michaels and Esiason
Beginning in 1999, Monday Night Football telecasts used a computer-generated yellow line to mark where a team needs to get a first down. ESPN had begun using it first. 1999 also saw the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game being moved from Saturday afternoon to Monday night. It would remain on Monday night through 2005.
Boomer Esiason replaced Gifford in 1998, and Dierdorf left for a return to CBS in 1999. Esiason's relationship with Michaels was questioned leading to his firing. Esiason and Michaels reportedly never got along, and it led to ABC firing Esiason shortly after calling Super Bowl XXXIV together.
[edit] 2000s
[edit] Michaels, Fouts and Miller
Comedian Dennis Miller joined the cast in 2000 along with Dan Fouts. The move was ultimately regarded as a bust by many viewers and commentators. ABC briefly considered adding popular political commentator Rush Limbaugh before Miller was added to the broadcast team, despite having no prior sports broadcast experience. Miller demonstrated a knowledge of the game and its personalities, although at times he tended to lapse into sometimes obscure analogy-riddled streams of consciousness similar to his "rants." ABC eventually set up a Web page dedicated to explaining Miller's sometimes obscure pop culture references.
Also in 2000, Don Ohlmeyer, the program's producer up until 1977 was brought back. [3] After spending time at NBC, Ohlmeyer was lured out of retirement to spark interest and provide some vigor to the broadcast. Besides the on-air talent, Ohlmeyer's changes included clips of players introducing themselves, new graphics, and music. In another rather irreverent move, the scoring bug was seen to have nicknames for the teams, such as "Skins" and "Fins" (for Redskins and Dolphins, respectively) instead of their common abbreviations, WSH and MIA, respectively.
On October 23, 2000, the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins competed in what is now known as The Monday Night Miracle. Trailing 30-7 in the fourth quarter, Vinny Testaverde led the Jets to score 23 unanswered points to tie the game. After Miami scored another touchdown, Testaverde threw to offensive tackle Jumbo Elliott to tie the game at 37-all. At 1:08 a.m., Tuesday morning, John Hall kicked a field goal in overtime to win the game 40-37. It was the second biggest fourth quarter comeback in NFL history and biggest comeback in Jets' history. Arnold Schwarzenegger predicted the comeback at halftime, where he was appearing with the MNF crew for an upcoming movie. With the Jets already down by 20 points he said,
| Wayne Chrebet will catch a pass and the Jets will win. They're a great team. |
The 2001 season of MNF featured a season-long campaign promoting the anticipated 20,000th point scored in MNF history. Broncos kicker Jason Elam completed the task with a field goal during a 38-28 loss at Oakland on November 5. The three points also put Elam over 1,000 points for his career.
[edit] Michaels and Madden
In 2002, both Dennis Miller and Dan Fouts were dropped and John Madden joined Al Michaels in a two man booth, which is arguably one of the most successful of all time. Madden was a former coach for the Oakland Raiders, namesake of the seminal Madden NFL video game series, and successful broadcaster with the CBS and Fox networks for 21 years before joining Monday Night Football.
In 2002, the broadcast debuted the mildly popular Horse Trailer award, in which a picture of the game's top performer(s) is displayed, as chosen by the broadcasting crew. During the fourth quarter of a preseason game early that season, Madden was joking about doing some recording in the "horse trailer", a term the producers used for one of the ABC production trucks. It was, in fact, a custom built trailer designed from the shell of a horse transporter, but inside housed sophisticated electronic equipment. By the first week of the regular season, an idea to decorate the plain white trailer with MNF decor, the entire MNF schedule, and a weekly MVP, was born. Immediately following each game, the winner(s) is chosen, and his picture is affixed to the trailer in the corresponding location. When Madden and Michaels went to NBC, they debuted a similar feature, the Rock Star – the photo of the player of the game being attached to the top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.
Also, in 2002, the commentators for the AFC Wild Card game were Brent Musburger and Gary Danielson. Jack Arute was the sideline reporter.
After suffering through several years of dismal Pro Bowl ratings, ABC considered moving the game to Monday night. In February 2003, Madden declined to serve as color commentator for the game in Hawaii, citing his fear of flying; former MNF personality Dan Fouts took his place. The following year, the Pro Bowl remained on Sunday, but was moved to ABC's sister network, ESPN.
In 2003, ABC and the NFL dropped the Monday Night Football game for the final week of the regular season. The move, which had been in effect for the first eight years of the broadcast (1970-1977), was the result of declining ratings, as well as problems involved for potential playoff teams, as there was a potential of only four days between their final regular season game and first round playoff game. ABC replaced the telecast with an opening weekend Thursday night game, and in exchange ESPN got a Saturday night game on the final weekend.
Also during the 2003 season, Lisa Guerrero decided to leave Fox's The Best Damn Sports Show Period to join the MNF television crew as a sideline reporter (replacing the pregnant Melissa Stark). Guerrero's performance on the broadcast was heavily criticized, and the following year (also in an apparent move away from the "eye candy" concept) ABC replaced her with longtime TV sports journalist Michele Tafoya. Lisa Guerrero defended herself by saying that the show hired her with the intention of going in a totally different direction with the job of sideline reporter — personality-driven and feature-driven — then discarded all of that and told her to just do the job in the usual fashion. She said that she never would have taken the job if she had known that they would change their minds like that. In 2005, Michele Tafoya sat out much of the season while on maternity leave. In Tafoya's place came Sam Ryan.
On the October 6, 2003, episode between the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis was trailing 35-14 with 3:43 remaining. A Tampa Bay kickoff was returned 90 yards, setting up an Indianapolis score. The Colts recovered the onside kick and scored to narrow the margin to seven. They forced a Tampa Bay punt and with under two minutes remaining, Manning led an 87-yard scoring drive, and the Colts scored the game-tying touchdown with 35 seconds left. In overtime, kicker Mike Vanderjagt missed a forty yard field goal, but Simeon Rice was called for a leaping penalty, a rarely-seen infraction that penalizes a player for running and jumping to block a kick and landing on other players. Vanderjagt's subsequent kick was batted and hit the upright, but fell in good, winning the game for the Colts. Vanderjagt went on to become the first kicker in NFL history not to miss a kick attempt in a complete season, including the playoffs.
On December 22, 2003, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre put on one of the most defining moments of his career (while also ranking among his greatest game ever). The day before the contest against the Oakland Raiders, his father, Irvin, died suddenly of a heart attack. Favre elected to play, passing for four touchdowns in the first half, and 399 yards for the game in a 41-7 destruction of the Raiders (receiving applause from the highly partisan "Raider Nation"). Afterwards, Brett said,
| I knew that my dad would have wanted me to play. I love him so much and I love this game. It's meant a great deal to me, to my dad, to my family, and I didn't expect this kind of performance. But I know he was watching tonight. |
On November 15, 2004, controversy shrouded Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens when he appeared with popular TV actress Nicollette Sheridan (of the new hit ABC series Desperate Housewives) in an introductory skit which opened that evening's MNF telecast, in which Owens and the Eagles played the Cowboys at Texas Stadium. The skit was widely condemned as being sexually suggestive (see video [4]) and ABC was forced to apologize for airing it (the Eagles went on to win the game, 49-21, with Owens catching three touchdown passes). However, on March 14, 2005, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that the skit did not violate decency standards, because it contained no outright nudity or foul language.
[edit] The End of the ABC Era
Despite high ratings, ABC lost millions of dollars on televising the games during the late 1990s and 2000s. Also, the NFL indicated that it wanted Sunday night to be the new night for its marquee game, because more people tend to watch TV on Sundays, and Sundays would be more conducive to flexible scheduling, a method by which some of the NFL's best games could be moved from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night on short notice. Given these factors, as well as the rise of ABC's ratings on Sunday night, and their wish of protecting their Desperate Housewives franchise (which they knew would be costly), on April 18, 2005, ABC and the NFL announced the upcoming end of their 36-year partnership, with Monday Night Football being aired on ESPN starting with the 2006 season, a move some Disney shareholders have criticized. However, ESPN's ability to collect subscription fees from cable and satellite providers, in addition to selling commercials, made it more likely that ESPN could turn a profit on NFL telecasts, as opposed to ABC's heavy losses.
The final ABC Monday Night broadcast was on December 26, when the New York Jets hosted the New England Patriots, from Giants Stadium. Eerily, both the first and last ABC Monday Night Football telecast games ended with a score of 31-21 with the Jets on the losing end. Vinny Testaverde holds the distinction of throwing the last TD pass in ABC's MNF telecast history; it was to wide receiver Laveranues Coles. Also, Testaverde's pass set an NFL record: most consecutive seasons with a touchdown pass, 19 seasons (1987-2005). Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel in the last ABC MNF broadcast on 26 December 2005 set a record of note, becoming the first player to catch 2 touchdown passes and record a quarterback sack in the same game. The final play of the ABC era was a Pats kneeldown by 44-year old reserve quarterback Doug Flutie. John Madden said at the show's ending
| They can take football away from ABC on Monday nights, but they can't take away the memories. |
Madden said something of similar effect when CBS lost the NFC package to Fox after the 1993 season.
In 2005, the Seattle Seahawks matched the record for MNF margin of victory, shutting out the hometown Philadelphia Eagles, 42-0. However, two weeks later, the penultimate broadcast for ABC saw the Baltimore Ravens establish a new benchmark in this department by defeating the Green Bay Packers, 48-3.
During its final NFL television contract, ABC was awarded the telecasts to Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXVII, and Super Bowl XL. With the end of ABC's contract, the Super Bowl XL broadcast was the network's final NFL telecast, at least for the foreseeable future, and quite possibly for good, as ESPN has now taken over ABC's sports division (ESPN on ABC). ESPN's interests are thus likely to take priority over ABC's.
[edit] Move to ESPN
Starting in 2006, ESPN began airing the Monday night games and NBC got ESPN's Sunday night package. ABC decided to stay with its successful prime time package of shows, headlined by Desperate Housewives, leaving NBC with the Sunday night package. The Sunday night game now will be the "showcase" game of the week on the NFL schedule.
While the ESPN broadcasts will have the MNF name and heritage, NBC (like ABC) is a broadcast network, whereas ESPN is a cable service not freely available to all Americans, though any ESPN games will still air on free broadcast TV in the home markets of each team. For that reason, NBC, not ESPN, will gain rights to the wild card doubleheader that has traditionally aired on ABC, as well as a share of the rotating rights to the Super Bowl (with CBS and Fox also in the mix). Also, John Madden, Al Michaels, and key MNF production personnel have all elected to join NBC for its broadcasts.
[edit] Tirico, Theismann and Kornheiser
ESPN had initially stated that its MNF team would consist of Al Michaels and Joe Theismann in the booth with Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber serving as sideline reporters. However, on February 8, 2006, ESPN announced that former NBA studio host Mike Tirico would replace Michaels in the booth in 2006, joined by Theismann, and Tony Kornheiser. ESPN announced the following day that it had "traded" the contract of Michaels to NBC to join Madden on their Sunday Night Football broadcast in exchange for some NBC Universal properties, including rights to Ryder Cup coverage, and the return of the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (a Walt Disney creation) to ESPN parent The Walt Disney Company after nearly 80 years of Universal ownership. [5] It is widely rumored that Michaels wanted to leave ESPN after he learned that NBC hired most of ABC's MNF production team; he had not worked with the Sunday Night production team that ESPN was moving to MNF.
ESPN's first Monday night broadcast was on Monday, August 14, 2006, when the Oakland Raiders visited the Minnesota Vikings, publicized as the return of Randy Moss to Minnesota for the first time since the Vikings traded him after the 2004 season. The telecast debuted with brand-new graphics, including a time-score box placed in the lower center of the screen. These graphics are now being phased in on other ESPN/ABC telecasts; a version of it to be used for NBA telecasts was unveiled on October 25, 2006. The first regular season Monday Night Football game to happen on ESPN was on September 11th, 2006. The game featured the visiting Minnesota Vikings at the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. The Vikings won 19-16.
The September 25 edition of Monday Night Football highlighted the New Orleans Saints' first game back in the Louisiana Superdome following Hurricane Katrina to take on the Atlanta Falcons. The game had a Super Bowl-like atmosphere with performances by the Goo Goo Dolls, U2, and Green Day before the game. Former President George H. W. Bush tossed the opening coin toss. The Saints beat the Falcons 23-3 in what now ranks as the third most-watched event in the history of cable television.
ESPN's October 23, 2006 telecast of the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys drew the largest audience in the history of cable television, besting the previous mark set by a 1993 NAFTA debate between Al Gore and H. Ross Perot. An average of 16,028,000 viewers (12.8 rating) watched as the Giants defeated the Cowboys, 36-22. ESPN's Monday Night Football now accounts for eight of the ten biggest cable audiences in history. [6]
[edit] The show as entertainment
Monday Night Football has continued to provide as much entertainment as sports throughout its run. In addition to the extra cameras, the show has also pioneered technological broadcast innovations, such as the use of enhanced slow motion replays and computerized graphics.
Celebrity guests, such as former Vice President Spiro Agnew, singers Plácido Domingo and John Lennon, President Bill Clinton, and even Kermit the Frog were often featured during the game to "liven up" the broadcast. The November 26, 1973 contest featured a rare instance of two celebrities entering the booth, with Lennon being interviewed by Cosell and California governor Ronald Reagan speaking with Gifford, with Reagan explaining the rules of American football (off-camera) to Lennon as the game went along. However, the late 1990s and early 2000s saw an even more increased reliance on the entertainment factor. Some halftime shows, featuring popular music stars, were broadcast in full rather than being ignored in favor of analysis of the game by the commentators, as in previous seasons.
Also, the stars returned in full force to the booth in 2006. Arnold Schwarzenegger, another celebrity turned California governor, was in the booth at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, California; before that, Jamie Foxx appeared at FedExField in suburban Washington, D.C. Following them have included NBA basketball superstar Dwyane Wade[7], Basketball Hall of Fame player Charles Barkley, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Jeff Gordon,MNF theme singer Hank Williams, Jr, and hip-hop superstar Jay-Z.
Williams Jr. (who sings the memorable catchphrase "Are you ready for some football?") composed a music video–style opening theme for the show (a later theme was provided by Kid Rock). Before Hank Williams, Jr.; Edd Kalehoff revamped the "Heavy Action" theme song in 1989. It was Williams, Jr who literally had the last word on ABC's last broadcast, with his rendition of Don Meredith's famous song, "Turn Out the Lights, The Party's Over," shown as the broadcast ended.
For its 2006 debut on ESPN, Williams Jr. re-recorded the MNF opening theme with an all-star jam band that included Little Richard, ?uestlove, Joe Perry, Clarence Clemons, Rick Nielsen, Bootsy Collins, Charlie Daniels, Steven Van Zandt and others. The 2006 show open, produced by The Syndicate, features computer-generated imagery showing a city being transformed into a football stadium and passers-by on the street turning into players, coaches, and officials set to an updated orchestral treatment of the "Heavy Action" theme song. The sequence begins every week with a different celebrity walking down the street, picking up a glowing football helmet with the ESPN logo on the side and ending with the stars asking "I'm ready for some football? Are you?", thus beginning the transformation process. Celebrites include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matthew Fox, Hugh Hefner, Paris Hilton, Spike Lee, Ashton Kutcher, Samuel L. Jackson, Ludacris, and Eva Longoria.
The program's affiliation with ABC also resulted in numerous promotional crossovers between MNF and other ABC programs. Casts of various ABC series such as Alias often appeared in specially produced skits made to introduce various broadcasts (often ending with the stars asking "I'm ready for some football? Are you?"). Among those appearing in this role in 2006 included Williams Jr. gave the catchphrase, live, on top of the "Cowboy star" at the 50-yard line of Texas Stadium before the October 23, 2006 game.
[edit] Trivia
- Prior to 1978, there would be one "bye week" per season in which no Monday night game would be scheduled or televised.
- For a time in the 1980s, ABC also aired occasional games on Thursday nights. These were billed by the network as Thursday Night Editions of Monday Night Football.
- From 1970 to 1995, ABC affiliates in Seattle and Portland aired MNF games on a one-hour tape delay in order to accommodate local newscasts (unless the Seattle Seahawks were playing, in which case the game would be shown live). The practice, long opposed by viewers and ABC, was ended in 1996. The Seattle ABC affiliate then tried to accommodate having to show their news later than the other TV stations in the city by marketing it as KOMO 4 NEWS PRIMETIME saying it was a great way to watch the news at a more convenient time than evening rush hour.
- Additionally, this practice was done in Hawaii, where ABC affiliate KITV/Honolulu delayed the game until 6 p.m. locally, meaning either 11 p.m. or midnight eastern depending on which side of the daylight savings time date the game was played. Thusly, the game, which was broadcast live on local radio, was almost over before it aired on television.
- In the case of Guam, KTGM, the ABC affiliate in that U.S. territory, aired MNF live on Tuesdays at 11 a.m., which is due to Guam's being a day ahead of the United States.
- There have been a few occasions when two Monday night games were played simultaneously. In 1987, a scheduling conflict arose when Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins went to Game 7 of the World Series (which also aired on ABC), making the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome unavailable for the Minnesota Vikings' scheduled game that Sunday. The Vikings game was subsequently moved to Monday night, and ABC aired it in a split telecast with the regularly-scheduled MNF game. A similar scenario unfolded in 1997, when the Florida Marlins went to Game 7 of the World Series and the Miami Dolphins' Sunday game at Pro Player Stadium was shifted to Monday night. In 2005, the New Orleans Saints played the New York Giants in a rescheduled game due to Hurricane Katrina; the Saints-Giants game began at 7:30 p.m. before being switched over to ABC's corporate sister network ESPN at 9 p.m. for the regularly scheduled matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins (the Saints-Giants game was seen in its entirety in New York, Louisiana and other hurricane-affected areas on ABC, with the regularly-scheduled MNF game shown on ESPN until the end of the first game).
- In 2006, the NFL staged its first scheduled Monday night doubleheader on the opening weekend of the season. The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Washington Redskins, 19-16, in a game that started at 7 p.m. ET, and the San Diego Chargers topped the Oakland Raiders, 27-0, in a game that started at 10:15.
- On October 27, 2003, the MNF game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins was moved to a neutral site. The Cedar Fire in the San Diego area forced the teams to vacate Qualcomm Stadium, which was being used as an evacuation site. The game was moved to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe and shown as scheduled. The tickets for the game were free.
- In September 2005, the New Orleans Saints vacated from the Louisiana Superdome in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and were forced to move a scheduled Sunday afternoon home game against the New York Giants from New Orleans to Monday night at Giants Stadium. In a unique television doubleheader, the Saints-Giants game started at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and the first half aired on ABC; at 9 p.m. the game shifted to ESPN while ABC began its regularly-scheduled MNF game of the Washington Redskins visiting the Dallas Cowboys (the Saints-Giants game was seen in its entirety in New York, Louisiana and other hurricane-affected areas on ABC, with the regularly-scheduled MNF game shown on ESPN until the end of the first game). ABC and ESPN interspersed both games with an on-air telethon to raise money for aid to the hurricane's victims. The last 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter and the entirety of the 2nd half were not seen in Canada, as TSN, the cable network that holds the rights to ESPN NFL games but not to "MNF", chose instead to air WWE Monday Night Raw(the highest rated show on basic USA cable), and ABC had switched to the start of the Dallas-Washington game. (TSN no longer has the rights to show Monday Night Raw and now shows all MNF games without interruption.)
- For several occasions in the 1980s and early 1990s, the MNF broadcasting crew was used to cover one of the many college football bowl games on ABC. For example, the MNF crew of Michaels, Gifford, and Dierdorf called the 1992 Sugar Bowl.
- The MNF crew of Michaels, Gifford, and Dierdorf made a cameo appearance in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, during the fictional Monday Night Football game in the film. Pieces of the sequence were shot around an actual Monday Night game between the Cardinals and the Cowboys in 1995.
- The New York Jets played in the first network broadcast of MNF (1970), a defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Browns 31-21. In the last network broadcast on December 26, 2005, the Jets lost to the New England Patriots; the final score was also 31-21.
- The first sponsor of MNF was Marlboro Cigarettes; this was before the FCC banned all cigarette commercials from television forever.
- As a coach, John Madden has the highest winning percentage (.740) in Monday Night Football history and he later broadcast MNF telecasts for ABC.
- The highest scoring game in Monday Night Football history occured on October 17, 1983 between the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins which was won by Green Bay 48-47. Both teams combined for over 1,000 yards of total offense. The lowest scoring game on Monday Night Football happened on September 18, 2006 when the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 9-0 on ESPN's second Monday night broadcast.
- The biggest blowout in Monday Night Football was on December 19, 2005 when the Baltimore Ravens crushed the Green Bay Packers 48-3.
- From 2002 MNF was shown live in the UK on Fivea UK Network TV channel. It still airs on Five live on Monday nights.
[edit] The commentators
A complete list of broadcasters (many of whom were ex-NFL players), with their period of tenure on the show (beginning years of each season shown, as the NFL season ends in the calendar year after it begins). Game announcers used in #2 games usually come from ESPN and are included for both wild card playoff games (1995-2005 except 2002-2003 season) and #2 games:
[edit] MNF on radio
Since its inception Monday Night Football has also been carried on national radio networks. The Mutual Broadcasting System aired the games initially, with Van Patrick (1970-1973) and Lindsey Nelson (1974-1977) announcing. CBS Radio (now Westwood One, which interestingly would absorb Mutual) took over in 1978 with Jack Buck and Hank Stram commentating. In 1995, Howard David and Matt Millen replaced Buck and Stram. Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason have been the MNF radio voices since 2002.
[edit] Slogans
- Is it Monday Yet?
- Are you ready for some football?
- "I'm thinkin' about Monday"
[edit] References
- Gunther, Marc, and Bill Carter. (1988). Monday Night Mayhem: The Inside Story of ABC's Monday Night Football. New York, NY: Beech Tree Books. ISBN 0-688-07553-3
[edit] See also
- NFL on CBS
- NFL on FOX
- NFL on NBC
- Monday Night Games Pre-1970
- Monday Night Football: All-Time Standings
- Monday Night Football: Series By Series History
- Monday Night Football: Year-by-Year History (1970-89)
- Monday Night Football: Year-by-Year History (1990-Present)
[edit] External links
- Google Video Search channel:abc title:monday title:night title:live
- ESPN.com - NFL Index
- ABCSports.com
- John Madden
- ESPN.com - NFL - 2005 ABC Sports' MNF schedule
- [8] John Madden's RSS (file format) feed, available during the NFL season
- Monday Night Mayhem (2002) (TV)
- Jump the Shark - Monday Night Football
- TWoP Forums -> Monday Night Football
- Though well-intentioned, "MNF's" Katrina telethon was poorly executed
- Monday Night Football Theme (1978 - 1988) (.mp3 format)
- Saying goodbye to Monday Night Football on ABC
- TV Theme - ABC, NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football.wav
- ABC Monday Night Football (1970) - 'Heavy Action' instrumental music
- ABC Monday Night Football (1989) - The long 'Heavy Action' instrumental version used when introducing the teams.
- TV Review: New 'MNF' Trio Makes Debut
- Opening to ESPN's Monday Night Football (2006)
| American Football: Monday Night Football* | The Monday Night Miracle* | Saturday Night Football |
| Auto Racing: NASCAR |
| Baseball: Monday Night Baseball* | Baseball Night in America* | Major League Baseball on ABC* |
| Basketball: NBA on ABC | List of National Basketball Association games televised by ABC | NBA Countdown | NBA Inside Stuff | NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad |
| Hockey: The NHL on ABC* | Miracle on Ice |
| Horse Racing: Triple Crown Productions* |
| Other programming: ABC's Wide World of Sports* | Superstars* |
| See also: United States sports broadcasting lists |
| Asterisk (*) indicates that the program aired only during the ABC Sports era (in other words, the program ended prior to August 2006), not during the ESPN on ABC era. |
Categories: Articles lacking sources from December 2006 | All articles lacking sources | Monday Night Football | National Football League on television | 1970 television program debuts | 1970s TV shows in the United States | 1980s TV shows in the United States | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States | ABC network shows | Monday | The NFL on ABC | ESPN network shows | The NFL on ESPN | Sports-related shows
