Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football is a television broadcast of one of the premier National Football League games of the week. It airs live on the ABC television network in the United States on Monday nights during the NFL season, and is one of the most popular shows on American television, particularly among men. Monday Night Football (often informally abbreviated as MNF) is currently the second-longest-running prime time show on American television, after CBS's 60 Minutes.

2000s

Unexpectedly, comedian Dennis Miller joined the cast in 2000 along with Dan Fouts. The move was ultimately a bust. 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 ultimately ended up setting up a Web page dedicated to explaining Miller's many obscure (and not-so-obscure) pop culture references.

Related Topics:
Dennis Miller - 2000 - Dan Fouts - Rush Limbaugh - Streams of consciousness

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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.

Related Topics:
2002 - John Madden - Madden NFL - Fox

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In 2003, 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 to away from the "eye candy" concept) ABC replaced her with longtime TV sports journalist Michele Tafoya. In 2005, Michele Tafoya sat out much of the season due her being on maternity leave. In Tafoya's place came Sam Ryan.

Related Topics:
2003 - Lisa Guerrero - The Best Damn Sports Show Period - Pregnant - Melissa Stark - Michele Tafoya - 2005 - Maternity leave - Sam Ryan

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On November 15, 2004, controversy shrouded Philadelphia Eagles wide receiever Terrell Owens when he appeared with popular TV actress Nicolette Sheridan (of the new 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 http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2656474) 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. The skit was parodied by the WWE's Shelton Benjamin and Trish Stratus on Monday Night RAW the following week.

Related Topics:
November 15 - 2004 - Philadelphia Eagles - Terrell Owens - Nicolette Sheridan - ABC - Desperate Housewives - Cowboys - Texas Stadium - March 14 - 2005 - Federal Communications Commission - WWE - Shelton Benjamin - Trish Stratus - Monday Night RAW

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Despite high ratings, ABC lost millions of dollars on televising the games during the late 1990s and 2000s. Hence, on April 18, 2005, it was announced that ABC and the NFL had decided to end their 36-year partnership, with Monday Night Football being aired on ESPN starting with the 2006 season. Later in 2005, ESPN announced 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.

Related Topics:
1990s - 2000s - April 18 - 2005 - ESPN - 2006 - Joe Theismann - Suzy Kolber

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ESPN and NBC Sports, which will begin airing Sunday night games at the same time, have each staked a claim to their package being the rightful descendant of the ABC version of MNF as the league's "showcase" game. While the ESPN broadcasts will have the MNF name and heritage, NBC is a broadcast network as is ABC, whereas ESPN is a cable service not freely available to all Americans. 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. Also, John Madden has elected to join NBC for its broadcasts, despite the success of the Michaels-Madden pairing.

Related Topics:
NBC Sports - Broadcast - Cable - Super Bowl

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After initially renewing their NFL television contract, ABC was awarded the telecasts to Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXVII, and Super Bowl XL. Due to the end of ABC's contract with the NFL, the Super Bowl XL broadcast will be the network's final NFL telecast (at least for the foreseeable future).

Related Topics:
Super Bowl XXXIV - Super Bowl XXXVII - Super Bowl XL

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