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.

History

By 1968, the NFL was becoming very popular in the United States as a broadcast television sport. Games were and still are mainly played on Sunday afternoons. Then-Commissioner of the NFL, Pete Rozelle, began to envision the possibility of playing at least one game during prime time for a greater TV audience, and approached both the CBS and NBC TV networks with the idea. Both networks rejected it, as they already had successful prime time programming in place. (Reportedly, NBC turned down the idea when comedian and talk-show host Johnny Carson became incensed that a football game, if it lasted longer than the allotted three hours, would pre-empt a portion of his popular show, The Tonight Show). Even so, a few Monday night games were actually played in 1969, but were only telecast locally; that is, to the market of the visiting team (all home games were "blacked out" until a federal law was passed in 1971 permitting such games to be broadcast so long as all tickets to the game had sold out; the change took effect the following year).

Related Topics:
1968 - Sport - Pete Rozelle - NBC - Johnny Carson - The Tonight Show - 1969 - 1971

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As there were three major networks at the time, this left only ABC, where producer Roone Arledge immediately saw possibilities for the new show. Arledge set out to create an entertainment "spectacle" as much as a simple sports broadcast. Chet Forte, the director of the program for over 22 years, ordered twice the usual number of cameras to cover the game. He created the "color man" position and used graphic design within the show as well as "instant replay". The controversial and idiosyncratic sports broadcaster Howard Cosell commented on the action, along with veteran football commentator Keith Jackson and former player Don Meredith. Monday Night Football first aired on ABC on September 21, 1970, with a match between the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Related Topics:
Roone Arledge - Howard Cosell - Keith Jackson - Don Meredith - September 21 - 1970 - New York Jets - Cleveland Browns - Cleveland, Ohio

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The show has run ever since, and the NFL has obliged by scheduling its best teams and biggest stars for that night, so as to gain maximum exposure; however, the league has sometimes been criticized for reflexively excluding teams that had finished near the bottom of the previous season's standings from the Monday night schedule; examples include the 1981 season, neither of whose two Super Bowl teams?the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals?had played on Monday night that year, and 1999, when the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl after not having appeared in a Monday night game during that regular season.

Related Topics:
1981 - Super Bowl - San Francisco 49ers - Cincinnati Bengals - 1999 - St. Louis Rams - Super Bowl

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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.

Related Topics:
Green Bay Packers - Dallas Cowboys - Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders - Chicago Bears - Denver Broncos - Miami Dolphins

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Often, the previous year's Super Bowl champion will be scheduled to play in the first Monday night game of the season, usually at home?although in 2003 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had won the Super Bowl the season before, were made to open their season on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, in what was the first regular-season game ever played at Lincoln Financial Field. (The Buccaneers nevertheless won the game, 17-0).

Related Topics:
Super Bowl - 2003 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Philadelphia Eagles - Lincoln Financial Field

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In 2003, ABC and the NFL dropped the Monday Night Football game for the final week of the regular season. Teams and players had for years, been concerned about playing in that game, considering they might have play in the wild card playoffs only five days later. In order to give all teams fair rest time before the playoffs, the Week 17 Monday game was dropped, and ABC replaced the missing telecast with an opening weekend Thursday night game.

Related Topics:
2003 - NFL - Thursday

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In the 2001 season, the final two MNF games fell on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The NFL and ABC reacted by moving the two games up two days, and playing them on two consecutive Saturday nights instead.

Related Topics:
2001 - Christmas Day - New Year's Day - NFL

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Historically, ABC's MNF television package has included seventeen regular season games, the first two wild card playoff games (held on the first Saturday of the playoffs), and the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl. After suffering through several years of dismal Pro Bowl ratings, ABC considered moving the game to Monday night. In February 2003, John Madden was unable to commentate the game in Hawaii, due to his fear of flying. Former MNF personality Dan Fouts took his place for the day. The Pro Bowl remained on Sunday, and instead, beginning in February 2004, it was moved to ESPN.

Related Topics:
Playoff - Pro Bowl - February 2003 - John Madden - Hawaii - Fear of flying - Dan Fouts - February 2004 - ESPN

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