ESPN Monday Night Football

[Vinny]

Monday Night Football may move to ESPN
Switch could give NBC Sunday night football deal
NBCSports.com news services
Updated: 2:26 a.m. ET July 23, 2004

The NFL may be moving Monday Night Football to ESPN, resulting in NBC airing Sunday night broadcasts, USA Today reported.

Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, chairman of the league's TV committee reportedly told the paper that because of the heavy losses ABC has taken from MNF's sagging ratings, it could be shifted to the network's cable partner.

ABC has carried MNF since its inception in 1970. Its eight-year deal, reportedly worth an average of $550 million a year, expires after the 2005 season. ESPN, on the other hand, reportedly makes money on its $600 million deal for Sunday night games because of subscriber fees and ad sales.

"ESPN to Monday Night Football obviously is out there," Bowlen told the paper, who added negotiations likely would begin in October. "ESPN to Monday nights and ABC to Sunday nights is an intriguing idea. But Sunday night may be an intriguing idea to networks other than ABC ... one being NBC."

George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports, declined to comment. NBC Sports and Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol was in Athens on Thursday preparing for the Olympics and was unavailable.
© 2004 NBC Sports.com

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5493160/

[hook'em07carter]

I was watching espn today and i heard that abc was thinking of trading one mnf games this year to espn for a sunday night game. and then they you have people say we dont need monday night football. im totally against that im a true football fan i cant get enough football in my life i love it, 5 days a week isnt enough for me to be satified, but i have to be because broadcasting purposes. i dont have cable in my room so id be real mad if i didnt get my 5 games a week

[HowBoutThemCowboys!]

Dont have cable either unforteuntly. As long as ESPN doesnt have both Sunday and Monday night games I'll be pleased

[JustBonee]

BRING ON THE TEXANS ...

Has it ever occurred to them that if they would put good match-ups on MNF that the ratings wouldn't be dipping so badly? They only have a handful of teams that they ever want on there ... and they are usually very boring games.
With 32 teams, I would think someone could come up with a little imagination and more variety.
The money thing is really getting tiring to me also... between the networks, and the players, and the owners, and the league. The greed is unbelieveable.

[gwallaia]

Whether its ABC or ESPN, they need to bring back the old Monday Night Football theme song and ditch the Hank Jr. version.

Listen here

[beerlover]

Originally Posted by __V__

I love that old theme song. As a kid I used to be able to stay up until the halftime highlights by Cosell (and I had to fight/whine for that). Then it was bedtime.

And your still fighting & whining before bed just kidding Vinny :hehe:

In this case change would be good, its all about the football anyway I don't care who broadcasts as long as its broadcast.