Monday Night Football Question

[wdm1219inpenna]

Ladies & Gents of the boards,

I am a regular listener to ESPN Radio, and once in a great while I'll put on ESPN TV. Tonight was one such night. They have talked up and played up this Cowboys vs Bills game on Monday Night like it's 3 Super Bowls combined into one. They constantly are promoting MNF on their station, and I can't help but wonder if their ratings are lower compared to when it was on ABC.

I am almost 41, and I guess you'd consider me "old school" but Monday Night Football FELT like MNF when it was on ABC. It does not feel like it to me at all on ESPN. They have had some incredibly crappy matchups over the past 2 seasons, this week included.

I realize they have paid a lot of money to air these games but they really seem to shove this MNF build up down our collective throats. Maybe if they had some WATCHABLE teams and WATCHABLE matchups. Sunday Night Football on NBC has more of a Monday Night Football feel to it, between the matchups, and I have to confess, having Al & John in the booth too. I like Kornheiser on the few MNF broadcasts that I have actually felt compelled to watch, I don't miss Joey T., Jaws has always been annoying to me, and as for Tirico, he's okay. He's not superb, he's not awful, he's middle of the road. I do love his ESPN Radio show however.

Just wanted to see how other members felt about this. I miss ABC's Monday Night Football, where it felt more like an event rather than just another game.

Regards,

Bill McD.

[jkrdevil]

Ratings are lower but that's because it's on cable now instead of over the air tv. Still it's one of if not the highest rated cable shows and because ESPN draws revenue from both ads and high subscriber fees it's more profitable for Disney on ESPN than it was on ABC despite the lower ratings.

Yes Sunday Night has more of a MNF feel. That has to do with several things 1. it's over the air tv 2. Because almost all of the former MNF crew on ABC moved over to NBC and 3. the better matchups with the flex scheduling. In reality despite MNF moved to Sunday night and SNF which was on ESPN just moved to Monday Night. Also because ESPN is not dependent on ratings as much they aren't as compelled to give ESPN as good as match-ups as they are for NBC, CBS, and Fox.

Also to consider is because ESPN is an all sports network any game on it is going to have that just another game feel because ESPN can't draw in the casual viewing crowd the way ABC and NBC can. You average tv viewer is going to flip around the channels and see what's on NBC and ABC they aren't going to check out whats on ESPN unless they are already a Sports fan.

[hormone]

Well, ESPN does start their TV coverage for the MNF game about noon with all their countdown/NFL shows. They have to overhype it because, let's be serious, they won't get any viewers with "watch Dallas blow out the Bills tonight." I think with today's coverage, all games are overhyped. Back in the day, most teams were either really good or really crappy and the teams stayed that way for years. You knew in the 90s Dallas Vs SF would be awesome and if you didn't live in the market, you'd get the chance to see them. You waited all week for it to start at 9pm. Now, teams are good one year and suck the next and vice versa. With DirecTV and the 'net, you know everything about everyone and it's not as "hyped" That's just my .02.