How about this idea to fix Monday Night Football?

[TruBlueCowboy]

Instead of trying to find the dream team that will replace Meredith, Cosell and Gifford, how about just admitting that it won't happen, and having new hosts every week for Monday Night Football? They could be interesting ones too, not just career football broadcasters. You could throw in your Dennis Miller or Rush Limbaugh types from time to time.

Maybe during a Cowboys vs. Commanders MNF game, they could have two broadcasts, one on ABC with the Cowboys homers (Michael Irvin, Darren Woodson, Pat Summerall) and one on ESPN with the Commanders homers (Joe Thiesman, Jon Riggins, etc.). I know the contract probably doesn't allow them to broadcast over two stations owned by the company but the NFL could change some rules if they felt it would increase ratings and revenue. (Edit - Or as Sportsbabe pointed out below, have a broadcast team with a one homer for each team and a neutral man in the middle.)

They could have a reunion with Don Meredith and Frank Gifford. A Dan Dierdorf/Al Michaels reunion, a Pat Summerall/John Madden reunion. A Mike Ditka/Jim McMahon/whoever reunion. From time to time, throw in comedians who were football players or big fans, like Kevin James from King of Queens. The possibilities are endless. I think the only problem would be trying to get guys like Aikman who have already signed their souls away to another network and may not be legally (or have enough time) able to work MNF, but I think it would be affordable for the network to do this because a lot of people probably look at it as an honor to host Monday Night Football, although that glory is fading fast.

If the MNF crew did something like this, ratings would skyrocket sometimes just because people wanted to catch the new broadcast team. If a certain broadcast team brings in nice ratings, bring them back! The Tonight Show under Johnny Carson did this all the time and launched careers for Jay Leno, David Letterman, Joan Rivers and others.

You could combine this with other ideas such as not picking the games until a month or so before the matchup. There's too much parity in this league and too many bad games on MNF when they try and predict the dominant teams early in the season. So do ya think it would work?

 

[dargonking999]

I think the idea of waiting before seeing who's on monday night is cool, but the rest i dont know, i really could care less who's doing the commentary, i just wanna see the game

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

I think the idea of waiting before seeing who's on monday night is cool, but the rest i dont know, i really could care less who's doing the commentary, i just wanna see the game

Well, yeah, but you're probably not the person they're losing. Even if Paris Hilton and Tiny Tim were the commentators, the hardcore football fanatics would tune in regardless. I'm just trying to think of a way to bring back the ratings and spectacle of MNF, without doing such a drastic move like having Dennis Miller 24/7, that is starts to piss off some of the NFL faithful.

 

[Sportsbabe]

I like the idea of having a homer from each team calling the game. (I could hear a Cowboy homer saying "what is Bill doing!@!??!! ) You would need a neutral play-by-play guy to keep the peace. I love it.

I would also like to add that half-time should be about the charities, programs and community work that players around the league sponsor and participate in. It would give the public a chance to see what's available; it could promote a good cause; and it will show the humanity side of football players.

 

[Hoov]

I dont see how they could wait to set the schedule for MNF. But it does seem lately that the matchups have been weak. Maybe they try so hard to find what they think will be good matchups based on the past year, but you cant do that as well these days with the constant changing of team rosters from FA. And i think they have to be partial to giving all teams a chance to play, i dont think in the past they were so concerned about being fair and spreading it around.

I always like division matchups for MNF. Much rather see cowboys -eagles, than cowboys - patriots or cowboys - vikings for MNF.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

I like the idea of having a homer from each team calling the game. (I could hear a Cowboy homer saying "what is Bill doing!@!??!! ) You would need a neutral play-by-play guy to keep the peace. I love it.

I would also like to add that half-time should be about the charities, programs and community work that players around the league sponsor and participate in. It would give the public a chance to see what's available; it could promote a good cause; and it will show the humanity side of football players.

That's another way you could do it. Have a Cowboys homer (*cough* Irvin *cough*) on one side and a 49ers homer on the other (*cough* Young *cough*), with Al Michaels in the middle being the neutral man.

 

[Hoov]

That's another way you could do it. Have a Cowboys homer (*cough* Irvin *cough*) on one side and a 49ers homer on the other (*cough* Young *cough*), with Al Michaels in the middle being the neutral man.

That would be great

 

[noshame]

spectacle of MNF

That's really it right there. I cannot see how they would re-capture what MNF was in the 70s and 80s. I mean, just strolling into a bar and seeing the HUGE tv screen was surreal. Then add the "trio" in the booth on top of that, it was just a "spectacle".

Moment in time.

 

[junk]

My idea?

Screw the West Coast folks and start the games earlier. They can't even keep a team in LA, they can miss the first half.

 

[Nightshade]

Methinks this stalwart fan lives in or around the west coast region.

 

[Nightshade]

spectacle of MNF

That's really it right there. I cannot see how they would re-capture what MNF was in the 70s and 80s. I mean, just strolling into a bar and seeing the HUGE tv screen was surreal. Then add the "trio" in the booth on top of that, it was just a "spectacle".

Moment in time.

Simple. The only fans that really matter are Dallas fans. The ratings are always highest when the Cowboys play because the Cowboys have the most fans. Therefore, make all MNF games Cowboys games and have Irvin, Moose and Aikman in the booth for all the games.

problem... solved.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Simple. The only fans that really matter are Dallas fans. The ratings are always highest when the Cowboys play because the Cowboys have the most fans. Therefore, make all MNF games Cowboys games and have Irvin, Moose and Aikman in the booth for all the games.

problem... solved.

Yup, I take it all back. I agree with that solution!

Wasn't it just dandy when Aikman and Moose were in the booth together? I wish the networks would have kept them together. :cry2:

 

[Doomsday101]

Can't say I have ever tuned into MNF because of who is in the booth, I watch it because I love the game of football. I do like your ideal TruBlueCowboy

 

[JackMagist]

Well my plan for saving MNF is to have a Voodoo Witch Doctor cast a curse that would somehow have Thiesman get lost in a small plane in the Bermuda Triangle never to be seen or heard from again. ANYONE else that they could put in the booth would be an improvement. Maybe we can then use some psychic mind control to force them to hire Moose and Woody to share the booth with Al Michaels.

(I just got through watching "Beyond Belief" in the SciFi channel)

 

[jman]

My idea, you ask?

Well you can't bring back the glory days, but you can use the same formula.

Two guys, three guys, whatever, as long as they know football.

Stop with the constant barage of hocking your new "big" show during the game. I don't care about Desparate Housewives or the next new "realility" show...I just want football from start to finish.

Remember when a celibrity did show up in the booth at times during the hey day? John Lennon, ...okay, that's the only one I can remember...but that's the point. Make it special. I don't need to see that the network flew the entire cast of whatever show to the game and have them talk about it over football.

And stop with the idiototic half time crap...I don't care if Joey Harrington can play the piano, or that whoever can rap. I don't care if they play pratical jokes on each other at practice. Just give me something interesting about...ohhhhh, I don't know...how about FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SkinsandTerps]

Give me Bob Costas, Troy Aikman, and Tom Jackson in a booth and you've got a winner.

Although the idea of rotating ammouncers would be a really good one.

 

[Shotgun Dave]

Those are all great ideas I think. The thing for me is to start the darn game before 9pm so I'm not up until 1am watching it. They ought to consider starting it at 8pm EST. Didn't they do that about 10-12 yeaars ago for one season?

 

[Jarv]

That's another way you could do it. Have a Cowboys homer (*cough* Irvin *cough*) on one side and a 49ers homer on the other (*cough* Young *cough*), with Al Michaels in the middle being the neutral man.

Al Michaels in the middle being the neutral man. Um, Newtered maybe, but neutral ? He's a Niner homer.

 

[junk]

Oh come on, a change in game time affects you guys the least. With Tivo, VCRs, etc, its not that big of deal.

A move back of one hour would be ideal for the three other time zones.

 

[Sportsbabe]

Those are all great ideas I think. The thing for me is to start the darn game before 9pm so I'm not up until 1am watching it. They ought to consider starting it at 8pm EST. Didn't they do that about 10-12 yeaars ago for one season?

I think it was closer to 5 or 6 years ago. I like the 9 EST start time. Gives me time to take care of all my nightly preps (eating, selecting an outfit for work the next day, taking a shower, giving myself a facial, and touching up my nails if need be).

I like staying up all night watching football. Like the poster said, the divisional rivalry games are the best on Monday night. There is a whole different atmosphere. Especially if the game is in Denver, Kansas City or some other fanatic stadium. It's the way football should be. :a-team: