How about this idea to fix Monday Night Football?

[Echo9]

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

Darg,

That sig is a riot!



(edit: after almost a year and a half, thats what I end up with for my 500th post. Ah well, the sig is still damn funny.)

 

[Jarv]

Heck, I don't even watch MNF much at all, unless the Boys are on.

 

[JsnSA]

Who cares about the announcers.

They should have the two teams race for the ball to determine who gets it first...and allow nicknames on the back of jerseys.

surely that will bring more viewers to monday night football.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now this is really a good observation IMO. I was about to post something simular but I think you identify the problem well.

MNF became a success because it was the only game in town and it was a target audiance. The product didn't need to be a circus atmosphere because the draw was football. It didn't need all the rest of the BS to inhance it. It was already a finished product. The broadcast team became great, not because they were great announcers, but because they understood the product and who there audiance was. They talked about what they new and that was football.

Somewhere along the line, the Networks tried to take this audiance and sell to them. They tried to turn us into consumers. What they failed to realize is that this market was not interested in that. They ruined a good thing buy over commercializing the product. They compounded the error by trying to replace football people with someone who could entertain you. The product is on the field. I don't want to be entertained by guys in the booth. That will come naturally as a natural course of the broadcast. It should not be the focus.

Just get guys who are knowledgeable about the game in there. I want to watch MNF with my friends and we will provide the off the field entertainment ourselves. Get some guys who know enough to shut the hell up and let the game speak for itself.

 

[blindzebra]

Who cares about the announcers.

They should have the two teams race for the ball to determine who gets it first...and allow nicknames on the back of jerseys.

surely that will bring more viewers to monday night football.

It sure worked for the XFL.

 

[Scotman]

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.

I actually love this idea. People would tune in just to hear their old homers call a game. Picture Irvin in the booth with Theisman. Irvin would eat him alive. I'd watch just to see it.

Great idea. You could even have the "nuetral" gal give out points to the broadcasters througout the game for the best barbs.

 

[dougonthebench]

I dont care who calls the game.I am a football fan period.I'm also a die-hard Cowboys fan.I agree with a lot of you,put people on the sidelines who know football.Not like Michelle Tafoya.

 

[jimmy40]

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.

The only way to do it is to leave it on ABC and take away everyone's cable or dish.

 

[Wimbo]

The problem with MNF is that it just starts too late. Calling it "Prime Time" is a joke. (yes, I understand time zones). ESPN's Sunday night game is more "Prime Time" IMO.

Perhaps they should dedicate the Sunday night ESPN game to the West coast teams, but make the Monday night game for Central and East Coast teams start at 7:30 pm ET. Nothing is making MNF more prestigous than any other time slot except Al Michaels telling you it is so.

 

[Kangaroo]

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

Tru I think there is a bigger issue here for Monday night. If you look at the trend the last 10 years Sunday Night was growing while Mondays where declining I factor this to several things.

The 1st thing is the majority of the work force have progressed from the 9-5 work week mentality most people I know tend to work 45-50 hours including me. We have are core hours but most of us kind of come and go as we need.

Second commute times have increased for many more people making round trips to and from work.

These are all cultural changes that have come about I think these and several other trends along this line have caused the drop in Monday night football.

 

[CoCo]

Guest announcers was tried as I recall, probably 17 years ago on ESPN.

Does no one remember Roger being in the booth for the game? I believe it was during the Pelleur at QB year.

On dueling color commentators... We need LESS emphasis on 'entertainment' not more.

Just give me the game. Having someone like Irvin vs Young in the booth would SIGNIFICANTLY DETRACT from the game IMO.

 

[Trophy#6]

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What this guy said. What the hell is all that other crap you people are talking about?? Why don't we bring in Big Bird and the Cookie Monster.. Maybe during half-time turn the field into a big ice slick and bring in the Lion King Ice Capade.

And while we're at it, all Cheerleaders from all teams should be canned...Nude Playmates should be used instead. And instead of owners sitting in their private boxes, rotating political officials should come in for each visiting MNF team from their home state.

I'm then thinking cut the games to 60 seconds rather then 60 minutes. Don't want to miss any of the theme dedicated parades and marching bands which will open up each and every quarter with a number. We'll use local high schools for the marching bands...home pride.

And last but not least, an hour and a half dedication to an ex-player from the "Glory Days"... even if a team doesn't have those "gloriful" days to look back on- they can borrow someone elses, like the Cowboys.

...sarcasm off, put the bongs and crackpipes down people.

 

[CosmicCowboy]

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?[/QUOTE

Let's.. not forget Alex Karras !!!

 

[jackrussell]

For halftime, perhaps:


NFL Court TV, Judge Judy presiding. NFL players, represented by Jackie Chiles(Kramer's lawyer) present their case, verdict determined by fan vote.

I'm sure they'd have no problem filling the docket for a full season.