It is time for MNF to go quietly into the night

[Fletch]

Is it too late for Witten to report to the Star for practice on Wednesday?

Can’t wait to see him on a 3rd and 8 situation get shoe-string tackled for a gain of 5.

I tell ya, those were the days!

 

[Zekeats]

ESPN has ruined MNF. It used to be the end to a great weekend now I am watching the Resident instead. I hate ESPN and will avoid it unless the cowboys are playing.

 

[jrumann59]

well when you move it to a cable channel viewership will go down. Remember even before the digital age MNF was "free" you did not need cable to watch it, even now if it was on ABC many more could watch it because it would still be beamed over the air in HD.

 

[G2]

ESPN blows

 

[the_h0wey]

They keep trying to inflate a flat tire and there are just some ideas that have an expiration date. I believe this is one of them.

Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland are trying too hard and I believe it's been impressed on them that this is a desperate situation. ESPN is bleeding from the jugular because of the rights fees and now that the NFL has turned on them and decided to put better games on TNF, this has run it's course.

I grew up with MNF, it was indeed special to me for many years and actually allowed me to get my wife interested by created indigenous dishes for the team we were rooting for but after 10 years, even that went to rest.

When MNF was born, there weren't Thursday college games or NFL ones, the number of college games were 1/3 of what they are today and I wonder if people, not fans of the two teams playing, are "footballed out" by Monday.

I was looking forward to listening to Witten do these games because he is one of my favorite Cowboys ever but he is just terrible as an analyst and I turned the audio off and just put on some tunes for the DEN-KC game. He is actually detracting from the game.

Sometimes, you have an old friend that you've loved dearly, like a good pet, and it becomes evident that it is time to end their suffering. This needs to end.

I enjoy Witt on the call. Booger being carted around on some elevated surface is wheels off. I also wouldn't mind never having to see his fingers again. Yuck.

 

[McKDaddy]

Putting lipstick on a pig doesn't accomplish much. Given the technology of the day maybe they should have adopt a different format.

Maybe one guy on site in the booth & have other commentators remote who can breakdown the play & add something to the game rather than just spew to fill time. The other commentators shouldn't be the same each week but instead a rotating panel. Perhaps a mix of ex players, coaches, GM's along with celebrities and even regular people. Fill dead time with social media commentary and or prepared pieces like the pregame shows.

Anything that would keep it fresh and minimize the meaningless jabber to fill air time.

 

[CPanther95]

MNF is probably the most valuable asset that the NFL has for all the wrong reasons. It's not for the legacy of great football that had been built over decades by ABC, it's because of the way numbers were moved around in an accounting ledger and 90 million of us schmucks paying $7 a month for ESPN to get MNF.

Disney claimed that advertising revenue could no longer justify the cost of MNF and ABC would no longer be able to carry it (advertising revenue NEVER offsets the cost of carrying NFL games). ABC was losing $150 million a year when looking strictly at ad revenue vs the NFL contract price. So how did they remedy the situation? Disney moved it to ESPN where there are significantly fewer eyeballs to sell to advertisers, they agree to go from premium matchups to being on the bottom of the totem pole when selecting games and they paid $200 million MORE to the NFL for the privilege. So even if they could somehow get as much ad revenue as they did on ABC (impossible) that should net a $350 million/year loss - except Disney projected the move would yield a $250 million/year profit! That $600 million a year swing was exclusively due to the increase in subscriber fees they could get by leveraging MNF to cable and SAT companies. And it worked. From the NFL's viewpoint, the deal made MNF a subpar - but much more profitable - product. It also let the NFL offer SNF MNF's premium scheduling position making it a far more valuable property. It was a WIN-WIN-LOSE proposition and the only loser was the fans.

We lost our Monday prime time NFL event we grew up with and it was replaced with the kind of matchup that ESPN & TNT used to offer us on Sunday Night. Plus ESPN was able to jack up their subscriber fees from just under $5/month to about $7/month so we're paying ESPN over $2 BILLION/year to give us a crappy matchup instead of paying ABC nothing for the best matchup of the week.

Don't blame Disney or the NFL, blame us idiots.

 

[camelboy]

I always said since SNF started and took the week's marquee match from MNF, they need to compensate with commentary team. They never figured out a good combo.

If you put Witten with Golic and Greeny, and the two Mikes do their funny antics to go with Witten's seriousness, that would be catchy. Only problem is I am not sure of Greeny ability to call play-by-play. But definitely Golic is a good one to have. Maybe add Stephen A too. Say what you want about him but he juices things up and attracts viewers

 

[ThatGuyTra]

MNF with Al, Frank, and Dan...O’ how I miss the.

 

[coogrfan]

Exactly..


MNF was great until the league decided to make Sunday Night their showcase game of the week.

Fixed.

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

pretty much agree with everything except i puked in my mouth when you mentioned Madden. First announcer i ever developed a full on dislike for. (not as a person but the nonsensical **** he would spew.)

I can see that...as he got older he became a caricature of himself .When he first started, it was kind of like Romos start. It was new.

 

[McKDaddy]

MNF is probably the most valuable asset that the NFL has for all the wrong reasons. It's not for the legacy of great football that had been built over decades by ABC, it's because of the way numbers were moved around in an accounting ledger and 90 million of us schmucks paying $7 a month for ESPN to get MNF.

Disney claimed that advertising revenue could no longer justify the cost of MNF and ABC would no longer be able to carry it (advertising revenue NEVER offsets the cost of carrying NFL games). ABC was losing $150 million a year when looking strictly at ad revenue vs the NFL contract price. So how did they remedy the situation? Disney moved it to ESPN where there are significantly fewer eyeballs to sell to advertisers, they agree to go from premium matchups to being on the bottom of the totem pole when selecting games and they paid $200 million MORE to the NFL for the privilege. So even if they could somehow get as much ad revenue as they did on ABC (impossible) that should net a $350 million/year loss - except Disney projected the move would yield a $250 million/year profit! That $600 million a year swing was exclusively due to the increase in subscriber fees they could get by leveraging MNF to cable and SAT companies. And it worked. From the NFL's viewpoint, the deal made MNF a subpar - but much more profitable - product. It also let the NFL offer SNF MNF's premium scheduling position making it a far more valuable property. It was a WIN-WIN-LOSE proposition and the only loser was the fans.

We lost our Monday prime time NFL event we grew up with and it was replaced with the kind of matchup that ESPN & TNT used to offer us on Sunday Night. Plus ESPN was able to jack up their subscriber fees from just under $5/month to about $7/month so we're paying ESPN over $2 BILLION/year to give us a crappy matchup instead of paying ABC nothing for the best matchup of the week.

Don't blame Disney or the NFL, blame us idiots.

Ok, I blame you idiots.

 

[Brax]

Maybe the NFL wants it to die.

you could be right but just can not see them giving up that revenue stream

 

[Galian Beast]

ESPN has ruined MNF. It used to be the end to a great weekend now I am watching the Resident instead. I hate ESPN and will avoid it unless the cowboys are playing.

Started watching this today on your semi-endorsement. Wasn't sold at first, but here I am about to watch episode 3.

 

[StarBoyz83]

I loved mnf when I was on a shift I could watch it. It was what got me through mondays. Lol

 

[atlantacowboy]

Still not as bad as Dennis Miller.

Dennis Miller was loads better than Witten. His obscure references provided entertainment to some very boring games. The problem is that the general public is too dumb to get most of his jokes. He was literally too smart for network tv.

 

[Blackspider214]

Dennis Miller was loads better than Witten. His obscure references provided entertainment to some very boring games. The problem is that the general public is too dumb to get most of his jokes. He was literally too smart for network tv.

Yep. Dennis Miller is definitely not for the dumbed down NFL fan. He's too witty and sophisticated for a guy sitting in his underwear eating cheetos watching the game. He was a bad fit, not because he sucked, but because the NFL fan is not his audience.

I'd rather listen to the Tony Kornheiser experiment over Witten. I really don't see the Witten experience lasting that long unless he improves in a hurry. But I'm sure once the Raiders inevitably fire Gruden well before his 10 years are up, he will get his spot back. Ioved Gruden in the booth.

 

[Ghost12]

I would rather have a football game to watch on Monday night than just throw it into the Sunday 12:00 mix where I won't be able to watch it because so much else is going on.

 

[Xelda]

I liked Hank Williams Jr singing for us to get ready for some football.

 

[RoboQB]

put it back on ABC and let Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler be the announce team.

JR will call every game a slobber knocker and every time a cheerleader is seen Lawler screams "puppies!"
I like it... lol