NFL Network's Top 10 What-Ifs: Number 9k

What if Monday Night Football had never existed?

It would have existed somehow, regardless; Pete Rozelle would have syndicated it, if nothing else. But would it have been as big a deal? What about Howard Cosell, whose career was made by the show? Would he have become the icon he did? Could a syndicated version have led to the demise of the ABC Television Network? Most of the stations Rozelle targeted for a syndicated version were ABC affiliates who might have been willing to dump network programming for the NFL.

My personal guess is that CBS and NBC would have been persuaded somehow to split the package along conference lines, with CBS taking the NFC games (including interconference games in AFC stadiums) and NBC taking the AFC games (including interconference games in NFC stadiums). Frank Gifford, who was already with CBS, would have stayed there, perhaps as part of a three-man booth with Ray Scott and Pat Summerall (the number-one CBS broadcast team in 1970) on Monday nights. Don Meredith, Gifford's close friend, would have also joined CBS as an analyst, although he might not have become the star that he did at ABC. Keith Jackson, MNF's original play-by-play announcer, would have remained at ABC and done college football, the sport that made him famous. As for Humble Howard, he would have had to content himself with riding Muhammad Ali's coattails.

Thoughts?
 
Madden and Summerall are probably somehow even more prominent than in our timeline. Another huge butterfly would be Fox. I doubt that the NFL would syndicate, because the whole point of Monday Night Football was having a national broadcast that everyone could watch, a game of the week. So, if we do the CBS/NBC setup, it's possible that Fox would try to bid for just the MNF package like they did OTL in the late 1980s, and actually get it. However, CBS and NBC would still have their Sunday football packages. If CBS doesn't lose football, you'd see no affiliate shuffles, no ratings plunge, and even minor stuff, like Letterman probably still holds a lead over Leno in the ratings.
 
Yeah, Keith Jackson probably still does college football; IMO, he was better suited for calling college football than Monday Night Football, and ABC probably realized this, which is why they replaced Jackson with Gifford (1)...

(1) Although ABC should have handled the Jackson-Gifford switch better, like actually telling Jackson they were going to replace him personally rather than having him find out through other sources...
 
The funny thing was, a lot of newspapers had Frank replacing Howard, not Keith. That was probably because Frank was an analyst almost exclusively for CBS, although he did do play-by-play for a game or two in the late sixties. Considering how weak he was as an analyst once Al Michaels came aboard, I think Roone made the right choice in '71. He originally wanted Frank for what became Dandy Don's slot because of his longtime personal relationship with Frank, but Frank was contracted to CBS for 1970. Roone decided to replace Keith mostly because he interfered with the back-and-forth between Don and Howard, which he felt made the telecasts.

According to the book Monday Night Mayhem, Keith didn't mind being replaced; he loved college ball more even back then. What he minded was Roone lying to him about whether he called to inform Keith of the decision. Roone claimed he left Keith a phone message, which led Keith (an ex-Marine, by the way) to produce his phone messages, throw them down in front of Roone, and bark, "Find it!", which of course Roone couldn't.
 
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It would have existed somehow, regardless; Pete Rozelle would have syndicated it, if nothing else. But would it have been as big a deal? What about Howard Cosell, whose career was made by the show? Would he have become the icon he did? Could a syndicated version have led to the demise of the ABC Television Network? Most of the stations Rozelle targeted for a syndicated version were ABC affiliates who might have been willing to dump network programming for the NFL.

If it would have been syndicated, I think that it would have been on the Hughes Network (according to the movie Monday Night Mayhem. In the movie, Howard Cosell [played by John Turturro] was talking about a fourth TV network).

Without Roone's smarts, Howard's polarizing personality, and the down home Dandy Don, I don't see it lasting too long. Either it goes off the air before letting another network try it, or, it gets scrapped for good (especially if it kills ABC like you said. It would be untouchable. In the movie, they portrayed NBC boss Carl Lindemann as being violently opposed to the project).
 
I think each network might have gotten a prime time game or two a year, kind of like the old Saturday games. Each network had had at least one prime time game a year for several years; that was how Rozelle got the idea for a weekly prime time package in the first place.
 
I think each network might have gotten a prime time game or two a year, kind of like the old Saturday games. Each network had had at least one prime time game a year for several years; that was how Rozelle got the idea for a weekly prime time package in the first place.

Probably, although I don't see any consistent prime-time football until the late-80's with ESPN like in OTL.
 
It's hard to quantify just how much but I think the NFL is less popular. Pre-ESPN, it was hard to get familiar with teams outside of your geography. Half-time highlights was worth staying up for even if, as a kid, you werent supposed to. And, obviously, you got to see some of the best teams and biggest stars that you wouldnt normally see. The network pre-game shows were ok, HBO's Inside the NFL came along in the 1980s, and there were other features you could catch on Saturdays like "Football Follies" or other John Facenda narrated programs. But you kind of had to nerd out to watch these. MNF was a cultural icon - it's where a large chunk of America first learned John Lennon died. So, it really had an impact on branding the Raiders and Cowboys. It introduced the Air Coryell to the east. And everyone learned why you kneel at the end of a game rather than hand off to a running back and just what Lawrence Taylor could do to Joe Theisman's knee. These things arent as epic if they're not on prime time.
 
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