TV/Radio

'MNF' more than a game for ESPN

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published April 22, 2005

ABC paid $550-million for Monday Night Football and still had to employ Nicolette Sheridan and Lisa Guerrero and Dennis Miller to stop ratings from falling.

It never did succeed, losing part of its audience and, according to reports, about $150-million a year.

So ESPN, like ABC owned by Disney, goes out and offers $1.1-billion annually for those same rights.

Disney saves ABC $150-million ... for only $550-million!

Make sense? Heck no.

On second thought, maybe it does make sense.

Sure, it's hard to find logic in the money ESPN is throwing at the MNF franchise, especially because NBC got the Sunday night slate for about half that ($600-million). And the ratings for MNF aren't going anywhere but down, especially with a smaller television universe (cable) to draw from.

But look a little closer, and maybe it wasn't that crazy:

PRO: It's ESPN. If anyone can revive MNF and make it an institution again, it's the Worldwide Leader in Sports. Don't think for a minute ESPN won't pull out all the stops to make this a winner, and if it can, it will recoup much of that $1.1-billion.

"The Monday night move to ESPN isn't just about the game," said ESPN executive vice president Mark Shapiro. "For us, it will begin at midnight eastern Sunday night when Chris Berman and company debut the original episode of NFL Prime Time. ... The following day, from Cold Pizza to Sports-Center to Monday Night Countdown, we will bring full arms to bear, and we will be on-site, on-campus, swarming over the game. We will truly make it an event."

CON: I reserve the right to take the previous statement back if ESPN moves Mike Patrick, Paul Maguire and Joe Theismann to MNF.

PRO: ESPN collects around $2.70 per home from cable subscriber fees, which totals about $2.8-billion a year, according to investment bank S.G. Cowen as cited in the New York Times. Factor in another $1.6-billion in advertising, and MNF won't be breaking the ESPN piggy bank.

CON: Now that it has MNF, that just makes the network more powerful and likely to get even more than $2.70 per home when it's ready to ask (and it will). Does a big fight with carriers loom?

PRO: It has been reported ESPN may have overbid because of concerns about Fox landing MNF and using it as the impetus to starting its own 24-hour sports network.

"It paid $1.1-billion not because of their football franchise but because of their television franchise," Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports, said. "They protected themselves from a real or imagined threat."

CON: Most analysts believe a second all-sports network is coming, and soon, and Fox wouldn't need MNF for it to take off.

PRO: ESPN thinks Monday nights will produce better ratings than Sunday nights did, making it an expensive but worthwhile trade. And it won't have to compete against Desperate Housewives.

CON: After CBS, Fox, NBC and DirecTV's Sunday NFL Ticket, are fans just burned out on the NFL come Monday?

PRO: ESPN can make more of MNF than ABC could. To ABC, it was just a once-a-week football game. To ESPN, it means ad revenue from ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine. It's an audience on ESPN Deportes. It strengthens NFL-related properties such as Sunday NFL Countdown, the Pro Bowl and the NFL draft. And ESPN's promotional powers will make sure you know the game is on Monday.

CON: Maybe this turns out to be the first real big mistake the network makes, and NBC's Sunday night game gains traction as the real MNF replacement.

[Last modified April 22, 2005, 00:44:19]