Monday Night Disaster
By JohnRehor on Oct 31, 2011 with 18 Comments
It might be time to call it quits.
For over forty years, the masses have flocked to their televisions on Monday night, for the final NFL game of the week. Monday Night Football was the “Monday night party” we waited for all week long, and served as a continuation of the excitement from Sunday’s game. More importantly, it served as an excellent vehicle to expand the NFL brand, reaching fans across the globe. Originally seen on ABC
and now seen on ESPN
Monday Night Football has evolved as the rest of the NFL has, becoming a major brand associated with the NFL.
And I’m here to say it might be time to call it quits.
The reason for this statement is simple: the games these days are horrible.
On paper, the match ups are supposed to be the draw to the game. When the schedule is created for the season, surely the schedule maker deities have to look at the games they are scheduling for this all important game and ask themselves “Is this really going to draw fans to watch this from a global perspective?”
If the answer is a yes from these individuals, we are all in trouble.
You might be asking yourselves why the suggestion that Monday Night Football might have outlived its usefulness has been made. All one needs to do is look at the Monday night schedule for this season to understand why such a statement would be made.
Did the Rams/Giants match up in week 2 get anyone excited, other than Rams and Giants fans?
Dallas vs Washington in week 3 looked good on paper. Until the game was an 18-16 snooze fest.
Win less Indianapolis against the Buccaneers. No comment necessary
Chicago at Detroit was a blowout Lions win, but other than it being nice to see the Lions back in prime time after being gone from there since the previous millennium, it was far from an outstanding game.
Dolphins at the Jets. Zzzzzzzzzzz…………………….
Finally there was last week’s all exciting Baltimore at Jacksonville game. Did anyone make it through the entire game?
Anyone else see a pattern? None of these games are exciting in the least, and none of them are a national draw for a television audience.
Perhaps it is just the way the first half of this season’s schedule was written, that the final match up of the week was destined to be a snooze fest. Or the fact that I am a Packers homer, and want to see a game which involves the Packers either directly or indirectly every week. But right now there is something wrong. The games do improve in the second half of the season, with games such as Minnesota at Green Bay in Week 10 and the Giants at the Saints in Week 12. But can anyone explain how Jacksonville was scheduled for not one, but two Monday Night Football games this season? They cannot fill the seats at their stadium yet warrant national television time? Makes no sense to me.
Tonight, while taking in what is certain to be an exciting Chargers at the Chiefs game, ask yourself this question: could you do without Monday Night Football, based on the games you have been given so far this season? Chances are the answer is yes.
After forty years, the novelty of Monday Night Football may have finally run its course. The NFL and ESPN need to take a serious look at the games they have been presenting to fans this season and determine if it is just best to call it a day on this long standing tradition, and figure out if they are actually pushing viewers and fans away instead of building the NFL brand.
I never thought the day would come where I could call football boring. Monday nights this year have done exactly that. Howard Cosell must be turning in his grave with that statement.
Filed Under: John Rehor
Comments (18)
Leave a Reply
Cheesehead TV- Aaron Rodgers Gives Endorsement to Rookies Tyrone Walker, Myles White a Second Time
- Desmond Bishop’s Successful Return Far from a Medical Certainty
- Report: Bishop Headed for Visit with Chiefs Following Vikings
- Brett Favre Joins Board of Directors for Social Media Website
- Packers Daily Links: Bishop to Visit Vikings Tuesday
- Packers Calendar: Rookies Continue with Meetings, Strength and Conditioning Work
- Driver Softball Game Reportedly Raises About $200K
- Report: Packers Expected to Release Desmond Bishop Monday
- Railbird Central Podcast: Driver’s Popularity Remains High
- Audio: Driver Discusses Playing for Packers Again
The idea that getting rid of Monday Night Football is preposterous, but the headline got my click. Good journalism! (no sarcasm).
Let’s discuss the real problem: the lack of flexibility in the schedule. The Colts have 5 primetime games this year, and without Peyton they are pretty much the worst team in the NFL.
Is it preposterous?
What if there was a change to the schedule? Like the week starting on Thursdays every week (minus the NFL Network of course)Think schedule flexibility is part of it, but your example of the Colts doesnt fit the reason for my idea. When the schedule was written, Manning was not out for the season. But how does anyone explain the Jaguars on two Monday night games?
Something has to change-I’m tired of crap being on Monday Nights
The schedule is done pre-season and I doubt they can get Fox and CBS to give up a great matchup each week to Monday night as a flex schedule.
But it’s true, there are some mind boggling choices on the list.
On the other hand the Thursday night games (which start at Week 10) are even worse:
OAK @ SD
NYJ @ DEN
SF @ BAL
PHI @ SEA
CLE @ PIT
JAC @ ATL
HOU @ IND
Agree with the Fox/CBS perspective-everybody wants ratings. But the games we have been getting are hot garbage. Something has to be done-its not right to turn on ESPN every Monday just to turn it off quickly because the games suck.
And you are right-the Thursday night games leave much to be desired. Not sure I see one game I would actually watch. And that is very sad
There is always going to be value in the Monday Night game. America loves (understatement) football, and anytime there is just one game on during a night viewers are going to flock to it. That in itself will ensure MNF lives on. Now, the MNF schedule is put in place before the league really knows how good each team will be. That makes it difficult to hit on every matchup. Other networks also fight over the good matchups. Is a perfect system? No, absolutely not. But MNF will always have a place. For every bad matchup you’ve seen on MNF, I guarantee there’s been 2 or 3 more good ones. I’d be pretty ticked off myself if it ever went away.
But it’s not just America that watches these games. The NFL is a global product, and every bit that the rest of the world sees will either help expand the brand or perhaps hold it back just a little bit.
The system is far from perfect, and I personally am tired of my Monday nights being full a hot mess of football. Something has to be done. Any suggestions?
I don’t really get how MNF gets the NFL viewers abroad, it’s well into the night in Europe.
Simple solution: Don’t watch. No one’s forcing you.
Huh? What’s the relation to my point?
MNF starts well after midnight in Euro-Land and early morning for the Aussies, so it’s probably not an international “product”.
Regular games are great to watch here in Europa because of the nice time (7pm start)
Everything the NFL does is done to expand their presence. It’s what all businesses want-expand based on customer demand. As the NFL grows, its marketability outside the US grows as well, and they are trying to capture an international audience ie: games in London, talk of a overseas Super Bowl, etc
MNF is part of the NFL product, and in a world easily connected by the click of a mouse, every new viewer whether domestically or overseas, helps shape the future of the NFL.
My issue remains the garbage the league is passing off as must see games on Monday Night. Has parity killed a tradition? Maybe
“Chicago at Detroit was a blowout Bears win, although it was nice to see the Lions back in prime time after being gone from there since the previous millennium.”
Pretty sure it was not a Bears win, need fact checker? It was 24-13 Lions.
Fact checker needed? No. Just better eyes or an editor.
Thanks for the catch
Similar to what the previous posters have stated, the weak MNF schedule is almost entirely due to the fact that the scheduling is done before anyone knows that Peyton might be out for the season or the up and coming Rams aren’t quite there yet.
It is also impossible to flex a game from Sun to Mon. If they wanted, they could schedule 2 games and give the better match up to ESPN and the lesser game to NFLN.
My biggest complaint is that the games start at 8:30ET. If I’m lucky, the game might be over before midnight allowing me 5-6 hours of sleep. I understand they want west coast viewers but seriously, unless there is a west coast team in the game, start an east coast/central game at 7:30ET.
I haven’t watched a MNF game all season…well, not an entire one…and I probably won’t until week 10.
The sched sux. Needs some serious matchups, but then again, Dallas/Philly should have been better too so it’s not all MNF’s fault.
[...] in at 9/8 Central tonight to hear C.D. Angeli, Jersey Al, John and myself talk about all things Packers and prepare for the upcoming game vs the [...]
[...] Rehor wrote a nice piece earlier this week on the decline of Monday Night Football. It was, indeed, topical, as I haven’t tuned in for a full Modnay Night Football game for quite [...]
As someone who has cut the pay TV cord, I would be able to watch a lot more monday night games if they were on CBS, NBC, FOX or ABC rather than ESPN.
And let’s not talk about Thursday night football on NFL network. Friends don’t let friends watch that crap.