ESPN Sunday Night Football

ESPN Sunday Night Football was the ESPN cable network's weekly television broadcasts of Sunday evening National Football League (NFL) games. The first ESPN Sunday night broadcast occurred on November 8, 1987, while the last one aired on January 1, 2006.

Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue credits ESPN with raising the "profile" of the league, by turning "a potential six- or seven-hour television experience into a twelve-hour television experience," factoring in both Sunday Night Football and the network's pregame show Sunday NFL Countdown.

History

While ABC had been airing occasional Sunday night NFL games (usually one per season) under its Monday Night Football banner since 1978, the concept of playing a regular series of Sunday night professional football games on ESPN was originally a concept designed for the United States Football League (USFL). As part of the abortive 1986 USFL season, ESPN was to carry a weekly Sunday night game throughout the fall season.^[1]

As part of its new television package in 1987, the NFL granted ESPN the rights to air a series of Sunday night games, which were to air over the second half of the regular season. The NFL thus became the last major North American professional sports league to begin airing its games on cable television.^[2] However, the games were typically simulcast on regular over-the-air television stations in each participating team's local market, so that households without cable television could still see the telecasts of their local team.

During the inaugural season of ESPN Sunday Night NFL (as the telecast was then branded) in 1987, the network's announcing booth consisted of Mike Patrick, Roy Firestone, and a weekly "guest color commentator". Joe Theismann took over as lead analyst beginning in 1988.

During the first season, the game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots (the first regular season game aired by ESPN) saw WABC-TV^[3] (ABC's flagship station out of New York City) produce a completely separate telecast from ESPN's. The reason behind this was that WABC's union contract at the time prohibited non-union workers, such as those at ESPN, from producing live events for WABC. The WABC broadcasts involved play-by-play man (and WABC-TV sports director) Corey McPherrin and Frank Gifford and Lynn Swann (from Monday Night Football) on color commentary.

In 1990, the NFL expanded its Sunday night offerings to the full season, with

From 1987–1997, ESPN used various themes for its NFL coverage, reflecting its separate management from sister company ABC Sports (now ESPN on ABC since September 2006) at the time.

In

• First preseason game: Chicago Bears at Miami Dolphins, August 13, 1987
• First regular season game: New England Patriots at New York Giants, November 8, 1987 (Giants won, 17–10)
• First telecast during opening week of season: Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs, September 6, 1998 (Chiefs won, 28–8)
• First regular season game outside the U.S.: San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico, October 2, 2005 (Cardinals won 31–14; see also: Fútbol Americano)
• Last telecast: St. Louis Rams at Dallas Cowboys, January 1, 2006 (Rams won, 21–10)

Joe Namath incident

During a game between the

• Mike Patrick (1987–2005)
• Pat Summerall (fill-in, 2004)
• Mike Tirico: (#2, 2005)^[5]

NOTE: Pat Summerall filled in for Mike Patrick who was recovering from heart bypass surgery.

Color commentators

• Roy Firestone (1987)
• Joe Theismann (1988–2005)
• Paul Maguire (1998–2005)
• Sterling Sharpe: (#2, 2005)^[5]

Sideline reporters

• Mark Malone (1994–1996)
• Ron Jaworski (1997)
• Solomon Wilcots (1998–2000)
• Suzy Kolber (2001–2005)

Studio hosts

• Chris Berman (1987–2005)

Studio analysts

• Pete Axthelm (1987)
• Tom Jackson (1987–2005)

Guest commentators (1987 only)

• Larry Csonka (twice)
• John Matuszak (twice)
• Roger Staubach
• Jim Brown
• Ed Marinaro
• Tom Jackson
• O. J. Simpson
• Jack Reynolds
• Dick Butkus

References