Comments on: ESPN extends Monday Night Football deal through 2021

By: fooath

fooath — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:01:38 +0000

ESPN is garbage. Hopefully they never sniff more than MNF. From the pregame to the announcers. What a terrible product.

By: Mr. Wright 212

Mr. Wright 212 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:52:07 +0000

UGH… just NOT needed. I absolutely LOATHE Mike Tirico and the bias on the part of Jaws, who otherwise calls a decent game — albeit with Bill Walton-esque hyperbole too frequently — becomes annoying after one quarter. I like Gruden, and it helps that he doesn’t hate the Giants, like seemingly everyone else who calls games.

Maybe it’s just me, but I was spoiled by listening to Al Michaels and Frank Gifford, along with Dierdorf before he became a limpwrist, whiny nancy in the booth, and a Patriots shill (that Lions preseason game was further evidence of such), but I can’t stand Tirico. I HATE him.

By: cometkazie

cometkazie — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:31:46 +0000

I still wish they could have Humble Howie and the DanderRoo.

I miss them.

By: jimmymcnultysbottleofjameson

jimmymcnultysbottleofjameson — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:43:36 +0000

Wow, I’m not certain Bocephus will live that long, but good for ESPN, I like their coverage.

By: NoHomeTeam

NoHomeTeam — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:38:10 +0000

Oop. "ESPN on ABC"

By: NoHomeTeam

NoHomeTeam — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:36:22 +0000

maxvv says:

“No doubt that the Super Bowl should never be on cable, but why can’t they run it on ABC with ESPN branding?”

By all means, why not? I don’t watch a lot of other sports, but I have a vague recollection that “ABC Sports” has been replaced with “ESPN on NBC”

By: theripster30

theripster30 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:16:27 +0000

sc5000 says:
Sep 8, 2011 9:32 AM
That kind of money and they still don’t get any SuperBowl love, that is pretty insane…

——————

The day the SB airs on cable in America is the same day the SB is no longer relevant. That automatically would cut the audience in half at best.

By: 1phd

1phd — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:41:50 +0000

If the NFL had half a brain they would have paid less and kept the streaming option to themselves. Sigh. Having to deal with more middlemen like ESPN or Verizon or direcTV just increases the cost for those of us that want to watch online.

By: dickroy

dickroy — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:32:02 +0000

Yep, you can count on the cable bill going up.

By: maxvv

maxvv — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:18:05 +0000

No doubt that the Super Bowl should never be on cable, but why can’t they run it on ABC with ESPN branding?

Seems like a lot of money to throw down without ever having a shot at the big prize.

By: rcali

rcali — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:05:09 +0000

Cable bill going up again.

By: KIR

KIR — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:28:16 +0000

And you geniuses are complaining about the players getting overpaid? They’re health and the shortening of their life expectancy isn’t worth much….. i guess. SMH

By: jw731

jw731 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:16:15 +0000

105 million a game…….Lot of coin…………Hopefully they will throw hank williams jr. or sr…..Whoever the hell he is, into a river……

By: bordner

bordner — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:08:18 +0000

If they’re willing to cough up $1.8B per year, you’d think they could shell out a few more bucks and get some decent announcers.

By: djp519

djp519 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:43:35 +0000

Oh, according to the New York Times: “The deal also let ESPN stream its N.F.L. programming to Verizon cellphones. ”

Boooooooo. I want it on espn3, not on a cell phone. Especially since I have a different work-provided carrier, not Verizon.

By: djp519

djp519 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:41:36 +0000

“ESPN also gets the right to stream live games online.”

Sweet!!! This almost certainly means that MNF will be available on their ESPN3 streaming service. I don’t have cable/satellite now, but I can already see all their college games this way. I hope it starts this season. Then I won’t be tempted to sign up for U-verse anymore…

By: sdelmonte

sdelmonte — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:39:49 +0000

Hoping that the MNF games will indeed be on ESPN3. And that no one decides that if you don’t subscribe to cable in the first place, you can’t stream content.

And hoping no one at the league lets any playoff games move to cable. The NFL remains the last holdout on making all playoff games available to everyone at no cost. I don’t look forward to the day this changes.

By: mike83ri

mike83ri — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:38:26 +0000

I wish the people that cry every year about Madden would cry more about this crap.

By: bigd4defense

bigd4defense — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:17:04 +0000

UGH… watching more games on mute.

By: dickroy

dickroy — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:15:25 +0000

ESPN News is the worst sports channel on the air. Especially on the weekends. They just repeat the same 15 minute segments every 15 minutes.

By: jdsteady

jdsteady — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:11:22 +0000

I just threw up in my mouth. ESPN makes football nearly unwatchable.

By: dickroy

dickroy — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:11:21 +0000

@ njvike

Do you like “Rocky Top”? Good ole Tennessee song.

By: suckleague

suckleague — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:10:03 +0000

If they’ll just secure the dream team now: Tony Cornheiser and Dennis Miller

By: jtbndy

jtbndy — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:05:43 +0000

Great, now all they need are some better announcers for MNF.

By: icelovinbrotha215

icelovinbrotha215 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:03:24 +0000

That’s rough.

By: njvike

njvike — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:00:01 +0000

Maybe they’ll finally get rid of the stupid “Are you ready for some football?” theme song, which is based on a song that was popular for about 30 seconds in a few hick states about 30 years ago.

By: millermt17

millermt17 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:59:22 +0000

I can believe the cable bill hike. Americans love to watch NFL and will pay for it. Doubt the NFL will agree to prolong games with longer/more frequent commercial breaks. They know the longer time commitment would drive down viewership.

By: ezmoover

ezmoover — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:56:30 +0000

Is this a guaranteed contract or can the NFL cut ESPN anytime they want? hehe

By: vahawker

vahawker — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:55:34 +0000

Every game has online live streams every week.

By: grogansheroes

grogansheroes — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:50:28 +0000

All this means is many, many, more commercials. There will be four hour games. $105m doesn’t include all the production costs. Probably another $10 – 15m per game.