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September 21, 1970

The Cleveland Browns pick off three Joe Namath passes to defeat the New York Jets, 31-21.  More important than the result is the day and time of the game: 9 p.m., Monday night.  It is the first game in ABC’s grand experiment, Monday Night Football, brought to America by the three-man announcing team of Keith Jackson, Don Meredith, and Howard Cosell.

ABC had little to lose, since the ratings for its comedies and dramas on Mondays were dismal already.  (It was said the best way to bring the Vietnam War to an end would be to schedule it on ABC: It would be cancelled after thirteen weeks.)  There was significant doubt that a sports telecast could draw a primetime audience.  “Heretofore,” wrote television critic Jack Gould in The New York Times, “the lady of the household, presumed to be in control of the [TV] set on weekday evenings, has asserted her preference for filmed stories and comedies after deferring to her spouse’s selections on Sunday afternoons.”  One thing that might help ABC, suggested Gould, was the growing number of households that had acquired a second TV. 

The network’s new wrinkles included using more cameras (nine instead of six) and showing highlights of Sunday’s games instead of the marching bands and baton twirlers who took the field at halftime.  By November, MNF was a full-fledged phenomenon, earning a cover story in Sports Illustrated that cited the sharp decline in restaurant business and movie attendance on Monday nights, as well as the gambling benefits to those who bet on Sunday against teams that had played last Monday.  The ratings were high, and evening telecasts of World Series games and Olympic sports would soon follow.