Nfl Watchers Will Find Changes Across The Dial

Sun., Aug. 31, 1997

Washington Post

NFL television viewers will see some significant changes in ‘97.

For the first time, ABC will use the score and clock box pioneered by Fox three years ago on its Monday Night Football broadcasts, even if the announcers think it’s a waste of space.

“Everybody talks about it being a help to people watching in bars,” said Al Michaels. “If someone has three vodkas and tonic and can read this box, they should go into the Opthalmology Hall of Fame.”

At NBC, former Cincinnati and Tampa Bay coach Sam Wyche replaces Ditka in the pregame studio. Jim Mora, Jim Kelly and James Lofton are new analysts, replacing Wyche, Bart Oates and Bob Golic. Fox’s only addition on game days will be former Redskins long snapper Trevor Matich becoming a part-time analyst.

On the cable front, former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski replaces former Steelers quarterback Mark Malone as a sideline reporter on one Thursday night and eight Sunday night ESPN games.

TNT will go to three men in the booth, taking original Hog Mark May out of the studio and into their nine-game schedule, including the Redskins-Carolina matchup tonight. Former Packers Keith Jackson and Sean Jones will replace May and Randall Cunningham, now a back-up quarterback in Minnesota, in the TNT studio show.

The biggest TV story of this fall involves the ongoing negotiations with the NFL’s current broadcasting partners. With CBS still trying to get back in the pro football business since losing the NFC package to Fox four years ago, the price is expected to go up considerably from the current $4.2 billion total contributed by ABC, NBC, Fox, ESPN and TNT in the last rights bidding. An agreement is expected late in the regular season, probably near Dec. 1.

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Nfl Watchers Will Find Changes Across The Dial

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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