Hello Boomer, Goodbye Frank

Now that the NFL has taken care of the preliminaries with its $17.6 billion deal with Fox, CBS and ABC/ESPN, the real fun is about to begin - the mad shuffle of announcers.

Friday night, Boomer Esiason decided to quit pro football when ABC offered him a five-year contract to join “Monday Night Football,” ABC’s highest-rated program during the football season. Since that show is hosted by Frank Gifford, Al Michaels and Dan Dierdorf, the Esiason move pushes Gifford out of the booth.

ABC is moving Gifford into a slot as its “MNF” pre-game host. The network wouldn’t comment on the amount of Esiason’s contract. He was scheduled to earn $2.5 million next season to start for the Bengals.

The Esiason deal came after Fox announced Thursday that John Madden had agreed to stay on for another five years, despite all the talk the last 10 days from Madden and his agents that he might like to finish his career on “Monday Night Football.”

There was only one problem with that scenario. ABC wasn’t all that interested. They already have Dierdorf under contract for 1998, and while jettisoning Gifford wasn’t a problem (and makes a lot of sense), adding Madden to a three-man team wasn’t going to work. It’s ridiculous to even think Michaels, Dierdorf and Madden could share a booth, let alone a microphone.

Network sources also said Friday that Madden and his representatives were pressing ABC to make a quick decision, just as Fox was pressuring Madden to let them know what he was going to do. They had great interest in NBC’s Phil Simms if Madden decided to leave, and few tears would have been shed if that’s how it had played out.

Four years ago, when Fox bid $1.58 billion to get into the pro football business, that was not the case. The network of “The Simpsons” and “Married With Children” desperately needed Madden and his partner, Pat Summerall (who’s also staying at Fox), for instant credibility.

Four years ago, Madden had lots of leverage. ABC sources have said Madden even reached a handshake agreement back then to do “Monday Night Football,” only to back out when Fox’s Rupert Murdoch opened his wallet and made him the highest-paid sports broadcaster in history.

NBC also got into the bidding in ‘93, at one point even offering Madden his own train. When Murdoch paid him $30 million over four years, Madden got back on his bus and headed right to the bank.

This time, some Fox people were not at all that happy to be constantly reading about Madden’s interest in Monday night. They also were not the least bit pleased about Madden’s lukewarm response any time he was asked if he wanted to stay at Fox. In the end, when ABC told Madden “no thanks,” he had no place else to go.

Fox did not give him a raise from the $7.5 million a year he earned his first four years, and CBS, which acquired the rights to the AFC in this week’s deal, was not going to match those numbers, according to sources at that network. Madden still will make additional millions as a pitchman for products ranging from screwdrivers to athlete’s foot powder. He may be loved on Madison Avenue, but this time he was told by Fox to either take their offer or leave it, and to make up his mind now.

His decision to stay makes it likely that Simms will wind up as the lead analyst at CBS, which has a stable of decent play-by-play voices but will be looking for as many articulate “football guys” as it can find.

Jim Nantz likely will do the studio show, and CBS likely also will talk to NBC’s Greg Gumbel, Randy Cross, Cris Collinsworth and Sam Wyche. Joe Gibbs appears out of the mix.