Different channel, same dynamic duo. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman made their debut on ESPN’s Monday Night Football and wow, what a success. ESPN shelled out some big bucks, no pun intended, to bring the two over from Fox to give the MNF franchise some much needed credibility. From all the numbers and reviews, ESPN’s money was well spent.
Like my beloved Bears search for a ‘franchise’ QB all these years, MNF has been in that same boat. Trying to find some magic, to draw viewers back to the once iconic night of football. The steam started to escape the pot, when ESPN took over the broadcast rights to the franchise in 2006 and they’ve been trying to find the ingredients to get viewership back up.
I go back to the 1970s when Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and “Dandy” Don Meredith were calling games on ABC. That booth had a little of everything. The eccentric and boisterous Cosell, the cowboy Meredith and the former player Gifford combined for some ‘must watch’ broadcasts. In the mid 80s, Michaels was brought in to replace Gifford on the play-by-play, with the former Giants star shifting to an analyst role with Dan Dierdorf. Since then, the booth has seen the likes of Dennis Miller, Dan Fouts, John Madden, Tony Kornheiser, Jon Gruden and Booger McFarland. Miller was a bust and turned off many. With the exception of Madden and maybe Gruden, it was painful to watch.
Fast forward to last Monday, when Buck and Aikman made their debut. They picked up right where they left off. It almost seemed like the two were more relaxed under the scrutiny of their big money deals. The fact they’ve been together so long certainly helps, but the fact that they are just that good, really tells the story.
Fans of the NFL have grown used to this booth from their 20 seasons at FOX. They’ve entered the stratosphere of another legendary booth as they begin season number 21 together. That equals the time spent between Pat Summerall and John Madden. Buck and Aikman’s voices signify a big game. Monday in Seattle they more than answered the call and in the process are trying to make MNF appointment television again.
There were many, like me, that felt, the mission was accomplished. Tuesday, the morning show at Dallas’ Sportsradio 96.7 & 1310 The Ticket’s The Musers talked about the noticeable changes in the MNF broadcast. Co-host Craig Miller thought the network finally got it right after many years of floundering.
“Monday Night Football, for the last twenty-plus years, has just kind of been in the doldrums,” Miller said. “They’ve gone through a lot of different announcers. They’ve gone through a lot of different presentation modes. It was once THE brand in the NFL.” he said. “It certainly was a different sound,” Miller mentioned. “It was a comfortable sound. It was great to hear Joe and Troy doing Monday Night Football.”
Co-host George Dunham chimed in, “I’m telling ya, if I’m just football fan as I was while I was getting dinner ready and saw that exact thing we just heard, it did. It felt so different. It felt so big. This game means something.”
Dunham also pointed out, that the duo of Buck and Aikman will help draw in the more causal fan too.
“Yes, it was their first game together but I think it will have that feel every Monday night,” Dunham said. “It may not get you to tune in more than you did before, I think there will be a degree of that. But I think it can get you to stay with the game longer.”
More evidence that ESPN got a great return on its investment this week? The network’s first broadcast of 2022 saw the most viewers tune in for a Monday Night Football game since 2009.
ESPN reported that just shy of 20-million viewers tuned in for the season debut across the ESPN family of networks, which includes ABC. It was the third-best Monday game in the current MNF era (since 2006) which accounts for over 270 games. It was also ESPN’s most-watched Week 1 game since it began airing MNF. The broadcast showed an increase of 16 percent from last year’s opening week game.
Most of those fans tuning in, had the same thought. It was strange to hear these guys on ESPN at the start of the game. Almost as strange as seeing Russell Wilson wearing a Broncos jersey in Seattle. Fans petty much universally had that take.
“Good, bad. Like them, don’t like them. One thing can’t be denied: Joe Buck/Troy Aikman = big-game feel. That alone gives ESPN a win they haven’t had in a long time.”
‘A little weird to hear Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on Monday night, but also feels very right.’
‘how do I explain to a normal person why it feels so weird that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are doing Monday Night Football instead of the FOX Sunday afternoon game.
He tried to explain it to himself.
“So these are new announcers?”
“No, they just usually announce a different game”
“Oh, like they used to do college football?”
“No… they’ve always done NFL… just on a different channel”
“So do the different channels broadcast the games differently?”
“I mean… not really…”
Once some fans got over the novelty, the reviews were pretty good across the board.
‘I’m a big fan of this broadcast duo but it’s going to be weird for like at least this entire season seeing Buck and Aikman on ESPN’
‘Joe Buck and Troy Aikman just make Monday Night Football so much better! #MNF #DENvsSEA’
‘Call it a hot take, but Monday Night Football has a “big game” sound to it for the first time since Al Michaels was in the booth alongside John Madden. Just sounds different with Joe Buck leading the call.’
I scoured the internet to try and find a few negative thoughts, but I didn’t see very many. Not even enough to print. I was really surprised that there weren’t more of the same ‘Buck haters’ out there. It’s usually a vocal opposition to the talented announcer. They of course claim he’s biased, they are sick of hearing his voice and he brings nothing to the broadcast. It was almost as if the hostile crowd was quieted with a big play late. They were the tree falling in the forest and I wasn’t there to hear it. You know?
We are talking about a single broadcast though. Will the novelty of this dynamic duo wear off, or is this just the start of a rejuvenation of a dormant television franchise? The latter surely seems to be the early favorite in this race.
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
