"Monday Night Football really got on the air because of Pete Rozelle," recalls former producer Don Ohlmeyer. Indeed, it was Rozelle's reputation for public relations and marketing that created a prime-time venue for the National Football League. The prototypes for Monday Night Football were those annual Monday night games staged from 1966 to 1969 inclusive on CBS. St. Louis hosted three of them, and it seemed natural for the NFL to make Monday night their regular turf. The only trouble was, Rozelle couldn't get a network to agree. CBS did not want to lose Gunsmoke. NBC had Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, TV's highest-rated show the past two years. Even ABC, floundering in third place in the ratings, was unsure. Rozelle then threatened to put the Monday night package in syndication via the Hughes Television Service. So ABC bought in. NFL owners themselves weren't keen on Monday Night Football. Some thought the gates would be dormant. But then-Cleveland Browns owner
Actors: Don Meredith, Keith Jackson, Boomer Esiason, Dennis Miller, Dan Dierdorf, John Madden, Dan Fouts, Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Alex Karras
