Turn Out the Lights

From its inception, ABC’s “Monday Night Football” was a risky experiment that defied American sports tradition. From Howard Cosell’s pontification to Don Meredith’s down-home songs to Dennis Miller’s arcane analogies, it dominated TV viewing in homes and bars across the nation.

The broadcast was a hodgepodge of personalities and indelible images, defining moments and follies, eye-popping on-the-field performances and the kind of impromptu silliness that only sheer boredom can create.

In short, it was exactly what ABC Sports boss Roone Arledge hoped it would be.

It was theater.

Television sports reaches the end of one era and the beginning of another tonight when ABC signs off on its prime-time weeknight coverage of the NFL for the final time and hands off to sister network ESPN.

The 555th Monday night game on the network is itself of little consequence: The dismal New York Jets play the New England Patriots, who already are playoff-bound.

The series switches networks next season, when ESPN begins paying $1.1 billion per year for Monday night rights in an eight-year deal.

“ ‘Monday Night Football’ is the premier property in sports television,” ESPN President George Bodenheimer said. “All the players get up for it. All the teams watch. It’s a national showcase. To be able to transition it to ESPN is an honor.”

There was no ESPN when ABC began its “MNF” run on Sept. 21, 1970, with the Jets playing at Cleveland. It was the beginning of 36 seasons of one of television’s most valuable franchises, a compelling three hours that became the longest-running prime-time sports series in TV history.

Municipal Stadium was jammed with 85,703 fans that first night as ABC began a broadcasting odyssey with Keith Jackson doing play-by-play and ex-quarterback Meredith sharing analysis and wisecracks with Cosell. The three-man booth was new territory for sports television. But then, so was this whole “MNF” adventure, the invention of NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle and Arledge.

The league had experimented with occasional weeknight games, and the commissioner thought it was a perfect place to enhance his product. Similarly, Arledge believed sports was the perfect product for television.

Rozelle needed a network partner, and Arledge needed a foot in the NFL door. With CBS and NBC locked into NFL games on Sundays, ABC was the perfect fit for “MNF.” But it took some convincing.

Rozelle’s trump card was syndication on the Hughes Sports Network. On and off for two years, Rozelle and Arledge would meet for lunch, usually at Manhattan’s 21 Club, haggling over details. Arledge thought he was always on the defensive, especially when Rozelle mentioned Hughes.

“You know where the power was,” Arledge said.

The selection of the announcing team was vital. The plan was to have former NFL star Frank Gifford in the booth, but Gifford had a year remaining on a contract at CBS and he recommended his pal Meredith. Arledge added the bombastic, often abrasive Cosell for analysis, with Jackson doing play by play. Gifford joined the team later, replacing Jackson.

The interplay between the urbane Cosell and Meredith the country boy made the broadcasts tingle with electricity.

Cosell took to calling Meredith “Dandy Don,” and the quarterback would serenade blowout games by singing, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.”

Some of the more memorable Monday night moments include:

* Tony Dorsett setting a record with a 99-yard run for Dallas against Minnesota on Jan. 3, 1983.

* Green Bay defeating Washington, 48-47, on Oct. 17, 1983, as the teams combined for 1,025 yards of total offense in the highest-scoring “MNF” game.

* Miami ending Chicago’s shot at an undefeated season, beating the Bears, 38-24, on Dec. 2, 1985, as alumni from the Dolphins’ undefeated 1972 team cheered for their record to be protected. The game set a “MNF” record with a 29.6 rating and 46 share.

* Hall of Fame quarterbacks John Elway and Joe Montana facing off in a dramatic duel won by Montana, who threw a touchdown pass with eight seconds remaining to give Kansas City a 31-28 victory over Denver on Oct. 17, 1994.

* The Jets scoring on four straight possessions to wipe out a 30-7 Miami lead and then again with 42 seconds left in regulation before winning in overtime, 40-37, on a 40-yard field goal by John Hall on Oct. 23, 2000.

* Brett Favre throwing for 399 yards and four touchdowns in Green Bay’s 41-7 victory over Oakland on Dec. 22, 2003, one day after the death of his father.