Starting tonight in Washington, ESPN is out to make sure that Mondays during football season will never be the same, and my guess is that it will be a huge success.
We already know about the changes to Monday Night Football, but while that is the showcase event, it is simply part of what is the most ambitious day of live sports television in history.
This will be Super Bowl-like on-site coverage by ESPN every Monday from a different city.
Here are the shows being done live from Washington: Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio; Cold Pizza; Around the Horn; PTI; NFL Primetime; Monday Night Countdown; and of course, ESPN Monday Night Football.
Let?s take a look ? by the numbers ? at what it willtake to produce the ESPN Monday football experience.
7 ? Production trucks used each week (three for the game telecast, four for studio shows).
15 ? Digital recording devices recording game action.
47 ? Cameras used for MNF each week, including 33 game cameras and 14 for studio shows.
60 ? ESPN staffers working inside ESPN?s MNF trucks during games.
108 ? Monitors on the main wall of the MNF production truck used by producer Jay Rothman and director Chip Dean.
400 ? ESPN personnel working on MNF each week.
20,000 ? Feet of cable used each week for MNF.
25,000 ? Miles ESPN?s fleet of production trucks will travel during the MNF season. Longest week: 3,067 miles (60 hours) from Jacksonville to Seattle (Nov. 21-27).
That is an awesome task, and with it will come results. Look for ESPN Monday Football to set a ratings record each week this season.
A note of clarification for those who have HDTVs:
I told you in the weekend Examiner that all the NFL games this season would be produced in HD, and that was the information given to me by the league. However, I have since spoken to CBS as well as FOX, and representatives of the two networks told me that while they hope to do as many games as possible in HD, there will be weeks when some games won?t be in HD. Such was the case of the Ravens-Tampa Bay game. I will let you know each week what games are going to be in HD.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer.
