Published March 19, 2002
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Important late-season NFL games this year might be switched from Sunday afternoon to Monday night to attract more viewers.
More like this
Yesterday, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the 2002 schedule, expected to be released in the next week or two, will allow Sunday games in the last four weeks to be moved to Monday night. The change would be decided at least four weeks in advance.
"We will ensure that there will be attractive games in all the time slots on Sunday and on Monday nights," Tagliabue said. "I think we can make it a win-win situation. We would make sure that CBS and Fox both have strong programming late in the season."
The switch, which has been sought by ABC's "Monday Night Football" for years, was necessitated by the unpredictability that free agency and the salary cap have brought to the NFL.
Two seasons ago, for example, neither Super Bowl team - the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants - had a Monday night game. New England, the current NFL champion, was not on Monday night last year.
At the other end of the spectrum, the final Monday night game of the 2000 season was a 31-0 victory by Tennessee over Dallas. The Cowboys were expected to be strong that season, but finished 5-11.
There also was a Monday night game late that season between New England, which finished 5-11, and Kansas City, which was 7-9.
The games to be switched would have to be consistent with the two networks that carry Sunday games.
For example, if the Monday night game to be switched would wind up on Fox - say, Washington-San Francisco - the game switched to Monday night would also be on Fox. If the Monday night game to be dropped is a CBS game, it would be replaced by a game originally scheduled to be shown Sunday by CBS.
