Monday Night Football Was Art Modell's Idea; And I Invented Electricity.
September 21, 1970: The first Monday Night Football game. You remember, Monday Night Football; that thing that Art Modell invented. Let’s refresh your memory. According to Bart Hubbuch, Browns’ beat reporter for The Akron Beacon Journal:
NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle approached Arledge about a Monday night game of the week. CBS and NBC had already turned down Rozelle, citing their well-established prime time line-ups, but ABC was a ratings wasteland on Monday nights. Arledge paid a hefty $25.5 million for the three-year, 39-game package, but it was easily the best buy of his career.
Oh, and the game itself. Even though it drew 85,000 into a stadium designed to hold 72,000, the game was blacked-out in Cleveland. If there’s one thing Art Modell should be remembered for, it’s the retention of the NFL black-out policy, which is proof positive that he knew little or nothing about sports or television. The black-out policy cuts a game’s audience from the millions to under 100,000; negatively impacting football’s most important revenue source: television.
For football fans in Cleveland who didn't attend the game, here is what the opening credits looked like for MNF back in 1970. Love the cigarette advertising: