National Sports Journalism Center

One of the keys to a ratings resurgence for Monday Night Football? A refocus on the game itself, John Ourand writes. "Through the first 10 games of the season, the venerable series pulled its highest ratings since it moved to ESPN, and nine of the 10 games posted a viewership increase from last year," Ourand writes in the kickoff story of a multipart series in the Sports Business Journal. He adds that thus far this season, Monday Night Football has averaged 14.573 million viewers, topping the previous high (12.955 million in 2006) by more than 12 percent. “ESPN stopped treating it as a marketing stunt and has focused on the product and on football,” says Mark Lazarus, the former Turner Sports head who is now president of media and marketing for Career Sports & Entertainment. “And that has been to their benefit.” || Early days of MNF a mix of sports and celebrity. Here. || The history of licensing on MNF. Here. || Comments from former MNF executives. Here.