ESPN's Tirico an advocate for fans at stadiums

PASADENA, Calif. — Mike Tirico, who will be doing the play-by-play when "Monday Night Football" moves to ESPN this fall, did something that the folks involved in sports TV almost never do.

He actually thought about the people who attend games, not just the people who watch them on TV.

Whoa. That's almost unprecedented.

His comments came in the context of ESPN's "MNF" vs. NBC's Sunday-night football. For years, ABC tried and failed to negotiate a deal with the NFL for some flexibility in the "MNF" schedule to avoid unattractive matchups in the second half of the season.

NBC, on the other hand, got just such a deal in its first year of telecasting Sunday-night games, while ESPN's Monday-night schedule is locked. Of course, there's a big difference between changing the starting time of a game by a few hours and changing it from one day to another.

Tirico said he thinks it's "important" to avoid switching games from Sunday to Monday just days before game for the fans' sake.

"If you plan on Sunday afternoon, if you're coming from farther away and all of a sudden the rug gets pulled on out to Monday night, the guy's lost his maybe one or two chances to see (his team) in person," he said, pointing to things like travel arrangements and hotel reservations. "So, while from a TV standpoint it might frustrate us a little bit, I think for the people involved, it's the right thing to do."

It isn't just the fans that the NFL is thinking about, of course. Changing a game from Sunday to Monday would change teams' practice schedules.

"So I think the 'Monday Night Football' flex schedule, although it was talked about and discussed very often, really would almost alter the base of competition and turn your back on your most loyal fans, your season ticketholders," Tirico said. "So I actually understand where the league was coming from that regard with keeping the Monday-night schedule set."

He's right. Absolutely.

It's also pretty easy to say, given that the NFL shows no sign of changing its stance on the issue.

If the NFL were to offer ESPN the same sort of flex schedule it has given NBC, the cable network would run for it faster than any football player can run the 40.

"MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" might be a bit of a misnomer for what ESPN is planning to do with the franchise. The cable network is planning a full day of coverage, starting with shows in the morning and continuing until late at night after the game itself is over.

Of course, if there's a matchup between two 2-10 teams late in the season, ESPN may be stuck with an entire day of programming no one wants to watch.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com