2010 Monday Night Football Chalk Talk Series

2010 Monday Night Football Chalk Talk Series

Kickoff Event at Cipriani 42^nd Street in New York September 13 with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Jets Owner Woody Johnson and ESPN President George Bodenheimer

The Monday Night Football Chalk Talk Series is back for its fourth year with seven planned events during the 2010 NFL season. The series will kick off Monday, September 13 at Cipriani 42^nd Street in midtown Manhattan before the season-opening MNF game between the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets at the New Meadowlands Stadium.

The MNF Chalk Talk Series renews a tradition that originally began in the 1970s with local luncheon events in the early years of sports television’s signature series.  On-air personalities in town to cover the game shared their insider perspectives with invited guests from the local community.  ESPN and the NFL launched the Chalk Talk Series in 2007 to showcase the teams and host cities participating in the weekly MNF primetime games.

This fall, ESPN commentators will participate in the luncheons, along with prominent alumni players from the competing teams, who will take part in panel discussions and question-and-answer sessions. The rotation of ESPN NFL experts will include Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and Ron Jaworski from the MNF booth, and reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya. Local ESPN Radio personalities in each city will also help emcee the programs.

An All Pro lineup will kick off the ESPN series Sept. 13 in New York. ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap will host with Greg Buttle, former Jets linebacker and co-host of 1050 ESPN Radio’s Jets Gameday show. Anticipated guests will include NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Jets Chairman and CEO Woody Johnson, and ESPN President George Bodenheimer. The MNF trio of Tirico, Gruden and Jaworski is scheduled to be part of the program, as are Jets alumni players Wayne Chrebet, Joe Klecko and Ken O’Brien, and former Ravens kicker Matt Stover.

“The Chalk Talk Series is a unique opportunity for ESPN to work with the NFL, the teams and sponsors to celebrate the game of football and the Monday Night Football franchise,” said John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president, programming acquisitions & strategy. “We are thrilled to continue this successful program for a fourth season with seven events this fall, including our first in New York before the primetime opener at the New Meadowlands Stadium.”

National sponsor Dick’s Sporting Goods will continue its involvement in the program for the fourth year, along with sponsors Bud Light, Geico, Snickers, Toyota and Head & Shoulders.

Following the opening event in New York, the series will continue at Carnivale Chicago before the Packers- Bears game (Sept. 27); at Sun Life Stadium in South Florida (Oct. 4) and at Cowboys Stadium (Oct. 25), site of the NFC East MNF matchup between the Giants and Cowboys, as well as Super Bowl XLV.  Some 300 guests will be part of each MNF Chalk Talk Series event with invitations going to local civic and business leaders, sponsors and fans.  Events are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. in most cities on MNF game days.

Chalk Talk Series events will also include an ESPN RISE Above Award segment. One male and one female student-athlete in each city will be honored with a student-athlete award for overcoming adversity and excelling in their sports while motivating teammates/classmates to excel as well. Deserving students will be identified by the MNF host teams; the recipients will be selected by NFL Community Affairs, Team ESPN and ESPN RISE, ESPN’s commitment to engage and elevate high school athletes by providing them with recognition, resources, information and inspiration to motivate them to improve their skills and achieve their goals on and off the field of play.

2010 Monday Night Football Chalk Talk Series:

ESPN’S MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

ESPN’s Monday Night Football is the most-watched series in cable television history.  In four seasons on ESPN, Monday Night Football has registered eight of the top 10 all-time biggest household audiences in cable history, led by the Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings telecast (10/5/09), which attracted cable’s largest household audience ever (an average of 15,136,000 million homes and 21,839,000 viewers). For the 2009 season, ESPN’s MNF delivered the 15 biggest household audiences (and top 14 among viewers) for cable television in 2009, averaging a 10.4 rating and 10,315,000 homes (14,382,000 viewers). It was also the first time on ESPN that the series averaged higher than a 10 rating and 14 million viewers for the season. Accompanying NFL content on ESPN.com, including “Monday Night HQ,” sparked an increase of Monday traffic to the site of 24% over the previous season with an average 84.6 million page views per week.

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