Witten (l) and Tessitore will be joined by Booger McFarland and Todd McShay in the "MNF" Film RoomESPN IMAGES
ESPN is "skipping what some consider the best (and wonkiest) part of its multi-channel college football national championship megacast -- the Coaches Film Room -- for something it hopes will be even better," the "MNF" Film Room, according to Jacob Feldman of SI.com. ESPN VP/Production Lee Fitting said, "We love the Coaches Film Room. We’ve had great success with it, we want to continue to do it." However, Feldman noted a month ago a "new idea emerged" after "MNF" analysts Booger McFarland and Jason Witten were shown "breaking down film during a production meeting." Fitting thought the setting "highlighted a new side of the duo in a personality-heavy segment full of X’s and O’s discussion." Add in "MNF" play-by-play man Joe Tessitore as well as draft analyst Todd McShay, and there was "something to experiment with." Fitting: "It’s going to be entertaining." Fitting said that he did "consider having both an MNF Film Room and a Coaches Film Room, but ultimately decided that having one only available on ESPN3 would not be worth the hassle for either cast." He added that with the annual coaches convention in San Antonio, "wrangling a set of top guys this year would have been particularly difficult," and in past years his team has been "working until the night before kickoff to secure talent." Fitting said that the decision "wasn’t about getting Witten more live reps," nor about "flipping the narrative around a booth that struggled early on" (SI.com, 1/3).
COMES AT PRICE: In Boston, Chad Finn writes, "Can’t blame ESPN for trying to get some positive attention for its maligned 'Monday Night Football' booth, but why does it have to do it at the expense of something that already works quite well?" This is an "obvious way for the network to push an image of casual camaraderie among the broadcast team, which struggled to find cohesion in its first year." Finn: "It will be interesting to see if they’re more at ease together in this format, but it’s too bad it comes at the expense of the Coaches Film Room, which I thought was the most appealing way to watch the semifinals" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/4).
TWITTER REAX: The Ringer's Rodger Sherman: "The Coaches Film Room was one of the best ideas in the history of college football coverage. Let’s replace it with Jason Witten, who was universally panned as an announcer and hasn’t seen a college football game all year." SB Nation's College Football feed: "Would watch literally anything else." For The Win: "College football fans are mad about ESPN using 'MNF' crew for title game." The Athletic's Richard Deitsch: "I'm going to go contrarian here & predict this production is going to be a much better watch than you might expect. No remote production. No pressure. All four can see each other in real time. And they like each other off screen." The RedditCFB feed compiled a slew of fan reactions to the move, almost all of them unfavorable.
