SPORTS EXTRA / FOOTBALL ‘99: NFL PREVIEW : TV-RADIO : Time-Honored Tradition Returns

In television land, it was an NFL off-season of audibles.

There were changes everywhere.

CBS revamped its “NFL Today” pregame show, ABC went to a two-announcer “Monday Night Football” booth, Dan Dierdorf went to CBS, Frank Gifford quietly and without fanfare called it a career, Suzy Kolber returned to ESPN, and Fox Sports Net created a new pregame show that will try to fit into an already crowded landscape.

But the most important change, at least for viewers, is that ABC has gone back to a 6 p.m. start for “Monday Night Football.” The one-year experiment of a 5 p.m. start with a 20-minute pregame show was scrapped after a record-low average rating of 13.9 last season.

That rating, however, does not mean “Monday Night Football” is dropping in popularity. It still ranked fifth among all prime-time series for a fifth year in a row.

In 1979, “Monday Night Football” averaged a 19.6 rating but ranked 34th among prime-time series. Different era.

The current era of “Monday Night Football” will feature a two-man booth of Al Michaels and Boomer Esiason. Dierdorf’s contract was not renewed, and he ended up signing with CBS.

ABC made overtures to John Elway, but it never got past the talking stage.

This will be only the second time in its 31 years there will be only two announcers for the Monday night game. In 1986, Michaels and Gifford worked alone; the next year Dierdorf entered the fray.

Esiason came aboard last season after Gifford, tired of the travel, asked for a studio role. Gifford now has no role. ABC is not saying that he has retired, but he has no assignments on the horizon.

Such a departure is typical for Gifford. Uncomfortable in the spotlight, he always preached that the game was the show, not him.

Lesley Visser returns for a third season as the “Monday Night Football” sideline reporter. She replaced Lynn Swann in 1997.

Visser and other sideline reporters such as CBS’ Armen Keteyian and Bonnie Bernstein figure to play a bigger role this season since the NFL has eased some of its restrictions. Sideline reporters will now be allowed in the bench area and, among other things, can interview injured players who are not suited up.

Such access could be a good thing for viewers, or a bad thing if producers go overboard and clutter telecasts even more than they are now. Restraint would seem to be the key.

While things at Fox remain pretty much status quo with its formidable pregame show lineup of James Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Cris Collinsworth, it’s anything but status quo at CBS, which made its reentry into the NFL last season after a four-year absence.

CBS, using veteran Jim Nantz as host, went with an all-rookie team of analysts on its “NFL Today” show, and now those rookies are all gone. Brent Jones, despite showing promise, has been demoted to game analyst. Marcus Allen, who likewise showed promise, will be a feature reporter. George Seifert, who showed nothing, is now coach of the Carolina Panthers.

Insider Mike Lombardi, who essentially replaced Seifert at midseason, is the new head of personnel for the Oakland Raiders.

Joining Nantz are studio analysts Jerry Glanville, Craig James and Randy Cross--an overly talkative group but one CBS is confident will work.

“I think with the lineup that we have this season, we’ll be in a much more competitive position with the other NFL pregame shows,” CBS Sports President Sean McManus said.

“NFL Today” averaged a 2.7 rating last season and trailed Fox’s pregame show by 37%.

There will be a ton of pregame NFL fodder every Sunday, and viewers on the West Coast can start at 7 a.m. with CNN’s “NFL Preview.” It features host Bob Lorenz, a USC graduate, analysts Trev Alberts and Ron Meyer and field reporter Peter King, the noted Sports Illustrated insider.

CNN and CNN-SI sports chief Jim Walton said, “If you care about football, if you really want information, we’ve got information. Content is the key, and we are unmatched in that regard. We have a wonderful, insightful, fun show, but at the end of the day our information is unrivaled.”

Of course, the people at Fox Sports Net are pretty high on their new show, “NFL This Morning,” with Chris Myers, Marv Levy and Jackie Slater. Production chief Arthur Smith gushed, “The wealth of talent and NFL experience we’re bringing to ‘NFL This Morning’ is unmatched anywhere else.”

This show will begin at 8 a.m. and go up against the first hour of ESPN’s two-hour “NFL Countdown.” The regular cast of Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Sterling Sharpe, Jim Kelly and Chris Mortensen is joined by “SportsCenter” regular Stuart Scott.

Kolber replaces Scott on “NFL Matchup” that runs Friday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2 and 9:30 p.m. on ESPN. Kolber returns to ESPN after a three-year stint at Fox.

ESPN has expanded “Monday Night Countdown” to two hours and it will begin at 4 p.m., with Mike Tirico serving as host.

On ESPN2, “NFL 2Night” has returned to its five-night-a-week schedule, Tuesday through Saturday. Mark Malone is the host and newcomer Marty Schottenheimer--another Seifert?--has joined analysts Mike Golic, Merril Hoge and Sean Salisbury.

ON THE COLLEGE FRONT

The big news includes the return of Keith Jackson.

Jackson, who, unlike Gifford, “retired” with much fanfare last season, has since called an audible and will return, doing Pacific 10 Conference games for ABC with his longtime partner, Bob Griese.

Brad Nessler and Brent Musburger will share Jackson’s former role as No. 1 announcer on national telecasts.

Former UCLA coach Terry Donahue, after a three-year stint as CBS’ lead college football commentator, left to take a front-office position with the San Francisco 49ers. Donahue has been replaced at CBS by Todd Blackledge, formerly of ABC.

ESPN has gone to a three-man booth for its Thursday night college package--Tirico, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit.

Ron Franklin, who some believe should have been Jackson’s replacement at ABC, returns with Mike Gottfried for an eighth season as ESPN’s No. 1 team. At ESPN2, NHL commentator Steve Levy will do play-by-play on the main Saturday games, with Todd Christensen serving as analyst.

Golic and Salisbury will team up as analysts with play-by-play man Mark Jones on some ESPN2 night telecasts.

ESPN has a new one-hour highlight show, “GameNight,” which is similar to “NFL PrimeTime” and will be on generally at 9 p.m. It will be carried by ESPN2 through Oct. 17, then move to ESPN.

Fox Sports West and West 2 will offer 66 games this season. What’s new is that taped-delayed telecasts of USC and UCLA games have been scrapped, except in cases when the games originate on Fox cable.

NATIONAL TV

Sunday, Sep. 12

Minnesota at Atlanta, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

Pittsburgh at Cleveland, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Sep. 13

Miami at Denver, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Sep. 19

Denver at Kansas City, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

New York Jets at Buffalo, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Sep. 20

Atlanta at Dallas, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Sep. 26

Minnesota at Green Bay, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

N.Y. Giants at New England, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Sep. 27

San Francisco at Arizona, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Oct. 3

New York Jets at Denver, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Oakland at Seattle, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Oct. 4

Buffalo at Miami, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Oct. 10

Denver at Oakland, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Tampa Bay at Green Bay, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Oct. 11

Jacksonville at New York Jets, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Oct. 17

Green Bay at Denver, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

Washington at Arizona, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Oct. 18

Dallas at New York Giants, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Thursday, Oct. 21

Kansas City at Baltimore, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Oct. 24

New York Jets at Oakland, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Monday, Oct. 25

Atlanta at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Oct. 31

Minnesota at Denver, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

Tampa Bay at Detroit, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Nov. 1

Seattle at Green Bay, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Nov. 7

Pittsburgh at San Francisco, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Tennessee at Miami, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Nov. 8

Dallas at Minnesota, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Nov. 14

Green Bay at Dallas, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

Denver at Seattle, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Nov. 15

New York Jets at New England, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Nov. 21

Dallas at Arizona, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

New Orleans at Jacksonville, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Nov. 22

Oakland at Denver, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Thursday, Nov. 25

Chicago at Detroit, 9:40 a.m. (FOX)

Miami at Dallas, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Nov. 28

Kansas City at Oakland, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Atlanta at Carolina, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Nov. 29

Green Bay at San Francisco, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Thursday, Dec. 2

Pittsburgh at Jacksonville, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Dec. 5

Kansas City at Denver, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Dallas at New England, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Dec. 6

Minnesota at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Thursday, Dec. 9

Oakland at Tennessee, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Dec. 12

Atlanta at San Francisco, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

Minnesota at Kansas City, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Dec. 13

Denver at Jacksonville, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Saturday, Dec. 18

Pittsburgh at Kansas City, 9:40 a.m. (CBS)

San Francisco at Carolina, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Dec. 19

New York Jets at Dallas,1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Buffalo at Arizona, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Dec. 20

Green Bay at Minnesota, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Friday, Dec. 24

Dallas at New Orleans, Noon (FOX)

Saturday, Dec. 25

Denver at Detroit, 1:15 p.m.(CBS)

Sunday, Dec. 26

Green Bay at Tampa Bay, 1:15 p.m. (FOX)

Washington at San Francisco, 5:20 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Dec. 27

New York Jets at Miami, 6 p.m. (ABC)

Sunday, Jan. 2

San Diego at Denver, 1:15 p.m. (CBS)

Monday, Jan. 3

San Francisco at Atlanta, 6 p.m. (ABC)