ESPN Sunday Night Football

infobox television | show_name = ESPN Sunday Night Football


format = Sports
runtime = 180 minutes+
starring = Mike Patrick
Joe Theismann
Paul Maguire
Suzy Kolber
country = USA
network = ESPN (1987-2005)
first_aired = November 8 1987
last_aired = January 1, 2006

"ESPN Sunday Night Football" was the ESPN cable network's weekly television broadcasts of Sunday evening National Football League (NFL) games. The first ESPN Sunday night broadcast occurred on November 8, 1987, while the last one aired on January 1, 2006.

History

ESPN broadcast Sunday night games from the second half of the NFL season to the end from 1987–1997 (TNT broadcast the first half from 1990 to 1997). During "Sunday Night Football"'s first season in 1987, the announcing booth had Patrick, Roy Firestone, and a weekly "guest color commentator." Theismann took over as lead analyst after that.

Beginning in 1998, they broadcast the entire slate of Sunday night games, and had exclusive rights to any night game other than the season opener and regular Monday games, which aired on ABC. Thus, ESPN would usually have a few weekends each season with games on both Saturday (sometimes Thursday instead) and Sunday nights.

In 2002, ESPN's "SNF" crew covered the new Thursday, opening night kickoff game.

Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, and (from 1998 on) Paul Maguire were in the announcing booth, and Suzy Kolber reported from the sidelines. In 2004, Pat Summerall replaced Patrick for the preseason and for several regular season weeks following Patrick's recovery from open-heart surgery.

After the 2005 season, ESPN ended this package in favor of "Monday Night Football". The Sunday-night time slot now hosts various sporting events under the name "Sunday Showdown". Sunday night NFL games are now broadcast by NBC.

ignificant games

*First preseason game: Chicago Bears at Miami Dolphins, August 13, 1987
*First regular season game: New England Patriots at New York Giants, November 8, 1987 (Giants won, 17-10)
*First telecast during opening week of season: Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs, September 6, 1998 (Chiefs won, 28-8)
*Only regular season game outside the U.S.: San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico, October 2, 2005 (Cardinals won 31-14; see also: Fútbol Americano)
*Last telecast: St. Louis Rams at Dallas Cowboys, January 1, 2006 (Rams won, 21-10)

Commentators

*Mike Patrick (Play-by-play, 1987–2003 and Oct 2004–2005)
*Pat Summerall (Play-by-play, Sep–Oct 2004)
*Roy Firestone (Color commentator, 1987)
*Joe Theismann (Color commentator, 1988–2005)
*Paul Maguire (Color commentator, 1998–2005)
*Mark Malone (Sideline reporter, 1994–1996)
*Ron Jaworski (Sideline reporter, 1997)
*Solomon Wilcots (Sideline reporter, 1998–2000)
*Suzy Kolber (Sideline reporter, 2001–2005)

Guest commentators (1987 only)

*Larry Csonka
*Jim Brown
*O.J. Simpson
*Ed Marinaro
*Tom Jackson
*Roger Staubach
*John Matuszak