ABC Drops Boomer From Booth

March 8, 2000 / 7:24 PM EST / CBS/AP

Boomer Esiason was fired from the Monday Night Football broadcasting team by ABC on Wednesday.

The network did not say who will be hired to join play-by-play announcer Al Michaels in the booth next season.

Esiason, a former Pro Bowl quarterback, retired from the Cincinnati Bengals in 1998 to join the ABC telecasts. He lasted only two seasons, one as part of a three-man booth with Michaels and Dan Dierdorf, and then alone with Michaels in 1999.

Also released by ABC were longtime producer Ken Wolfe and director Craig Janoff after the show's ratings plummeted. Don Ohlmeyer, who produced the broadcasts in the 1970s when Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell made Monday nights a happening, was rehired as producer.

"There was a sameness," ABC sports president Howard Katz said. "I feel we have to figure out how to make it special again. It has to be a big event again. There was nothing wrong. There was a sameness."

ABC's 13.7 rating and 23 share were down 1 percent from 13.9 and 22 in 1998. The numbers were the lowest ever for the Monday night series.

Katz would not say who is being sought to replace Esiason, nor would he criticize Esiason's performance.

"I think Boomer did everything we asked him to do," Katz said. "I just think it could be better."

Ohlmeyer said he is not committed to a two-man or a three-man booth. Nor would he speculate on the possibility of hiring Bill Parcells or Jimmy Johnson, who retired from coaching in January. Others mentioned as candidates have ranged from John Elway to Dan Marino or Steve Young, should Marino or Young retire.

But Ohlmeyer emphasized the broadcast must improve.

"We can't bring Howard back from the grave and we can't bring Don back from Santa Mesa," Ohlmeyer said. "What we're saying is, is there another version of what happened in the '70s that can happen today."