Arledge's influence was second to none

TV pioneer Roone Arledge died Thursday at the age of 71. The 36-time Emmy winner and creator of Monday Night Football was cited as one of the 100 most important Americans of the 20th century by Life magazine. CNNSI.com spoke with Sports Illustrated senior writer Frank Deford about Arledge's career and legacy.

CNNSI.com: What would you say was Roone Arledge's greatest accomplishment?

Deford: Monday Night Football, and the way we view the Olympics. Monday Night Football changed our attention span for one day of the week. Bowling leagues went out of business on Monday nights. Restaurants saw a huge dip in proceeds unless they had a television set. Conversely, people started going to bars where they had televisions. Monday Night Football really changed the culture.

CNNSI.com: What was Arledge's role in the creation of Monday Night Football?

Deford: He didn't come up with the idea. The idea was Pete Rozelle's. But the other networks were afraid that a football game on Monday night would have too specialized an audience and they didn't think it would work. Arledge was the one who had the vision to jump on it when he got the chance. And then he demanded that he have full reign in choosing the announcers because he didn't want just a couple of football guys in the booth. That's why he thought Howard Cosell was so important.

CNNSI.com: How influential was Arledge in Cosell's career?

Deford: His influence was two-pronged. Roone gave Howard a platform, and he supported him. It would've been very easy for Arledge to throw Cosell to the wolves. Cosell was just as hated as he was loved. Cosell always was tremendously grateful to Roone Arledge because not only did Arledge have the courage to pick him to broadcast the Monday Night game in the first place, but also because Arledge had the courage of conviction to stay with Cosell. That's not to say that Arledge didn't understand Cosell wasn't good for business. The fact is, however, Roone did stick Cosell through a lot of controversy, and that meant a great deal to Howard.

CNNSI.com: Would Cosell's career have been completely different if it weren't for Arledge?

Deford: Absolutely, undisputably.

CNNSI.com: And what about Arledge's influence in the way the Olympics are broadcast?

Deford: Roone really remade the Olympics for an American audience. Before Arledge, the Olympics appealed to a different audience -- females and people who didn't care that much about traditional sports. Everyone always thought the Olympics always had a very limited audience because Americans don't care that much about international sports. He changed that by personalizing the athletes. By making them real people and concentrating on the individual sports and specific people. In that way he changed the entire American perception of the Olympics.

CNNSI.com: How was Arledge to deal with personally? What kind of person was he?

Deford: He was famous for being a shadowy, dark figure. You simply couldn't get him on the phone. Every now and then you could get through to him, but you had to move heaven and earth. Whereas most people in his profession leap to answer phone calls, Roone didn't. He answered to no one. Someone said the Lord and Roone move in mysterious ways. He was great at schmoozing, but everything was done on his terms.

CNNSI.com: Is it safe to say that Roone Arledge, more than anyone else, is responsible for the way we watch sports on television?

Deford: It's not a question of "more" than anyone else. He is responsible -- by himself -- for the way we see sports today. He is by far the most significant figure in the history of sports television. There is a huge gap between him and everybody else. There aren't many professions in which one person utterly stands at the top of the tree and nobody else is on any branches near him. And I don't think there would be any dispute about that. Even the people who would be on the lower branches, such as Dick Ebersol or David Hill, wouldn't presume for a moment to be in Roone's shadow.

Sports Illustrated senior contributing writer Frank Deford is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com and appears each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. He is a longtime correspondent for HBO's Real Sports and his new novel, An American Summer (Sourcebooks Trade), is available now at bookstores everywhere.

 

Related information

Stories

SI Flashback: Roone Arledge

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video