Alabama football coach, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant and Roone Arledge of ABC Sports had something in common. Both men understood promotion in an era before the term marketing was applied to every conceivable product.
In the 1960s, ABC had little success competing with CBS and NBC. Before Arledge created Monday Night Football he decided to bring college football into the nation’s primetime viewing schedule. What Arledge had in mind was an epic introduction and he knew he needed star power. In the 1960s, Paul Bryant was college football’s star coach.
ABC actually tested the product idea a season earlier, broadcasting a night game between the Crimson Tide and Miami.