"Hello, everyone, and welco to Week 15 of the regular season. We're live at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, bringing you the last ga of the week, and also the most anticipated main event: the San Francisco 49ers versus the Pittsburgh Steelers."
At this mont, the national broadcast was not being handled by Ted Robinson and Tim Ryan, whom San Francisco audiences were familiar with, but rather by ESPN's announcers and guest comntators. After Roger Goodell took over as commissioner, the NFL's TV broadcasting rights really flourished. ESPN had the broadcasting rights for Monday Night Football, the NFL Network had the rights for Thursday Night Football, CBS had the rights for Sunday Night Football, and NBC and Fox had the rights for the other gas on Sunday. Later, because the NFL's broadcasting rights were so expensive, TV stations had to work together to buy them.
For example, in 2017, to build its brand, Amazon bought the broadcasting rights for ten Thursday Night Football gas for $50 million and also a market promotion package worth $30 million. In other words, the streaming rights for ten Thursday Night Football gas cost a total of $80 million. This was only for streaming on the internet. The TV broadcasting rights were sold separately. Even a major TV station like CBS could not afford to buy the broadcasting rights for a full season of Thursday Night Football alone and had to share the profits with other TV stations. In 2017, the NFL's dostic revenue from broadcasting rights alone was more than $2.67 billion, while the NBA's revenue from broadcasting rights in the sa year was only about one-third of that.
Tonight's Monday Night Football ga was exclusively broadcasted by ESPN, so the announcers most familiar to Bay Area audiences, Ted and Tim, could only watch the ga on TV instead of comntating on it. The live host was Mike Tirico, a veteran professional who started his career in 1988 and joined ESPN in 1991, with an incredibly rich background. Since 2006, Tirico had been the designated host for ESPN's "Monday Night Football," and his bald head and chubby figure had beco a symbol of Monday Night Football.
There were two guest comntators for today's ga: Ron Jaworski, a forr quarterback who entered the league in 1973 and retired in 1989. He couldn't be considered a top-tier quarterback, but he had achieved a decent record with the Philadelphia Eagles during his career. The other one was Jon Gruden, who was a coach through and through. He entered the league in 1986 and later beca the head coach of the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In his first season as the Buccaneers' head coach, he won the Super Bowl, which was the peak of his career. Interestingly, the opponent the Buccaneers defeated in the Super Bowl was the Oakland Raiders, the team Gruden coached the year before. After being fired by the Buccaneers in 2008, Gruden went into semi-retirent and beca a comntator in the league. ESPN's "Monday Night Football" show was undoubtedly his stage to shine and was quite popular. It's worth ntioning that Gruden also ca from a football family. His father, Jim Gruden, served as an assistant coach in the league for many years and was a long-ti scout for the San Francisco 49ers. His brother, Jay Gruden, had just been appointed as the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive coach this year. These three people would be a team to comntate on the ga tonight.
After Tirico skillfully completed the opening, he didn't imdiately throw the topic to the two guests but brought up the most important topic of the day. "It's snowing in San Francisco. Yes, you heard that right, it's snowing in San Francisco."
"According to official reports, this is the first snow in San Francisco in 35 years. This is undoubtedly great news for the city's residents, but for the teams and players, it adds more uncertainty. Before we officially get into the ga preview, let's take a look at the situation inside the stadium." Tirico used his unique way of speaking to cut into today's ga. In just a few words, he led the audience into Candlestick Park. This skill was truly impressive.
"John, John?" Tirico called out to his live reporter. "Yes, Mike." John Sutcliffe, who was standing inside the stadium, appeared in front of the cara. "Today, it snowed in San Francisco, and we're experiencing the lowest temperature of the entire winter. The temperature inside the stadium is only 38 degrees Fahrenheit (about three degrees Celsius), and the felt temperature is even lower."
Standing inside the stadium, the ho fans had already started singing loudly, and Sutcliffe had to raise his voice. "The snow on the field has been cleared, and there's a light drizzle, but it has basically stopped and won't affect the ga. But as you can see, everyone must be fully dressed, because with the lting snow, the felt temperature will be even colder." Sutcliffe turned around and moved aside, motioning for the cara to capture the players who were warming up on the field. "Now the coaching staff and backup players have all put on long down jackets. This is a sight we often see in Foxborough and Green Bay, and we didn't expect to see it in San Francisco."
"It's worth noting that the Steelers seem to be very comfortable with this situation. They're wearing hats, gloves, and down jackets, and their warm-ups are orderly. On the other hand, the 49ers are a bit behind. Their warm-up activities were also delayed by 30 minutes. This gives people the illusion that the ho and away teams have switched places." After Sutcliffe's live report was over, Tirico imdiately looked at the two guest analysts and first asked the forr quarterback, Jaworski, "Ron, what are the effects of playing in this kind of weather on a quarterback?"
"First, the premise is that this is San Francisco, the 49ers' ho field, and their weather is known for being like spring all year round. After understanding this premise, we can analyze it." Jaworski spoke eloquently and expressed his views.
"A quarterback's feel for the ball is very delicate. After putting on gloves, the contact between the fingertips and the football becos dull. During the pass, the sense of control and force will be slightly off, and even the rotation after the release will change." Jaworski's thoughts were incredibly clear. "Lu Ke is a quarterback with delicate control and precise passing. Putting on gloves will have a relatively big impact on him. At the sa ti, it will also have so impact on the receivers."
"Relatively speaking, Big Ben is more used to this kind of weather, and delicate ball control is not his specialty. So, from a weather perspective alone, the Steelers did get a little bit of luck today with the help of San Francisco," Jaworski concluded. Gruden chuckled and said jokingly, "The right ti, the right place, and the right people. Now it seems that the Steelers have already snatched the first two."
Not only were the three comntators in the studio paying attention to the situation at Candlestick Park, but all of North Arica was also watching. A while before the ga started, more than 20 million viewers had already turned on their TVs and tuned in to the ESPN channel, looking forward to today's focus matchup. At the sa ti, social dia imdiately beca lively.
"It's snowing! Does this an the Steelers are going to sweep the 49ers?"
"This isn't right. It's the San Francisco 49ers' ho ga, so why does the ga seem like it's in Pittsburgh? Does even God want Big Ben to win this ga?"
"What's going on? The first snowfall in 35 years, and then San Francisco is going to play against the defensive beast, the Steelers, at ho? Did they get the wrong script?"
"I think today's ga might turn into a disaster. The two teams will just keep punting on the field, and then the ga will end with a super low score. God, please don't let that happen. I was looking forward to a shootout."
"Snow ga? Rain ga? Did I switch to the wrong channel? This doesn't seem like San Francisco."
"It's over, it's over. Last ti in Baltimore, that 49ers quarterback looked like he was sleepwalking. Today in San Francisco, they ran into this kind of weather again. Are they going to completely collapse?"
"Haha, the Steelers will win for sure!"
"Why does everyone think the Steelers will win? Oh, sorry, I didn't see that it was snowing in San Francisco."
The bustling discussions quickly spread across the internet, and the show's ratings also began to climb. More and more eyes were cast toward Candlestick Park, and the unexpected impact of a light snow was just beginning.
After the warm-up, Lu Ke did not stop exercising. He was still standing on the side of the field, constantly doing simple passing drills. He needed to get used to this kind of weather. His muscles seed to be a little stiffer than usual, and the feeling in his fingertips was also a little dull, so he needed to readjust his entire feel for passing. He had to get used to passing in this situation. Otherwise, today's ga would be a complete disaster. But Lu Ke had no intention of surrendering.
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