John McCain and Barack Obama on ESPN's Monday Night Football
Chris Berman to Interview Presidential Candidates on Eve of Election for Halftime of Pittsburgh Steelers at Washington Redskins Game November 3
On the eve of the presidential election, ESPN's Monday Night Football game November 3 will originate from the nation's capital when the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Washington Redskins. Before the polls open the next day, ESPN's audience will hear from the candidates when Chris Berman interviews both major party presidential nominees, Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama, during halftime of the MNF game.
The candidates will be on the campaign trail and have agreed to participate one-on-one, pending last-minute schedule changes, via satellite with Berman from the ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn. The conversations will be taped earlier in the day and will air at approximately 10:15 p.m. ET. The Steelers-Redskins game will kickoff at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN HD with the Spanish-language telecast on ESPN Deportes.
"We worked with our partners at the NFL to schedule a Monday Night Football game in Washington on this special night, and this presents a unique opportunity for John McCain and Barack Obama to reflect upon the last few months and address a large primetime audience on the final day of the campaigns," said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production.
ESPN's Monday Night Football is the most-watched series in cable television history. Now in its third season on ESPN, Monday Night Football has registered nine of the top 10 all-time biggest household audiences in cable history, led by this year's Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys telecast (Sept. 15), which attracted cable's largest audience ever (13.0 million homes and 18.6 million viewers).
ESPN Networks to Update Presidential Election Results on BottomLine
On the evening of Tuesday, November 4, the BottomLines on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic and ESPNU will provide sports fans a constantly updated snapshot of the United States Presidential election and other select results, as reported and projected by ABC News. The election content on the BottomLine will reside in a special ELECTION category and will consist of the following:
1. ABC News' projection of the current total of Electoral College votes for John McCain and Barack Obama.
2. News Alerts (i.e. interruptions of a normal rotation) highlighting when ABC News calls a state or series of states for one of the candidates.
3. Reporting a projected winner.
4. Reporting on sports-related elections and propositions.
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