We wanted to remove some of the sameness. We wanted to reinvent a little bit. Visser, who joined ABC in 1994, covered a variety of sports, including college football, figure skating, baseball and thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown. Ohlmeyer, who hand-picked the new crew, vowed to get viewers talking about the show the way they did when Howard Cosell and Don Meredith were on ABC's NFL team. Football is not played in St. Patrick's Cathedral.
People watch football to have some fun.
If it doesn't work out, no amount of buzz will save us. A rating point represents 1 percent of U.S. TV homes. I'm going to try to integrate myself in a three-man scheme. The new trio will start working together next week, Ohlmeyer said. Their first game is Denver at Super Bowl champion St. Louis on Sept. 4.