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Howard Katz (born November 30, 1949) is an American sports executive, best known for his work as the Senior Vice President of Broadcasting & Media Operations for the NFL.
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Howard Katz (born November 30, 1949) is an American sports executive, best known for his work as the Senior Vice President of Broadcasting & Media Operations for the NFL.
Raised in Livingston, New Jersey, Katz majored in economics and graduated from Colgate University in 1971, where he successfully directed the press room for the college hockey championships while serving as assistant to the university's sports information director. [1] began his career as a production associate for ABC Sports in 1971, where he worked on the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, Monday Night Football , and Wide World of Sports . From 1971 to 1993, Katz worked at Trans World International (the television arm of IMG Media) and as president of Ohlmeyer Communications Company (OCC), which was bought out by ESPN in 1993.
While at ESPN, Katz helped launch ESPN2 in 1993, and was promoted to executive vice president of production. In 2002, he hired John Madden to announce Monday Night Football for ABC. He also helped to launch ESPNews, ESPN Radio, ESPN International, ESPN Classic and the ESPY Awards.
In 2003, Katz joined NFL Films, and the same year he began the "flexible scheduling" model currently used by the NFL, which allows the league to move matchups to and from primetime to maximize visibility. He also played a role in the rise of streaming services carrying games, especially Amazon Prime. [2]
In 2022, Katz was named the winner of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. [3]
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coaches, officials, franchise owners, and front-office personnel, almost all of whom made their primary contributions to the game in the National Football League (NFL).
Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was an American businessman and executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retirement in November 1989. He became the youngest commissioner in NFL history at just the age of 33. He is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world.
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Thomas Louie Jackson, also referred to as "TJ" or "Tommy", is an American sports commentator and former professional football player. He played as a linebacker for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 to 1986. He was a member of Denver's "Orange Crush Defense" and helped lead the Broncos to the AFC Championship in 1977 and 1986. After his playing career ended, he enjoyed a successful 29-year run as an NFL analyst for ESPN. He was given the Pete Rozelle Award for excellence in broadcasting by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
The Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, created in 1989 and named for the late longtime NFL commissioner, Pete Rozelle, is bestowed annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame "for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football". In contrast to similar awards given by the other American professional sports leagues, the Rozelle Award has occasionally been granted to broadcast executives and production people in addition to on-air personalities.
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Edwin Milton Sabol was an American filmmaker and the founder of NFL Films. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 as a contributor due to his works with NFL Films.
National television broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games first aired on ABC from 1948 to 1951. Between 1970 and 2005, Monday Night Football aired exclusively on ABC. In 2006, ESPN took over as the exclusive rights holder to Monday Night Football, and the ABC Sports division was merged into ESPN Inc. by parent company Disney. Afterward, ABC did not broadcast any game from the NFL, whether exclusive or a simulcast from ESPN, until they simulcasted an NFL Wild Card playoff game in 2016. ABC would then return to Monday Night Football in 2020, when they aired three games as simulcasts from ESPN.
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The following article details the history of Monday Night Football, the weekly broadcast of National Football League games on U.S. television.
During the early 1960s, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle envisioned the possibility of playing at least one game weekly during prime time that could be viewed by a greater television audience. An early bid by the league in 1964 to play on Friday nights was soundly defeated, with critics charging that such telecasts would damage the attendance at high school football games. Undaunted, Rozelle decided to experiment with the concept of playing on Monday night, scheduling the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions for a game on September 28, 1964. While the game was not televised, it drew a sellout crowd of 59,203 spectators to Tiger Stadium, the largest crowd ever to watch a professional football game in Detroit up to that point.