These days, ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth is about as rock solid as it’s ever been. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman represent a dependable steadiness that any network would be thrilled to have.
This hasn’t always been the case, and it wasn’t even that long ago when the luster was off MNF while the network was desperate to figure out how to make football fans tune in.
Enter the BoogerMobile.
Let’s return to the halcyon days of 2018. ESPN is getting ready to introduce its brand-new MNF booth consisting of announcer Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten, and Booger McFarland. Three-person teams are hardly new to MNF but this version will be different as McFarland is set to be a “field analyst.” Not quite an in-booth broadcaster but not quite a sideline reporter, his role is expected to provide a unique perspective on the game.
Before making their in-season debut, the trio worked a Thursday night preseason game between Washington and the New York Jets on Aug. 16. Right before the broadcast, we all learned exactly how unique Booger’s perspective would be.
“[McFarland will] be riding in an elevated chair that will be positioned over the line of scrimmage for each snap, giving him a God’s-eye view of the action,” wrote Sam Farmer in the Los Angeles Times. “He’ll be transported up and down the sideline by a cart equipped with two outreached arms, one for McFarland’s seat and the other for a camera operator.”
As advertised, fans at the game got a first-hand look at McFarland’s fancy setup. Some of them also got treated to a fantastic view of the ESPN field analyst and his massive screens instead of the game they were there to watch.
That's nice of ESPN to give fans who paid for seats a TV to watch while Booger gets a better view (from @jsell2110) pic.twitter.com/jOnu1lu3AK
— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) October 16, 2018
While those in attendance weren’t thrilled about paying for tickets so they could watch the game on a TV, McFarland was jazzed about the initial experience.
“It was phenomenal,” he told The Advocate. “That was one of the things we wanted to see about, and it worked very well. We were worried about blocking some folks’ vision, but we have a 60-inch monitor on the back of the chair, so they can see what’s happening. I didn’t hear about any complaints.”
McFarland and ESPN would indeed hear about those complaints in the weeks ahead.
The Booger mobile is not a fan favorite pic.twitter.com/xJCKQi45sJ
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) October 23, 2018
The MNF crew received a lot of criticism in general, but the BoogerMobile, as it had become known, was one of the most divisive concerns for audiences. Chief among the complaints was the notion that it didn’t actually contribute any additional insight to the games. And aside from the issues it created for those in the crowd behind him, viewers at home weren’t seeing the benefit either.
Many have suggested that ESPN move Booger up to the booth. Would you be in favor of that move?
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 23, 2018
By October, the BoogerMobile had a streamlined new look. The large TV meant to fix the obstructed view issue was replaced by plexiglass, though it still meant McFarland was sitting awkwardly in the air, all the while not adding very much to the broadcast.
I see ESPN got rid of the board & TV behind Booger and replaced it with plexiglass after last week's complaints pic.twitter.com/nM2o0xz9Xp
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) October 30, 2018
By December, while ESPN had announced that the trio would return for another season, it was obvious that the current setup wasn’t working. Andrew Marchand reported that the network was going to explore taking things more traditional, moving McFarland to the booth with Witten and Tessitore for ESPN International’s broadcast of the Super Bowl. Then, on Dec. 24, McFarland ditched the BoogerMobile for a booth appearance for the Denver Broncos-Oakland Raiders Christmas Eve game.
Booger's in the booth! pic.twitter.com/4KO7tsjdtV
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) December 25, 2018
Booger was also in the booth for the final three regular-season games of the season, though ESPN would often cite weather as the reason. The trio got to call a Wild Card playoff game in Houston where a roof meant weather wouldn’t be a concern. However, when Booger ended up in the booth for that game as well, the writing was on the wall.
Sure enough, in March 2019, it became official: The BoogerMobile was dead.
As for what happened to the contraption, it was quite literally broken down and distributed for parts.
“An ESPN spokesman said the custom-built cart was filled with parts from various vendors,” wrote NY Post reporter Andrew Marchand. “It was disassembled and each piece was returned to its dealership.”
Tessitore and McFarland did indeed return for MNF in 2019, this time as a duo. However, that would be their last season together. In 2020, they were replaced by Steve Levy, Brian Griese, and Louis Riddick and the rest is history. McFarland went on to do plenty of other things for ESPN but it’s hard to imagine he’ll do anything as memorable, for better or worse, than the BoogerMobile.
In his book “My Year of Flops,” writer Nathan Rabin rated a series of cinematic failures as one of three things: Fiasco, Failure, or Secret Success. We’d love to look back on the BoogerMobile and consider it a “secret success” but the truth is that it was almost certainly a failure nestled inside of a fiasco. That’s impressive in its own way.
