“ESPN could have stayed on Sunday night,” ESPN vice president Mark Shapiro said. “Unequivocally our task was to continue ABC’s tradition of Monday Night Football. We’ve been assured we’re getting the preferred schedule.”

Added George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports: “From the Disney perspective, it was a smart move for ABC by moving out of football and having ESPN move into Monday nights.”

“Monday Night Football” had its highest-rated broadcast in 1985 with a 29.6, or a 46 share, for a game between the then-unbeaten Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins.

“A great deal with the NFL is the best deal you can get in television,” said NBC sports chairman Dick Ebersol, who said the network only began negotiating with the NFL last Friday after ABC, which had the option on the prime-time broadcasts until Oct. 31, relinquished it after talks with the league.

He said the network hasn’t started working on finding anchors for the Sunday night broadcast. “We’re celebrating for a day. Then I’m sure we’ll get a lot of calls.”

Last month, Tagliabue said during the NFL meetings in Hawaii that the Monday night move was a strong possibility. ABC, which has been losing money on the package despite high ratings, had been balking at the NFL’s asking price.

NBC has been struggling in prime-time this season, and even risks an unprecedented fall into fourth place in the ratings. ABC’s newfound ratings strength with “Desperate Housewives” on Sunday nights has been particularly damaging. NBC says it will devote its entire Sunday night prime-time lineup to the NFL.

CBS and Fox already have agreed to pay a total of $8 billion over six years for the rights to Sunday afternoon games.

The NFL is still considering an eight game late-season package of Thursday and Saturday night games on cable and satellite. Tagliabue has said the NFL’s own new network could show some or all of those games.

The NFL will continue to show all cable games on free, over-the air television in home markets. That means that local stations will carry ESPN’s Monday night games in the cities of the teams involved.

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