PITTSBURGH -- Chet Forte, director of ABC-TV's 'Monday Night Football,' said a decision may be made Friday whether O.J. Simpson will replace Fran Tarkenton as an announcer, a Pittsburgh newspaper reported in Friday's editions.
Forte was in Pittsburgh Thursday to prepare for an ABC telecast of a Pittsburgh Steelers-New York Giants exhibition game at Three Rivers Stadium.
The ABC football announcing team has included Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith, with Tarkenton taking Meredith's spot for some of the games.
'It looks as though the decision will be made tomorrow (Friday), although he almost certainly won't be here for tomorrow's game,' Forte said in an interview Thursday with the TV writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
'It's a decision that's got to be made, because we're wasting time here,' Forte said. 'It really boils down to what his agent does. It's no secret that O.J. wants to do Monday night football.
'He's wanted to do it for years and his contract is up with NBC,' Forte said in the newspaper interview. 'He loves Cosell and they'd have a lot of fun playing off each other.
'We've been negotiating with him for quite a while and it should have been resolved weeks ago. Maybe there's a problem about the number of games.'
