• by Wayne Friedman , August 9, 2005

Taking music branded entertainment to harder-hitting levels, the NFL will team with the Rolling Stones in creating a season-long marketing effort for ABC's "Monday Night Football."

The marketing campaign should help boost the Stones' Sept. 6 release of their new album, "A Bigger Bang." Major music artists--more than ever--are looking for TV marketing tie-ins to help boost slumping music sales.

Video from the Stones' concert tour appearance in Detroit will be featured during the Sept. 8 prime-time telecast "NFL Opening Kickoff 2005," which is a one-hour ABC special to run before the season opener between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders.

Other Stones video footage will run throughout the 2005 season.

This is ABC's last big marketing push for "Monday Night Football"--which has, in recent years, lost the network around $500 million per season.

In 2006, "MNF" will move to ABC sister network, ESPN. That cost the cable sports network $8.8 billion for an eight-year deal. NBC will get the lone broadcast prime-time NFL package of games for Sunday night, to also start in 2006. NBC agreed to pay $600 million a year for six years.