Though no official announcement has been made, ESPN has settled on a new crew for Monday Night Football for the 2020 NFL season.
After going with a two-man booth of Joe Tessitore and the Booger McFarland last season, ESPN is reverting to a three-man booth for its MNF broadcasts this fall featuring Steve Levy doing the play-by-play and former NFL players Louis Riddick and Brian Griese providing the color commentary, according to The New York Post.
ESPN’s top college announcing team, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, will call the late game of the season’s opening-week Monday Night Football doubleheader (Steelers versus Giants) and could still be in the mix for the main broadcast if the college football season is pushed back or canceled.
But, as of now, ESPN is planning to turn to Levy, Riddick and Griese to help revive a product that has decreased in popularity in recent years, at least partially because the pre-determined matchups on the field have proved to be short of marquee.
Executives at ESPN had hoped to land Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Al Michaels or someone else to draw viewers in 2020, but all of those options proved to be dead ends. So, while someone like Jim Nantz, Ian Eagle or Kevin Burkhardt could be an option for a future MNF booth, ESPN has settled on its three-man crew for the fall.
“Mondays will be Levy, Riddick and Griese,” according to The Post. “No franchise quarterback, but viewers may not be focusing on them either. It is not a classic Monday night booth, but ESPN needed to at least find a team that won’t lose the game. This trio may be able to manage that.”
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