Peyton Manning deals ESPN bad news - report
We now know there’s one thing Peyton Manning won’t be doing this upcoming NFL season — color commentary for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.”
And for that matter, neither will play-by-play man Sean McDonough, who had covered the Monday night games for the past two seasons.
Sean McDonough's new assignments include: CFB games weekly, as well as a College Football Playoff Semifinal. He will call the CFP National Championship on ESPN Radio, marquee college basketball, The Masters Par 3 contest, and more.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) March 10, 2018
ESPN said Friday that McDonough’s run at MNF has come to an end. He will remain with the network, having signed a multi-year extension to cover college football, college basketball and golf.
“Over the past two years, as I watched college football on television, I realized how much I missed it,” said McDonough. “Being the ‘Voice of Monday Night Football’ was one of the great honors of my life, but I am grateful for the opportunity to return to the unique traditions, rivalries and pageantry of college football and to tell the stories of the participants.”
“I look forward to reuniting with ESPN’s college football team where I have so many close friends in front of and behind the camera,” he added.
The New York Post‘s Andrew Marchand reported that ESPN’s Joe Tessitore will take over MNF play-by-play duties starting this year.
Tessitore has been with ESPN since 2002, primarily calling college football and basketball games. But he’s never called a pro football game.
Joe Tessitore is the new MNF play-by-player.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) March 10, 2018
So, McDonough is out and Tessitore is in, but what about the open color commentator spot?
It had previously been reported that ESPN was heavily pursuing NFL great Peyton Manning for that role. They had reportedly offered Manning $10 million a season to be an analyst for MNF.
But sources told the Post that Manning has turned down ESPN’s offer.
The leading potential replacements for Jon Gruden, who resigned from ESPN to become the Oakland Raiders head coach, are Matt Hasselbeck, Randy Moss and Louis Riddick — all of whom currently work for ESPN.
NFL Network’s Kurt Warner is also a possibility, and Marchand said Brett Favre might even have a shot at the job.
If I were running ESPN, I would go with the smartest booth possible, which is why Louis Riddick makes a lot of sense. ESPN should look to college basketball (Bilas) and college football (Herbstreit) who were not huge names as players, but ascended to top https://t.co/g5kQUfYvES
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) March 10, 2018
Fox Sports is also pursuing Manning to provide analysis for its new Thursday Night Football package. Marchand reported that Fox is still in play for Manning, partly due to the fact that the former quarterback could take the gig without having to work on weekends.
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