ESPN is replacing Sean McDonough on Monday Night Football, while its preferred replacement for Jon Gruden has reportedly turned them down.
ESPN play-by-play voice Sean McDonough will no longer call Monday Night Football games, ESPN announced Friday night. The news was first reported by Sports Illustrated reporter Richard Deitsch and New York Post reporter Andrew Marchand.
According to Marchand, McDonough will be replaced by Joe Tessitore — though that has not yet been officially announced. Tessitore, who has been with ESPN since 2002, is currently ESPN’s #2 college football voice.
McDonough will return to ESPN college football coverage, replacing Tessitore on one of the College Football Playoff semifinals. He spent two seasons as ESPN’s lead NFL voice, replacing Mike Tirico in 2016, but never quite meshed with partner Jon Gruden. While the lack of chemistry became moot after Gruden left for the Oakland Raiders job in January, it reportedly factored into ESPN’s desire for a “total reboot” (NYP 2/16).
If one half of the MNF booth is resolved, the other remains in flux. The Post reported earlier Friday that highly sought free agent Peyton Manning has ruled out ESPN as a potential broadcasting destination. If Manning decides to go into broadcasting — and that is no sure thing — it would be on Fox-produced Thursday Night Football games.
The new Monday Night Football broadcast team will be the sixth since ESPN began televising the games in 2006.
[News from ESPN PR 3.9; Deitsch/Twitter 3.9, Marchand/Twitter 3.9; NYP 2.16, 3.9]
