Booger McFarland, Joe Tessitore out as Monday Night Football announcers
ESPN is making wholesale changes to its Monday Night Football booth.
Play-by-play man Joe Tessitore and color commentator Booger McFarland will not return after two years on the broadcast team, according to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports ESPN has identified four internal candidates -- Steve Levy, Dan Orlovsky, Louis Riddick and Brian Griese -- as potential candidates to replace the duo and could also look outside the company to bring in someone like NFL Network’s Kurt Warner or CBS analyst Nate Burleson.
Tessitore and McFarland first joined the booth in 2018, replacing Sean McDonough and Jon Gruden once Gruden was hired to return as the head coach of the Raiders. In 2018, Tessitore and Jason Witten manned the broadcast booth while McFarland was stationed on the sideline in a contraption many dubbed the “Boogermobile.” When Witten came out of retirement to rejoin the Cowboys last year, ESPN moved McFarland into the booth and paired him with Tessitore in a more traditional manner.
As Marchand reported last month, ESPN has tried hard to land a big name for its MNF booth, launching failed pursuits of Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers. Romo re-signed with CBS, Brees signed a post-retirement deal to work for NBC, Manning declined ESPN’s overtures and Rivers decided to keep playing, signing a one-year deal with the Colts in March.
https://www.masslive.com/patriots/2020/05/booger-mcfarland-joe-tessitore-out-as-monday-night-football-announcers-steve-levy-dan-orlovsky-among-espns-replacement-options-reports.html
McFarland and Tessitore are a serviceable team, but IMO MNF needs a little more talent. And that includes the games too.
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