ESPN has decided to move forward next season with a completely new announcing team for "MNF," two months after Jon Gruden officially left the booth. In a release late Friday, ESPN said that Sean McDonough, “MNF’s” play-by-play voice for the past two seasons, will return to college football. Sources said Joe Tessitore will step in as “MNF’s” new play-by-play voice; the network has not decided on an analyst. The N.Y. Post was the first to report that Tessitore would replace McDonough.
McDonough’s agent Sandy Montag described the decision as mutual, saying that when ESPN’s Exec VP/Content Connor Schell and Senior VP/Events & Studio Production Stephanie Druley first proposed it, McDonough jumped at the chance to return to college football. The two sides had been in discussions for the past month about the best way to move forward, resulting in a new multiyear deal that will see McDonough call a weekly high-profile college football game, plus the CFP semifinal that Tessitore had called in previous years. “College football is where he belongs,” Montag said. “If you think of Sean McDonough’s brand, it’s really college football. Given what’s been going on in the last month (as ESPN searched for Gruden’s replacement), he felt this was the best move for him going forward.”
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Montag described McDonough’s past two years at “MNF” as the "experience of a lifetime” for the announcer. McDonough also will call marquee college basketball games, The Masters Par 3 contest, as well as the CFP Championship on ESPN Radio.
