No Sean McDonough, reportedly no Peyton Manning for 'Monday Night Football' in '18

An entirely new broadcasting team is coming to 'Monday Night Football', but it won't involve Manning

By Sean Wagner-McGough

Mar 9, 2018 at 8:38 pm ET • 1 min read

When Jon Gruden took the Raiders' $100 million offer, one spot in ESPN's "Monday Night Football" broadcasting booth opened up. It turns out, ESPN will be replacing more than just their analyst. It'll be an entirely new tandem in 2018.

As first reported by Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch, ESPN and Sean McDonough have mutually agreed in a change that will see McDonough return to primarily calling college football games along with providing some college basketball and golf coverage.

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 later confirmed the move in a press release, adding that McDonough, who spent two years calling "Monday Night Football" after Mike Tirico left for NBC in 2016, signed a multi-year extension.

"Over the past two years, as I watched college football on television, I realized how much I missed it," McDonough said in a statement. "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."

The New York Post's Andrew Marchand reported that Joe Tessitore will take over for McDonough. According to his ESPN bio, Tessitore joined ESPN in 2002 and he's best known for calling college football and college basketball games, as well as boxing matches.

It's still not yet known who will be working alongside Tessitore in the booth. However, earlier on Friday, Marchand reported that future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning has decided to turn down ESPN's offer to be their new analyst on "Monday Night Football." According to Marchand, Manning hasn't decided if he'll turn down or accept Fox's offer to be their announcer on "Thursday Night Football."

ESPN still has a few enticing options to choose from, like Louis Riddick and Matt Hasselbeck. Hopefully, they end up hiring someone who is capable of providing the kind of entertainment that Gruden gave us on a weekly basis.