David Kohl/Associated Press

Report: Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Louis Riddick to Make Up ESPN's New MNF Booth

Tim Daniels

Play-by-play man Steve Levy and color commentators Brian Griese and Louis Riddick will reportedly make up ESPN's broadcast booth for Monday Night Football during the 2020 NFL season.

Journalist James Andrew Miller reported the news Friday.

The trio is scheduled to make its debut Sept. 14 during ESPN's season-opening MNF doubleheader. The New York Giants will host the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by the Tennessee Titans traveling to face the Denver Broncos in the nightcap.

Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, the network's main college football announce team, is set to call the other game that night, per Miller. That assignment could change depending on the fate of the college football season amid the coronavirus pandemic, though.

Levy filled the role of calling the extra Monday Night Football game last September with Riddick and Griese. He told Neil Best of Newsday it was the highlight of his 26-year tenure with the company.

"This is it, really," he said. "I've been quite honest with everybody; I'm real. I am not the guy to say, 'Hey, once they kick off it's just another football game.' That's just not true. That's not accurate. This is the culmination of a lot of work and a long time in the business."

Riddick, a former NFL defensive back, has been a standout analyst for ESPN since joining the network in 2013 after stints in the front office of the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles.

Like Levy, he spoke highly of the MNF position during an appearance on The Will Cain Show (via Sean T. McGuire of NESN) in May.

"It's the pinnacle of broadcasting, as far as football is concerned, in my mind," he said. "That's as iconic as it gets, as far as the NFL brand, to me. To be able to call a live broadcast of a Monday Night Football game, outside of calling a live broadcast of a Super Bowl, it is the very top level. It's like going to the Super Bowl as a player, and winning it, and winning it 16 straight weeks because it's 16 straight weeks. That's what it feels like to me, that's what it would feel like to me."

Griese spent 11 years in the NFL mostly as a reserve quarterback. He joined ESPN in 2009 and has typically worked as a commentator on college football broadcasts.

In March, Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported Peyton Manning turned down an offer from ESPN to become part of the MNF team, citing concerns about committing to a weekly schedule.

Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland were in the Monday Night Football booth for the 2019 season.

   

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