ESPN names new MNF team; Breen to call NBA games

ESPN.com

 

 

Monday Night Football will have a new broadcast team when it debuts on ESPN in 2006.

 

Mike Tirico, Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser will be part of a three-man booth calling the games on Monday nights next season and Suzy Kolber and Michelle Tafoya will be sideline reporters. Kolber and Tafoya both reported from the sidelines for ABC during Super Bowl XL.

 

"I'm just thrilled to be the next person to take the greatest franchise in television sports history forward," Tirico said on ESPN Radio Wednesday morning.

 

Also, ESPN announced that Mike Breen will be its new lead NBA play-by-play announcer, teaming with analyst Hubie Brown for ABC telecasts beginning Feb. 12 and including the NBA Finals.

 

"This Monday Night Football team enthusiastically embraces our vision for sports television's signature series. We will propel MNF into a 21st century, all-day, exclusive, multi-media event that will engage fans in entirely new ways. This team will develop great chemistry," ESPN Executive Vice President John Skipper said.

 

"Mike Breen is widely respected for his depth of NBA knowledge and his consummate play-by-play skill. We are very excited to provide such a spectacular forum as the NBA Finals to showcase his talents."

 

In addition, Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon will take Pardon The Interruption on the road on Mondays during the football season. The shows will air from the site of ESPN's Monday Night Football games.

 

"We look to the future with great enthusiasm and a strong commitment to enhance the presentation of the NFL and the NBA, two of our most important sports properties," ESPN and ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer said.

 

Al Michaels, the play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football on ABC from 1986 through Sunday's Super Bowl in Detroit, will not return to either broadcast.

 

I like Tony Kornheiser a lot, but I don't know about this...

ouch I like Tirico, can't stand Thiesman, and Kornheiser is ok..not sure how good he will be on the spot analysis...should be intresting....hopefully i can must anytime thiesman is going to talk

I'm a little skeptical...Tirico is good. His excited voice is hilarious. But Kornheiser I'm not so sure about.

I hate Tirico but love Kornheiser. I've never been a big fan of Theismann. If it means getting Madden outta there im all for it. Guy is getting belidgerant (sp?)

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) -- Former quarterback Joe Theismann, Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser and Mike Tirico will be the broadcast crew for "Monday Night Football" next season as the long-running show shifts to ESPN from ABC.

 

The moves leave Al Michaels free to switch to NBC, which takes over Sunday night games next season from ESPN. John Madden, Michaels' broadcast partner for the last four seasons, agreed in June to a six-year contract with NBC.

 

 

At a news conference in July, Michaels said he would remain with "Monday Night Football" when it switched to ESPN. He was to be paired with Theismann, who had broadcast Sunday night games on ESPN with Mike Patrick and Paul Maguire.

 

Mike Breen will replace Michaels as the lead NBA play-by-play announcer on ABC/ESPN. He will be joined by former NBA coach Hubie Brown, hired in December 2004 as the analyst.

 

Theismann was an NFL quarterback for 12 seasons and had worked on ESPN's Sunday night games since 1988. In addition to working for the Post, Kornheiser has co-hosted "Pardon the Interruption" on ESPN since September 2001 with Michael Wilbon, another Post writer.

 

Tirico has been a "SportsCenter" host for ESPN and handled play-by-play of the last Orange Bowl. He has worked for ESPN and ABC since 1991.

 

Michele Tafoya returns for her third season as a "Monday Night Football" sideline reporter, and Suzy Kolber was added as a second sideline reporter.

 

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-m...ov=ap&type=lgns

 

:plain :pullhair :barf

I like Tirico, but I think Brad Nessler would have been better

So what does Al Micheals do now?

So what does Al Micheals do now?

John Madden.

So what does Al Micheals do now?

 

surely opens the door for him to jump to NBC with Madden and keep that team in tact

I hate Tirico but love Kornheiser. I've never been a big fan of Theismann. If it means getting Madden outta there im all for it. Guy is getting belidgerant (sp?)

 

 

Um... Madden will do the now more important Sunday night game on NBC.

 

I like Kornheiser, so I'll definitely give them a chance. I'm just kind of meh on Theismann, though.

I love Tirico. He has a fantastic broadcasting voice...Kornheiser I can't pass judgement because I've never heard him in the booth...Theisman I'm very skeptical about.

Kornheiser... YES!!!!! I'm actually going to watch from now on, I love Tony.

 

I absolutely despise Al Michaels, he's awful.

I despise Chris Berman more than any one person hated on in this thread. I'm just glad he's not doing it.

Can't stand Joe Theismann.

I hate Joe Theismann with a passion, but now that he's away from Patrick and Maguire maybe he'll stop with ridiculous hyperbole every game. Probaby not, though.

 

Kornheiser is great on PTI, but I don't know about him as a football color commentator. It's not like he knows the intricacies of the game all that well. This seems like another step in the sports entertainment direction, though not as drastic as the Dennis Miller hire.

 

I'm meh on Tirico. There were better options available, but they could have done worse.

So what does Al Micheals do now?

 

surely opens the door for him to jump to NBC with Madden and keep that team in tact

 

I hope so I like Al Michaels.

Kornheiser... YES!!!!! I'm actually going to watch from now on, I love Tony.

 

Ditto

Good move by ESPN and Michaels.

 

Madden and Michaels on SNF!

I have never heard Tony calling a game it will be interesting to hear him even though his voice annoys me some times.

PTI LIVE?? AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like it except for Theisman.

PTI LIVE?? AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PTI is almost always live.....

 

I like the move on the part of Tirico, and I think Kornheiser could be a good add if the bet pays off. Theismann, on the other hand, is complete and total garbage.

PTI LIVE?? AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PTI is almost always live.....

 

I like the move on the part of Tirico, and I think Kornheiser could be a good add if the bet pays off. Theismann, on the other hand, is complete and total garbage.

 

I meant Live from the actual MNF venue. THey will be on the road and not in studio...

I liked Michaels & Madden fine, but they're both getting pretty gray... I think they're both headed to NBC.

 

Kornheiser's great on PTI, not sure about this but sure, give it a shot. Can't go off any worse than the Dennis Miller experiment.

 

Tirico is a professional. He'll fill in for Michaels just fine.

NEW YORK ? (AP) ? Al Michaels is moving to NBC and will broadcast Sunday night NFL games with John Madden, his partner on ABC during the past four seasons.

 

In exchange for letting Michaels out of his contract with ABC and ESPN, which are owned by The Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal sold ESPN cable rights to Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups, granted ESPN increased usage of Olympic highlights and sold to The Walt Disney Co. the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character in silent cartoons made by Walt Disney from 1927-28.

 

Michaels had been with ABC since 1976 and was the play-by-play announcer on ??Monday Night Football'' since 1986. He said in July that he would stay with the network to become the announcer for ESPN's Monday night broadcasts, which start this year.

 

Michaels' mind changed during the past season, realizing he wanted to work with Madden, producer Fred Gaudelli and director Drew Esocoff, who also are moving from ABC to NBC.

 

"I began to realize more and more how much I was going to miss being with those people,'' Michaels said Thursday on a conference call. "That's my family, that's my broadcasting family.''

 

Michaels had hoped to finish the current NBA season as ABC/ESPN's lead announcer. He is being replaced by Mike Breen.