Report: Tessitore, McFarland ousted from MNF booth

ESPN will have a new broadcast team for Monday Night Football, as play-by-play man Joe Tessitore and color analyst Anthony "Booger" McFarland won't return in 2020, sources told The Athletic's Richard Deitsch.

Both will reportedly remain with the network in prominent roles, and Tessitore is expected to return to college football broadcasts in some capacity, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. He was the lead play-by-play broadcaster on ESPN's Saturday night prime-time game and the College Football Playoff before joining MNF.

Tessitore and McFarland took over the Monday Night Football broadcast along with Jason Witten in 2018. The trio succeeded the pairing of Sean McDonough and Jon Gruden.

The three-man crew received overly negative reviews during their first season together. Tessitore and McFarland worked together without a third person in 2019 after Witten came out of retirement to rejoin the Dallas Cowboys.

The new Monday Night Football broadcast team hasn't been decided but is expected to feature personalities already working at ESPN.

ESPN tried to make a trade earlier this offseason with NBC for the rights to legendary play-by-play commentator Al Michaels, but its proposals were rejected. The network also unsuccessfully pitched the analyst gig to retired quarterback Peyton Manning.

The to-be-determined Monday Night Football unit will be scheduled to call its first regular-season game Sept. 14 when the NFL caps Week 1 with a doubleheader featuring the New York Giants versus the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans versus the Denver Broncos.

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