After another season of mediocre reviews, ESPN is reportedly looking at more aggressive changes to their Monday Night Football telecast.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, ESPN will be shifting MNF producer Jay Rothman into a new role. The new producer may want to hire his own broadcasters, which could be bad news for play-by-play man Joe Tessitore and much-maligned commentator Booger McFarland.
In a bid to add more star power and potentially increase their chances of getting a future Super Bowl broadcast, ESPN could reportedly pursue Tony Romo when his CBS contract expires. Romo could be the subject of an ESPN offer of six years and over $10 million per year, and the Monday scheduling would also allow him to play in PGA tournaments without missing games. If he remains at CBS, which is still said to be the most likely scenario, it is possible he would have to miss some Sundays to pursue that passion.
ESPN has a wide variety of names to replace both Tessitore and McFarland if a Romo pursuit falls short. They could attempt to nab Peyton Manning again, which seems unlikely given his previous comments. They may also try to grab talent from another network. They might also consider promoting from within, with Marchand stating that executives have at least discussed the idea of promoting lead college football team Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit to NFL duties.
What we do know is that Romo wants to become the sport’s highest-paid analyst. ESPN may be willing to do that, and if they make the offer, the ball will likely be in CBS’ court to match it. Whether that happens or not, it seems that major changes are in the offing for a MNF broadcast that has frequently been criticized by its viewers.
