ESPN Names Booth For First Season Of MNF

(From Sports Business Daily)

ESPN today announced that MIKE TIRICO, JOE THEISMANN and TONY KORNHEISER will form the three-man booth for MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (MNF) games next season.

SUZY KOLBER and MICHELLE TAFOYA will be sideline reporters.

Also, MIKE BREEN will be ABC's new lead NBA play-by-play announcer, teaming with analyst HUBIE BROWN beginning February 12th.

The announcement comes amid reports that AL MICHAELS will move to NBC and call SUNDAY NIGHT NFL games with JOHN MADDEN.

NBC would not comment.

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.

ESPN/ABC and Michaels announced in July that Michaels was remaining with ABC in what some reports had as an eight-year deal, and ESPN Vice President/Content JOHN SKIPPER said on a conference call today he had "very little hesitancy" about letting Michaels out of his contract.

Skipper -- "Al was not comfortable with our vision of where we're going."

While reports have said that in addition to Michaels, ESPN also made overtures to JIM NANTZ and GREG GUMBEL about the MNF play-by-play role, Skipper insisted, "This is our first team and our first choice."

"Al was not comfortable and let us know he was not comfortable with our vision of where we are going," Skipper said after Wednesday's announcement. "Back in November he said it was the greatest job ever invented. So sometime between the last couple of weeks and November apparently he had a change of heart."

For more, check out this article on ESPN.com.

[Are you ready for some shuffling?]