Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
Are Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler heading to Monday Night Football?
Are Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit ready for some football?
We’ve seen this dynamic duo call college football games for years on ESPN. They call ESPN/ABC’s signature primetime game every week, and they’ve become the gold standard for it in the last several seasons. However, what happens if there is no college football season or if the season is delayed by the coronavirus? Could this duo become the faces of Monday Night Football?
Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reports this is the exact plan of action Disney will make if there is no college football season or a delayed one. Disney will take its top on-air talent and move Fowler and Herbstreit over temporarily to call Monday Night Football games for the NFL. So what if they’re college guys, they are professionals and would do a marvelous job in that role.
As expected, the coronavirus has been the biggest reason ESPN has not named the Monday Night Football booth successors to Joe Tessitore and Anthony “Booger” McFarland for the 2020 NFL season. Tessitore and McFarland haven’t been fired by Disney, but rather re-assigned. They may work together calling college games this season, as their rapport was starting to come alive.
Will Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit in the Monday Night Football booth work?
It’s a smart contingency plan by ESPN because they know Fowler and Herbstreit will be a sure-thing if they have to fill-in on the Monday Night Football package for a season. The production value will be great and the preparation will be top-tier. In essence, ESPN is saying this temporary fix will yield a tremendously high floor for the national television broadcast for the NFL.
McCarthy reports a similar thing could be in place over at rival FOX. If college football is delayed or canceled, FOX may move its top college football analyst Joel Klatt over to the No. 2 booth to be paired with Kevin Burkhardt. FOX has not replaced Charles Davis, who left for CBS to be pair with Ian Eagle in their No. 2 booth, replacing Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Fouts.
If college football goes off without a hitch, look for the Fowler and Herbstreit pairing to call primetime games on ABC as they always do. ESPN has plenty of talent to pull from, including the likes of Steve Levy, Pat McAfee, Dan Orlovsky, Dave Pasch and Louis Riddick, among others. For the first time in a while, it seems like ESPN knows what it’s doing with Monday Night Football.
Would Fowler and Herbstreit do well in the Monday Night Football booth? Of course, they would.
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