ESPN is rearranging the broadcast team that once featured Mike Ditka rearranging the furniture.
The second game of the Week One Monday Night Football doubleheader, with the Broncos hosting the Chargers, will indeed feature Beth Mowins as the play-by-play announcer and Rex Ryan as the analyst. ESPN made the announcement on Tuesday.
“Beth has been an important voice in our college sports coverage and she has experience calling NFL preseason games. She deserves this opportunity,” ESPN events and studio production senior V.P. Stephanie Druley said in a press release. “ESPN is committed to putting talented women in high-profile positions and we look forward to Beth and Rex’s call of this game on our MNF opening night.”
“This is an amazing opportunity and I look forward to working with Rex and our entire ESPN team,” Mowins said. “As lifelong fans of the NFL Monday Night Football franchise, we want to bring the same passion to the broadcast as our predecessors have all done.”
The press release contains no quotes from Ryan, a lifelong coach who joined ESPN after being fired following two seasons in Buffalo. The release also does not identify the sideline reporter for the game.