The brand-new United Football League (UFL), just a few weeks away from its multi-network debut, has announced on-air pairings for its ESPN and ABC broadcasts.
The concept: each of the ESPN / ABC teams will have a play-by-play lead and an analyst, spearheading every broadcast, and on the field, a reporter and a second analyst, many of them returning from XFL coverage from a year ago and with knowledge of the product, which can only be a benefit for viewers.
Team one will actually have Mike Monaco and Drew Carter sharing play-by-play, with fresh voice Sam Acho as analyst. Acho, of course, is familiar to fans from his in-studio college football coverage, but also his appearances on ESPN’s “Get Up!” with Mike Greenberg and “College Football Live.” He was a part of the XFL platform of coverage in the 2023 season.
Carter and Monaco are both familiar voices to Boston-area sports fans – Monaco has contributed to Red Sox broadcasts on NESN and joined ESPN in 2019, having called a little bit of everything, from Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League to the Little League World Series, lacrosse, volleyball, football, softball, college baseball and football for ESPN and the ACC Network.
Carter came on board with ESPN in 2021 and did play-by-play for the Celtics on NBC Sports Boston. He also called college football, college basketball, softball and lacrosse and the Premier Lacrosse League.
Joining the team as the field reporter will be Stormy Buonantony, and longtime sideline reporter-turned-analyst Cole Cubelic will further his analyst skills after serving in that role with ESPN and ABC for XFL games last season.
Cubelic was an in-studio and on-field analyst last year, has done the same on “SEC Saturday Night,” is the co-host of the SEC Network’s “Read & React,” and is the co-host (with Greg McElroy) of “McElroy and Cubelic In the Morning” radio show in Birmingham, Alabama.
Buonantony co-hosts VSiN The Lombardi Line digital talk show, is an Emmy Award-winner, and returns to her role as sideline reporter that she filled in excellent fashion in XFL coverage in the 2023 season.
Former Longhorn Network lead anchor Lowell Galindo will lead team two as its play-by-play voice, resuming his role from ESPN’s coverage of the XFL a season ago. Joining him are Tom Luginbill, one of ESPN’s best and most noted college football scouting experts, and in turn, college football analysts. Luginbill is also back in his role as XFL analyst from both a season ago and in 2020. He actually has the unique position of having coached, as well: Luginbill was quarterbacks coach with Los Angeles in 2001 in the original XFL and won the championship that season.
On the field for team two will be reporter Kayla Burton and analyst Harry Douglas. Burton was a member of ESPN’s coverage last season, as well as college football coverage, and spent time in her career as a part of NFL Media and at NFL Network, on NFL.com and the NFL app.
Douglas has been seen most recently in a reoccurring role on “Get Up!,” as well as several of the ESPN studio shows, and is co-host of “Freddie & Harry,” the ESPN Radio afternoon show.
Jorge Sedano and Roy Philpott will share play-by-play duties for team three, both familiar voices to ESPN fans, as both have been with the network since 2013. Philpott has called college football, baseball and basketball over his tenure there, and Sedano – in addition to having done play-by-play assignments for college football, has been the host of Sedano and Kap on ESPNLA 710, has called NBA and NFL games, and has served as a sideline reporter on ESPN and ABC coverage of the NBA.
Joining them on team three in an analyst role will be NFL veteran Kirk Morrison, the host of Sirius XM NFL Radio’s “The Blitz,” and a regular on college football coverage across the ESPN and ABC family of networks.
Field analyst Eric Mac Lain and field reporter Ian Fitzsimmons complete team three – Fitzsimmons has been with ESPN since 2009, was a part of the ESPN coverage of the XFL in 2023 and has been covering college football and NFL games for decades. He’s also the co-host of the radio show, Amber & Ian.
ACC Network viewers are familiar with Mac Lain, a studio analyst on the network’s lead football show, “ACC Huddle.” The former Clemson standout was also a part of ESPN’s coverage of the XFL in 2023.
There are two teams announced for coverage of the UFL on ESPN Deportes: Cristina Alexander and Alex Pareja on team one, and Richard Mendez and Natalia Astrain on team two.
Alexander will do play-by-play for team one, and is the co-anchor of ESPN Deportes’ daytime edition of “SportsCenter.” Pareja will be the analyst for team one, and is a former player for FC Barcelona.
Mendez is the play-by-play lead for team two, a former FIFA World Cup broadcaster, as well as many notable soccer events. Astrain is a former U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team soccer coach, and will serve as analyst for ESPN Deportes team two. She’s no stranger to the analyst role on broadcasts, having provided soccer analysis for Universo on “Mundo Deportivo” during the Olympics.
