Chris Fowler. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN shakes up No. 2 broadcast crew for NFL season

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 8/23/23

Layoffs aren’t the only major overhauls happening at ESPN.

The network recently announced the addition of Chris Fowler to the broadcast booth with Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick for the 2023 NFL season. Fowler replaces Steve Levy, who worked with Orlovsky and Riddick last season.

The trio will serve as the No. 2 crew behind top commentators Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, and they’ll call five games in 2023 — Saints-Panthers (Week 2), Rams-Bengals, (Week 3), Falcons-Jaguars (Week 4 in London), plus a Monday night doubleheader in Week 14 and a Saturday night doubleheader in Week 18.

ESPN has signed Chris Fowler to a multi-year contract extension.

One of the company's longest-tenured voices, his role now includes:
• Five NFL games
• The voice of Saturday Night Football
• The CFP National Championship
• Grand Slam tennis coverage pic.twitter.com/IgcclFZ8ug
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 23, 2023

“I’ve done a grand total of two NFL games, both of them extremely challenging preparation situations,” Fowler told The Athletic. “One of them was the day after the U.S. Open finals in 2020 (Steelers vs. Giants) at an empty stadium.

The other one was two days before the (college football) national championship game in Indy when Kirk Herbstreit and I called Chiefs-Broncos in 2022. I don’t want people to take this the wrong way, but if you’ve done years and years of calling college football, the NFL — although it’s challenging and different — is in some ways easier.”

Fowler has been with ESPN for more than three decades. He’s most known for hosting “College GameDay” from 1990 to 2014, and he also calls College Football Playoff games and emcees the Heisman Trophy presentation.

His other hosting duties include ABC’s “Saturday Night Football,” where he serves as play-by-play commentator with Kirk Herbstreit. He also spearheads ESPN’s tennis coverage for major events including Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the French Open and the U.S. Open.

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