News: Bill Belichick, Fox NFL, Tessitore

Bill Belichick to join Inside the NFL on The CW. Plus: Fox shuffles its NFL broadcast booths to make room for Tom Brady; ESPN announcer Joe Tessitore inks deal with WWE.

Bill Belichick joins Inside the NFL

Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is joining the cast of Inside the NFL this season, The CW announced in a press release on Thursday. Belichick will join a panel of Ryan Clark, Chad Johnson, and Chris Long on the NFL Films show entering its 48th season.

The former coach is not shying away from media exposure in his first season away from coaching. Belichick has already committed to regular appearances on ESPN’s alternative Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli telecast, and joined Pat McAfee‘s NFL Draft coverage in April.

Inside the NFL enters its second season on The CW, where it airs in a Friday night timeslot. The show is part of the network’s larger sports programming strategy that includes the NASCAR Xfinity Series, ACC football and basketball, and LIV Golf. (The CW, 7.11)

Fox shakes up NFL broadcast teams

To accommodate the addition of Tom Brady as its lead NFL analyst, Fox will shake up the rest of its announcing teams this upcoming season, per The Athletic‘s Andrew Marchand on Thursday. Brady will be paired with lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, pushing Greg Olsen to Fox’s “B” team. Olsen will be paired with play-by-play announcer Joe Davis, who was paired with Daryl Johnston last season.

Further down the announcing roster, Adam Amin will once again lead Fox’s third-team, but will now be paired with Mark Sanchez, who rises in the ranks from the network’s fifth-team last season. The lone unchanged pairing from last season will be Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma. Kevin Kugler will pick up Johnston, who fills Sanchez’ old spot. And to round out the final broadcast pairing, Chris Myers will team up with Mark Schlereth, who paired with Amin last year. Analyst Robert Smith is seemingly the odd man out with the addition of Brady, having not landed on a full-time team this season. (Marchand, 7.11)

Joe Tessitore inks WWE deal

ESPN play-by-play broadcaster Joe Tessitore will join WWE as a lead announcer beginning this summer, the New York Post reported on Tuesday. Tessitore is also signing an extension with ESPN that will see him continue to call college football and boxing for the network. The veteran broadcaster will join Corey Graves and Wade Barrett in the WWE booth, though it is unknown whether the team will call Raw or Smackdown.

Tessitore has featured in high-profile roles for ESPN throughout his career, including as the lead play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football, and ESPN/ABC’s Saturday Night primetime college football games.

This is not the first time WWE has reached into the ESPN talent pool for broadcasters. In 2021, the wrestling promotion hired former ESPN announcer Adnan Virk to commentate Raw, a stint that lasted only six weeks. Currently, Pat McAfee, who frequents ESPN airwaves while not being officially employed by the network, serves as a commentator for WWE’s Raw. (NY Post, 7.9)