Joe Tessitore
Joe Tessitore is a play-by-play commentator for ESPN. For the better part of the last two decades, he has been among the premier broadcasters for ESPN and ABC’s coverage of college football, as well as the voice of “Monday Night Football” and veteran blow-by-blow ringside commentator for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN. His career has spanned many unique roles from hosting the Belmont Stakes on ABC to executive producing an ESPN “30 for 30” film.
Recognized as one of the top game-callers in sports, Tessitore has been widely praised for his versatility, his distinctive voice and for the joyous enthusiasm in his calls. In 2020, he returned to his true passion, college football, working alongside analyst Greg McElroy on top weekly games for ESPN and ABC.
For two years (2018-2019), Tessitore was the play-by-play voice for “Monday Night Football,” joining such legendary figures as Frank Gifford and Keith Jackson. During his time in the booth, Tessitore called the historic 50th season of “Monday Night Football,” and he holds the distinction of calling the highest-scoring game in the series’ history – an unforgettable 54-51 Los Angeles Rams’ win over the Chiefs in 2018.
Tessitore has been a constant presence on the company’s college football coverage. Best known for calling ESPN Saturday Night primetime and select ABC regular season games, he previously worked with Todd Blackledge. During the postseason, Tessitore called the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2016 (Peach Bowl: Washington vs. Alabama) and 2017 (Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Clemson). Prior to the CFP, he called BCS and the New Year’s six bowl games, while hosting numerous live shows surrounding the BCS National Championships and College Football Playoff. He also worked the field level play-by-play as part of the company’s Sports Emmy® Award-winning MegaCast presentation for the 2015-2017 College Football Playoff Championship games.
Tessitore has also long been ESPN’s Heisman Trophy expert, serving as the face of “Heismanology” segments throughout the fall on multiple platforms and contributing to ESPN’s presentation of the prestigious award in Times Square. He was also the primary studio host for ESPN’s daily “College Football Live” for two years.
A boxing enthusiast and expert, Tessitore leads the broadcast team for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN – now calling more fights than ever on ESPN and ESPN+. As a lifelong and passionate fan of the “sweet science,” Tessitore has relished the opportunity to call the biggest World Championship bouts. In 2020, he called the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder II World Heavyweight Championship in Las Vegas. Tessitore has called multiple World Title fights involving current pound-for-pound elites Bud Crawford and Vassily Lomachenko. He was also ringside in Australia in July 2017 for the first fight in the Top Rank series – Jeff Horn’s headline-making upset of Manny Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight title.
Rooted in boxing for many years, Tessitore’s very first assignment for ESPN was a battle of middleweight contenders in February 2002. Since then, he has called thousands of fights, including “Friday Night Fights,” ESPN Boxing specials and “The Contender” series. He also voiced the majority of the ESPN Classic fight library, called numerous HBO distributed pay-per-views and has been the voice of the popular EA Sports Fight Night video game series.
Tessitore has also been a longtime courtside fixture on ESPN college basketball. On the hardwood, he called weekly conference games for ESPN from 2012-2018. Over the last two seasons he led the “Super Tuesday” SEC primetime package while also calling the SEC Tournament. His ties to the SEC run deep as he was the first host of SEC Network’s Saturday football traveling pre-game show, “SEC Nation.” In 2011, Tessitore executive produced the ESPN film “Roll Tide, War Eagle,” focusing on the intense Alabama-Auburn rivalry; and in 2012 he was a producer for ESPN’s “30 for 30” film, “You Don’t Know Bo,” about Bo Jackson.
Beyond football, basketball and boxing, Tessitore has covered a variety of other sports for ESPN. Prior to 2011, he spent many years anchoring ABC/ESPN horse racing presentations including the Belmont Stakes and The Breeders’ Cup World Championships. He hosted ESPN’s live New Year’s Eve specials for five years, including “Red Bull New Year, No Limits” and the debut of ESPN’s “Year of the Quarterback” content series. He has also been a featured contributor for ESPN.com.
During summer 2017, Tessitore and Mike Greenberg co-hosted the reboot of ABC’s popular “Battle of the Network Stars” primetime series from the 1970s and ‘80s. That role had Tessitore following in the footsteps of one of his broadcasting idols Howard Cosell, who also called “Monday Night Football” and boxing during his Hall of Fame career. This opportunity also led to Tessitore’s host role, alongside Rob Riggle, in ABC’s extreme mini-golf competition series, “Holey Moley.” Executive produced by NBA star Stephen Curry, the show has been a primetime television hit during its first two seasons (2019-2020).