According to a report from The New York Post, the broadcast teams for the XFL games on ESPN and FOX are confirmed. The XFL will return to television in 2019. According to the site, the ESPN team will consist of Steve Levy, Dan Orlovsky and Pat McAfee. Dianna Russini will be the sideline reporter.
The FOX team will feature Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt. FOX was reportedly interested in Gus Johnson, but it didn’t work out due to a scheduling conflict due to Johnson’s college basketball commitments.
Levy is best known for his time on ESPN’s SportsCenter and has previously called college games on both ABC and ESPN. He also called one of the Monday Night Football games with Brian Griese and Louis Riddick. He was considered the runner-up to Joe Tessitore in Bristol for the job when it opened before last season.
Orlovsky was looked at by FOX earlier this year to be a college football analyst, which saw him get several promotions leading to this one. He has been working with Bob Wischusen on ESPN’s college football coverage.
McAfee has his own talk show on DAZN (syndicated on Westwood One) and is part of ESPN’s Thursday night college football coverage with Adam Amin and Matt Hasselbeck. He also works with WWE for NXT events. McAfee and Orlovsky work together on “Get Up”. It’s unknown who will be on the second XFL team.
Menefee is the host of FOX’s Sunday NFL pregame show and FOX feels he can give the games a “big time feel.” He has been a lead announcer and provides the the sign-on and sign-off for Super Bowls. He also provided play-by-play for FOX and still announces Seahawks exhibition games. He called a regular season game on the NFL Network last season.
Joel Klatt works with Johnson for college game coverage and also provides golf coverage.
FOX has yet to announce a sideline reporter yet as they have not determined what the access will be and if they need more of an analyst, reporter or both. They also haven’t announced the second XFL team.
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
