Brent Musburger, ESPN Agree on New Contract: Latest Comments, Reaction

Veteran broadcaster Brent Musburger agreed to a multiyear contract extension with ESPN and will continue to be the voice of the SEC Network, according to Josh Krulewitz of ESPN Front Row.  

“The SEC is the best football conference in the country," Musburger said. You can’t beat it. Terrific football, clearly—year in and year out. The conference has been tremendous to work with. I’m glad the SEC Network is such a great success. It’s been great working with Jesse Palmer.”

He will also continue to serve as a play-by-play announcer for ESPN's college basketball coverage.

Musburger has been with ESPN/ABC since 1990, and ESPN's executive vice president of production and programming, John Wildhack, was pleased to see him continue with the company.

“This agreement will help build upon one of the most extraordinary careers in all of sports," he told Krulewitz. "The impact that Brent’s work has had on generations of sports fans is immeasurably positive and we are thrilled he will continue to be a significant part of the ESPN family, including the SEC Network.”

In his illustrious career, Musburger has called just about every sport. He joined CBS Sports in 1973, calling NFL games and famously taking over as the network's NFL studio host for The NFL Today in 1975. He was the network's lead broadcaster for years before making the move to ABC in 1990.

Given his legendary career, some people will be disappointed that Musburger will call games for the SEC Network and won't handle ESPN's prime-time games, including Dan Wolken of USA Today, as he noted in April:

ESPN's college football coverage will indeed have a new look in 2016.

Last year's lead college football broadcaster, Sean McDonough, will take over for Mike Tirico on Monday Night Football. And with Brad Nessler moving to CBS, per Kyle Koster of the Big Lead, Joe Tessitore will move to ESPN's Saturday night broadcasts alongside Todd Blackledge, while SportsCenter anchor Steve Levy will begin calling games alongside Brian Griese.

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