Analyzing ESPN's Broadcast Teams for the 2025 UFL Season
ESPN unveiled its UFL broadcast teams for 2025 on Wednesday, featuring significantly more star power in the booth than was offered in 2023 with the XFL and in 2024’s debut UFL season. The following are the groupings as well as my analysis of them.
Team 1: Joe Tessitore, Jordan Rodgers, Tom Luginbill, Sam Acho
Analysis: Both Luginbill and Acho move from upstairs, where they were stationed last year, to the sideline. Expect both to chime in with their analysis more than sideline reporters traditionally do. They could also provide better questions than the “tell us what happened” pablum that we usually get. Tessitore and Rodgers are spring football newbies. Getting Tessitore is a major coup, having formerly been the voice of Monday Night Football on ESPN, as well as many high-level college broadcasts on the network. He also works for WWE as the play-by-play announcer for Smackdown on the USA Network. Rodgers, a former quarterback and current brother of Aaron Rodgers, has been a consistent presence on the SEC Network and has a reach beyond football, having starred on a number of reality TV shows.
Team 2: Mark Jones, Roy Philpott, Roddy Jones, Cole Cubelic, Harry Douglas
Another big PBP name at ESPN, Mark Jones will split team two duties with Philpott. Jones, a longtime ESPN employee, is known for working college football and NBA games. Roddy Jones joins Mark Jones as new spring football voices on this team. At just 35 years old, Roddy is an up-and-coming announcer who has mostly covered the ACC since 2017. Cubelic has provided some of the best sideline work in spring football since 2023. Douglas is another returnee in his third year covering the XFL/UFL. Philpott’s beat at ESPN has included many different college sports.
Team 3: Lowell Galindo, Kirk Morrison, Eric Mac Lain, Aaron Murray
Galindo and Mac Lain date back to 2023 in terms of their spring football involvement, while Morrison debuted with the brand last year. Galindo relied too heavily at times on making sure viewers knew what colleges players attended. Mac Lain proved an entertaining sideline presence while Morrison was workmanlike in his analysis. The hope is that with another season under their belt, they’ll feel more comfortable discussing the players, coaches, franchises, and backgrounds that help paint a picture for viewers at home. Murray, another SEC Network denizen, played for the XFL’s Tampa Bay Vipers in 2020.
Final Thoughts: No one is going to tune into (or presumably tune out of) a game because of who the announcers are. However, the addition of bigger names this season add legitimacy to the UFL and those voices offer a valuable level of familiarity for casual fans sampling the product for the first time. Outside of that, the most notable changes include the lack of a female presence on the sidelines. While Stormy Buonatony was good in her role, adding some new pieces to the sidelines will hopefully lead to more probing questions of players and coaches during the game. Also worth noting: Buonatony and Ian Fitzsimmons were the two announcers most focused on the gambling aspect of the broadcasts last year and neither return. Perhaps ESPN will be scaling back a little on that after receiving criticism from fans in certain circles for the over-reliance their gameday coverage placed on betting and odds.