Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden to call MNF

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For just the sixth time in its 42-year history on television, "Monday Night Football" next season will feature a two-person broadcast team.

Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden will call the games for ESPN starting in 2012. Ron Jaworski is leaving the booth but has signed a five-year extension with ESPN in an expanded analyst role with the company.

"I am grateful for having the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of working on 'Monday Night Football' the past five seasons with Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and so many other talented people behind the scenes who make the show so great, and I look forward to bringing my passion and knowledge of the game to more fans in more places than ever before on any and all football topics," Jaworski said in a statement.

Jaworski has been in the "Monday Night Football" booth for the past five seasons. He originally joined ESPN in 1990 and has worked in a number of roles, from sideline reporter to studio host to analyst.

Jaworski will make regular appearances on "Sunday NFL Countdown," "NFL Matchup," "NFL Live," "NFL Kickoff," "Mike & Mike in the Morning" and PTI's "Five Good Minutes." He also will be featured in ESPN's NFL draft and Super Bowl programming.

"I thank Ron for the great contributions he has made to 'Monday Night Football' and look forward to the many ways he will enhance our studio presentation from our NFL-branded shows to 'SportsCenter,' " ESPN president John Skipper said in the statement. "With two strong analysts in Ron and Jon, these moves will better utilize their strengths and benefit our entire NFL presentation."

Tirico and Gruden will make their 2012 regular-season "Monday Night Football" debut Sept. 10. The 2012 NFL schedule will be released in the coming months.

This will be the first time in 15 years that ESPN has used a two-person booth to call NFL games since Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann called "Sunday Night Football" from 1988 to 1997.

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