A familiar face will return to the anchor chair on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
For the first time in more than 20 years, Rich Eisen is set to host the network’s flagship sportscast on Monday, Aug. 18, following the Monday Night Football preseason game between the Washington Commanders and Cincinnati Bengals.
He will be joined on the set live from Los Angeles by ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes, according to a press release from the network.
Eisen gained national acclaim during his stint at ESPN from 1996 to 2003 before leaving to become one of the first employees when the NFL Network launched in November 2003.
The move comes on the heels of ESPN’s announcement earlier this month of a non-binding agreement to “acquire NFL Network and certain other media assets woned and controlled by the NFL – including NFL’s linear RedZone Channel, and NFL Fantasy – in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN.”
Eisen’s return to ESPN was already in the works, even before the megamerger.
Plans were announced in May to move Eisen’s popular three-hour weekday talk show from Roku to ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service.
The “Rich Eisen Show” will make its debut Sept. 2 on ESPN+ and Disney+ in its familiar noon to 3 p.m. ET time slot.
ESPN also says Eisen will make select appearances across ESPN studio programming going forward, while also retaining his prominent role at NFL Network.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rich Eisen to reunite with ESPN for Monday Night SportsCenter
