Brent Musburger moves from lead ESPN booth to SEC Network

ESPN announced that Brent Musburger and Jesse Palmer will be its lead announcing team for college football games on the new SEC Network, starting Aug. 28 with Texas A&M at South Carolina.

The news means that Musburger, 74, no longer will be ESPN's lead college football play-by-play man for major events such as Saturday night games on ABC and the national championship game.

ESPN did not announce a replacement for Musburger, but "College GameDay" host Chris Fowler widely is believed to be the leading contender.

"Brent Musburger is a cultural icon who has been guiding fans through many of sport's most spectacular moments for decades," John Wildhack, ESPN Executive Vice President, Programming and Production, said in a news release.'

"His big-game performance and unmistakable style will elevate our football coverage on the SEC Network. Serving as the definitive play-by-play voice for this major network launch represents an exciting new chapter in his legendary career and reinforces our commitment and investment in the SEC Network."

ESPN said Musburger "will continue to be a staple of ESPN’s sports coverage with a multi-year contract extension. In addition to lending his voice to one of the three football games slated for the network each Saturday, Brent will remain a play-by-play announcer for Big 12 college basketball games across ESPN networks. He and Palmer will call multiple college football bowl games on ESPN as well."

Musburger said in the news release, “I’m delighted to be staying with ESPN, thrilled to be able to call the best football conference in the nation every week and am really looking forward to working with Jesse, who I covered while he was at Florida."