Scott Van Pelt is the top candidate among ESPN managers for the role of host on ESPN's Monday Night Football Countdown for the upcoming 2023 season. Van Pelt has yet to accept the job and a formal announcement has not been made.

ESPN's Laura Rutledge was reportedly the other top candidate up for the job, but the network went with Van Pelt instead. Rutledge has hosted ESPN's SEC Nation and NFL Live and become one of the network's top hosts.

The potential news came via Twitter Saying, “Scott Van Pelt will be getting the Monday Night Football Countdown job, via multiple sources,” via Richard Deitsch of The Athletic.

However, Deitsch later came with a clarification of his original tweet to say that Van Pelt had yet to officially accept the job. “I want to be clearer on this tweet for accuracy. ESPN management wants Scott Van Pelt for this job. He is their choice right now from everything I understand. But he would still have to of course accept the job and there are things to work out there. So to declare it is done today is premature. Is it heading that way? Yes, based on sourcing,” per Richard Deitsch.

The announcement comes after a wave of layoffs at ESPN, including previous host Suzy Kolber who lost the job after holding it since 2015. Fellow Monday Night Football Countdown talent Steve Young was also part of the recent layoffs. Both Kolber and Young had been with ESPN for over two decades.

Van Pelt has over thirty years of experience in sports broadcasting and has been the sole anchor of the midnight SportsCenter show since 2015. Assuming he takes the role, he will join the crew which features Robert Griffin III, Booger McFarland, and Adam Schefter.