While Steve Levy is no longer the lead voice of Monday Night Football, he knows that he is highly valued and he knows where he ranks amongst the big names and big voices in the industry.
Levy was a guest on the God Bless Football podcast this week with StuGotz and Billy Gil and he was asked by Stugotz what he enjoys doing the most out of everything he has done during his storied career.
“People know me as a hockey guy. I appreciate that and I like that. When I came to ESPN, we had a lot of hockey. We had one NFL seat, I always felt like that was sort of unattainable. We had a million college football games.
“Monday Night Football was the dream job from day 1. To achieve that was really remarkable. Imagine you get your dream gig, the theme music plays, and nobody is in the stadium. [Louis] Riddick and [Brian] Griese and I were looking at each other. There’s nobody here, Piped in fake crowd noise and all that stuff. It was a wild 2 years. I really wouldn’t change anything. I landed in a great spot as the second guy.
“I’m the luckiest guy in the business. I just stepped in it, tried to treat people the right way, do the right thing, and work as hard as I can.”
Even though Levy was disappointed that he was no longer the lead voice of MNF, he mentioned that having Joe Buck be the person that took the spot softened the blow for him.
“I’ll be totally honest with you guys. If I would have been replaced by someone like myself at my level, I would have been crushed. Joe Buck is Joe Buck and I get that. My strength — honestly, and what’s really helped me in the business is — I know where I rank. I was never going to be that superstar. When I was doing SportsCenter, Stuart Scott was a superstar. [Scott] Van Pelt has his own thing. I try hard, I work hard, but I know where I stand and I rank.
“If it wasn’t Joe, it was going to be Al Michaels. Someone told me I was third on the whiteboard. That’s a good spot to be in.”
Starting next year, Levy will get the chance to call more Monday Night Football games when ESPN has more doubleheaders alongside Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick. This year, Levy got to do something new where if he wasn’t calling one of the ESPN games, he was still in the booth on Sundays. Plus, he got to call the Super Bowl for ESPN International which airs in Australia and New Zealand.
“I started doing NFL on ESPN Radio this year, so on Mondays when I’m not in a booth, I’m doing a game on Sunday in an NFL stadium. You will never hear me complain about that stuff.”
