
Derek Mobley, Steve Ackels Take Over Front Bench for ESPN's Monday Night Football By SVG Staff
Monday, March 13, 2023 - 9:52 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Derek Mobley and Steve Ackels have been named as director and producer of ESPN's Monday Night Football and NFL broadcasts, respectively. Previous MFN director Jimmy Platt will now direct the College Football Playoff National Championship and ABC's Saturday Night Football each week during the regular season. In the role, he will also direct a CFP Semifinal and the Rose Bowl Game each year. Meanwhile, MNF producer Phil Dean will be in the chair for a College Football Playoff Semifinal each season and, on a weekly basis, for ESPN's Saturday Primetime college football package.
As we usher in the newest era of NFL and college football on ESPN, consisting of several marquee games each week, we are well-established with a talented, innovative and deep production staff, says Stephanie Druley, ESPN Head of Studio and Event Production, In evaluating our entire portfolio, we have many of our accomplished and respected leaders in new areas which best positions us for years to come.
Directors Derek Mobley and Jimmy Platt will enhance their profiles. Platt, a 20-year industry veteran, will now direct the College Football Playoff National Championship and ABC's Saturday Night Football each week during the regular season. In the role, he will also direct a CFP Semifinal and the Rose Bowl Game each year.
Mobley, a 35-year veteran, will now direct ESPN's enhanced NFL schedule, including Monday Night Football each week, one of ESPN's NFL Doubleheader Saturday Week 18 games, and ESPN's Super Wild Card and Divisional Round playoff game.
Platt spent more than a decade directing college football, including five New Year's Six Bowls, before directing Monday Night Football the past four seasons. He also has a wealth of experience across sports, including NCAA Women's Final Fours and other NCAA Championships, Major League Baseball and the Olympics.
Mobley has directed 15 College Football National Championships, 15 Rose Bowl Games and, as director of ABC's Saturday Night Football package, the majority of ESPN's marquee regular-season college football games throughout the previous 17 seasons. Beyond college football, his premier event resume is vast, highlighted by 19 Wimbledon Championships and 15 US Open Championships, including the men's and women's finals most years.
Producer Phil Dean will build upon his impressive, high-profile football resume, leading one of ESPN's marquee college football production units each week and producer Steve Ackels, an experienced producer, coordinating producer and current Vice President of Production, will reunite with Mobley, teaming with him on ESPN's Monday Night Football and its enhanced NFL schedule.
Dean will be in the chair for a College Football Playoff Semifinal each season and, on a weekly basis, for ESPN's prominent Saturday Primetime college football package. Dean has been one of the sport's most experienced producers, having a track record that includes more than 15 years as a leading producer for ESPN's college football property, multiple College Football Playoff Semifinals, and additional prominent Bowl games.
For the past three seasons, Dean produced Monday Night Football. Outside of football, he was a producer for NBA games for several years and ESPN's lead college basketball producer for more than 10 years, including the Women's Final Four for more than 15 years.
Ackels produced college football on ESPN for more than 10 years, and also served in the same roles for college basketball, college baseball, golf, and X Games during different points of his career. Mobley and Ackels have been director and producer teammates on many events, including multiple years as a college basketball tandem both in the regular season and for the SEC Men's Tournament. Ackels also teamed with Mobley for the College World Series and various golf events.
In recent years, Ackels managed all productions within ESPN's college football portfolio (more than 1,000 games annually) and Monday Night Football. In that role he had oversight of the College Football Playoff National Championship and Semifinals, which involved Mobley, all bowl games, and ESPN's NFL postseason games. Ackels was in the same role for this season's launch of the XFL.
Producers Joshua Hoffman and Bryan Ryder will add new experiences, as Hoffman will produce the critically-acclaimed Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli in conjunction with Omaha Productions, and Ryder will produce NFL games in the weeks ESPN has multiple games (five weeks each season). Additionally, Ryder will produce college football games throughout the regular season and remain as the producer for the NFL Draft on ESPN.
Hoffman has been a producer on one of ESPN's marquee college football packages producing multiple New Year's Six games and CFP Semifinals and produced The ESPYs for more than a decade. Ryder produced the first two years of MNF with Peyton and Eli following a long stint as a college football producer.
Senior Vice President Lee Fitting will continue in his role overseeing all football production, including NFL and college, reporting to Druley.
More from Sports Video Group
02/07/2025
Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...
02/07/2025
Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...
02/07/2025
Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...
02/07/2025
Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...
02/07/2025
CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...
01/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...
01/07/2025
The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...
01/07/2025
Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...
01/07/2025
NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...
01/07/2025
TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...
27/06/2025
How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns
Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13
Print This Story
Live sport is especially vulnerab...
27/06/2025
Behind the Mic: FOX Sports Ratchets Up UEFA Women's EURO 2025 With Top-Class...
27/06/2025
RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe
Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
27/06/2025
Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...
27/06/2025
Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...
27/06/2025
NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...
26/06/2025
10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...
26/06/2025
The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...
26/06/2025
Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...
25/06/2025
SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...
25/06/2025
ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...
24/06/2025
2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...
24/06/2025
Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on ...
24/06/2025
Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation ...
24/06/2025
Lions live: Dublin opener sees Sky Sports take remote route By Fergal Ringrose ...
24/06/2025
Pumas maul Lions as S4C and TG4 deliver first-ever joint host in Dublin By Ferg...
24/06/2025
ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By Mark ...
23/06/2025
Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NB...
23/06/2025
Finding the edge: How Badger & Combes produces live-streamed coverage of county ...
23/06/2025
Masters of Madness: New football format shakes up the rules of sportainment By Adrian Pennington
Monday, June 16, 2025 - 11:38
Print This Story
The ball i...
23/06/2025
New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Build...
23/06/2025
ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production F...
20/06/2025
Feeling Unlimited, Part 1: Athletes Unlimited Softball League Deploys Remote Pro...
20/06/2025
A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can...
20/06/2025
Sky Sports goes large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR graphics, UHD a...
20/06/2025
ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, L...
19/06/2025
SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning Geor...
18/06/2025
Technology focus: Fan expectations drive advances in the in-stadium experience By Jo Ruddock
Tuesday, June 3, 2025 - 08:36
Print This Story
For years, att...
18/06/2025
Making connections: How stadiums are meeting the ever-growing demand for data an...
18/06/2025
SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at ...
18/06/2025
SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League...
17/06/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon o...
17/06/2025
Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, B...
17/06/2025
From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025 Leaders from ESL FACEIT Group, Riot Games, and more break down the latest trends By Jason Dachman, ...
17/06/2025
Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS...
17/06/2025
Production ambitions: Over Exposed on making the National League Promotion Final...