Steve Levy
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MNF Play-by-Play Commentator, NHL Play-by-Play Commentator and Host, and SportsCenter Anchor
Steve Levy, one of ESPN’s signature voices, leads ESPN’s NHL studio team and contributes to play-by-play coverage on the property. He is widely known for anchoring SportsCenter throughout his career and is also a play-by-play voice for ESPN’s NFL coverage.
Levy joined the company nearly three decades ago in August 1993 and emerged as one of ESPN’s leading play-by-play commentators for his work on college football, NFL, NHL, and the XFL.
In 2019, Levy earned his first Monday Night Football assignment, calling the season-opening Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders game with Brian Griese and Louis Riddick. Levy also calls Broncos NFL preseason games locally in Denver. For two seasons, Levy served as the play-by-play commentator for Monday Night Football. When he assumed the role in August 2020, he became the seventh play-by-play voice in the history of the premier franchise.
Prior to MNF, Levy called weekly ESPN and ABC college football games from 2016-2019, working with Griese and Todd McShay. His first game in 2016 was the historic LSU-Wisconsin game at Lambeau Field. Other memorable games include a variety of major rivalries – Notre Dame-USC, “Bedlam” in Oklahoma, USC-UCLA; major upsets – Clemson’s 2016 home loss to Pittsburgh and Iowa’s shocking 2017 defeat of Ohio State; and thrilling finishes like UCF’s overtime victory in the 2017 AAC Championship to cap the program’s perfect season. He also called college football earlier in his career (1999-2002) including launching the first-ever Friday night game package.
Levy also called New Year’s Six bowl games (2016-19), the College Football national semifinal for ESPN Radio (2017-19), and he contributed to the Field Pass presentation on ESPN2 of the National Championship game “MegaCast” (2018 and 2019).
Throughout his ESPN career, Levy has handled a variety of play-by-play assignments, including the World Cup of Hockey (2016), NHL and Stanley Cup Playoff games (1995-2005) on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports and the NCAA Division I men’s hockey semifinals and finals (“The Frozen Four”) in 1998 and ‘99. Levy served as the lead play-by-play voice for 2020 XFL games on ABC, teaming with Greg McElroy in the booth.
Levy has the distinction of calling the longest-televised NHL Stanley Cup Playoff game in history: the five-overtime Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia Eastern Conference Semifinals (May 2000) on ESPN. Overall, he has called three of the four longest televised Stanley Cup Playoff games, which include the five-OT Anaheim vs. Dallas Western Conference Semifinals (April 2003) on ESPN and the four-OT Pittsburgh vs. Washington first round (April 1996) on ESPN2.
Levy also served as the studio host for ESPN’s NHL telecasts and co-hosted The NFL on ESPN Radio — previewing, reviewing and updating National Football League games all day on Sundays throughout the season.
Levy, who celebrated a quarter-century with ESPN in 2018, originally joined the network as a SportsCenter anchor. An integral member of the flagship news and information show for decades, Levy still continues to regularly appear on the show. He also holds the distinction of anchoring the very first show in SportsCenter’s state-of-the-art digital center studios in 2014 alongside Stuart Scott.
Levy has hosted SportsCenter from many of the biggest events in sports, including the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, Final Four, College Football Playoff, Monday Night Football games and more. He and ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose have notably covered the Stanley Cup Finals for ESPN for more than 25 years – every year since 1994.
Prior to joining ESPN, Levy worked at WCBS-TV in New York as a sports anchor/reporter (1992-93) and as a Sports Desk host on the Madison Square Garden Network (1989-91).
In addition to television, Levy worked in radio as a weekend sports reporter and host of The NFL In Action and various call-in programs at WFAN-AM in New York (1989-93). He also produced and hosted a nationally syndicated pre-game show on the NHL Radio Network (1988-89), hosted intermission updates for the New York Rangers and Knicks games, and he filled in as a host for SportsNight at WNBC-AM in New York (1987-88). Levy was also a part-time reporter for various sports events at WABC-AM while in college (1985-87).
Levy began his television career at WTOP-TV in 1983 as an undergraduate at SUNY-Oswego. He worked at the station during his four years at Oswego State and was sports director for two years (1986-87). Levy also called play-by-play for Oswego State’s hockey team on WOCR Radio, and he had his own column “Levy’s Lines” (1984-87) and served as sports editor his senior year for The Oswegonian college newspaper.
Levy graduated from Oswego State with a Bachelor of Science degree in communications with a concentration in broadcasting. In 1997, he received the school’s first-ever “G.O.L.D Award,” which honors an outstanding graduate of the last decade who has achieved prominence in his career. The school also honored Levy and expressed thanks for a donation in 2006 when they named the press box in the hockey arena after him. Additionally, in support of broadcasting students at his alma mater, he established the Steve Levy ’87 Broadcasting Summer Internship Fund to offset the cost of tuition credits and living expenses.
Levy has had cameo appearances in eight films, starting in 1999 when he played himself in the hockey-themed Mystery, Alaska. He has also appeared in Fever Pitch, The Ringer, The Game Plan, Tooth Fairy and Parental Guidance, Grudge Match and most recently Million Dollar Arm.
Levy has hosted the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration annually since 2010. Starting in January 2004, for two years he and Melrose were part owners of the Adirondack Frostbite of the United Hockey League.