ESPN’s Tom Luginbill sort of chugs beer on live TV

The UFL officially can boast about having something the NFL does not; sideline reporters who will chug a full beer on live television.

We’ve seen plenty of fans, and even former athletes, chug a beer to fire up the crowd at a game. We’ve also seen plenty of sideline and field reporters report on beer snakes in the crowd. But ESPN reporter and analyst Tom Luginbill went next level Sunday afternoon, when he contributed to the beer snake in the D.C. Defenders crowd.

Get you a man who can do BOTH 🎙️🍻

Tom Luginbill really just chugged a beer on national broadcast 🙌 pic.twitter.com/epuXLjyi7O

— United Football League (@TheUFL) May 31, 2026

While the Chicago Cubs might have the most famous beer snake, it’s become a similar tradition at Defenders games in recent years. And during Sunday’s broadcast of the Defenders and Orlando Storm matchup on ESPN, Luginbill joined the tradition, chugging a 22-oz. beer on live TV. If Luginbill can do it during a UFL broadcast on ESPN, maybe Troy Aikman or Lisa Salters will accept the challenge on Monday Night Football next season.

It wasn’t quite Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Jason Kelce downing a beer in one gulp. This was obviously more of a fight for Luginbill, who seemed hellbent on getting the beer down before stopping. Luginbill was more sipping the beer than chugging it like some of the aforementioned elite chuggers, but with encouragement from the announcers and fans around him, he never put the cup down. And 20 seconds later, Luginbill completed the task without taking any breaks, finishing the beverage and elongating the crowd’s beloved beer snake.

Unfortunately for the Defenders, they lost to Orlando 29-23. But based on the beer snake, many in the D.C. crowd still went home happy.