John Kosner Spoke with Mike McCarthy of Front Office Sports about FOX Sports’ Talented, Young Super Bowl Announcer Team
Original Article: Front Office Sports, by Mike McCarthy, February 10th, 2023
PHOENIX — The joke about No. 1 NFL TV analyst jobs is they’re like Supreme Court appointments: The lucky few serve for life.
But this elite, highly-paid fraternity will be upended this Sunday as a pair of Super Bowl rookies take over the broadcast booth.
Greg Olsen and Kevin Burkhardt will call Fox Sports’ telecast of Super Bowl 57 Sunday night between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
It’s been a season of firsts for the 37-year-old Olsen and 48-year-old Burkhart: a pair of Jersey Boys whose relationship dates back to Olsen’s high school football days in Wayne.
On Thanksgiving, the duo called the most-watched NFL regular-season game ever: Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants, which drew a record 42 million viewers.
Then they called the Philadelphia Eagles’ 31-7 win over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. Despite the lopsided score, it averaged 47.5 million viewers.
“I’d called playoff games, but I’d never called a Championship Game,” Burkhardt told Front Office Sports. “So, that was pretty special two weeks ago. Just to get a chance to do that and call a team into the Super Bowl was awesome.”
The ascension of Olsen and Burkhardt underscores how few announcers have called America’s Game.
Immovable Objects
For nearly six decades, the NFL has rotated the lucrative Super Bowl assignment between partner broadcast TV networks paying billions for rights: Fox, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and the old ABC Sports. The top on-air talents at these networks were usually in place for decades.
The result? Only seven announcers have called the Super Bowl from the broadcast booth since 2010 (That number doesn’t count various sideline reporters and rules analysts over the decades).
NBC’s Cris Collinsworth-Al Michaels, Fox’s Troy Aikman-Joe Buck, and CBS’ Tony Romo-Phil Simms-Jim Nantz have called the last 13 Super Bowls.
If you add Greg Gumbel and the late John Madden and Pat Summerall to the list, a total of 10 announcers have called the Super Bowl since 2001.
The only outlier in the 21st century was Boomer Esiason, who called his one and only Super Bowl on ABC with Michaels in 2000. (The duo hated each other and split the next year. Esiason continued to call the Super Bowl on Westwood One Radio.)
Even when announcers change jerseys, the song remains the same. After calling six Super Bowls together at Fox, Aikman and Buck are poised to call ABC/ESPN’s Super Bowls after the 2026 and 2030 seasons.
Another benefit to Fox? Younger announcers come cheaper.
Olsen is making about $10 million a year, said sources, compared to $12 million for Collinsworth and $18 million for Aikman and Romo.
Sports media consultant John Kosner gives credit to Fox for “zigging” where other networks have zagged.
“They have gone with younger, far less expensive broadcast talent. And coming into the Super Bowl they appear to be a big winner,” said the former ESPN executive. “Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen are appealing. They certainly seem to like each other and they are rising to the occasion. Burkhardt gives Olsen a lot of room. In return, Olsen is insightful, energetic and fearless.”
Changing of the Guard
The genesis for this year’s changing of the guard actually dates back to 2017. That’s when CBS boss Sean McManus shocked the industry by hiring TV rookie Tony Romo for the No. 1 analyst job with Nantz. As a result, longtime No. 1 Phil Simms was shifted to “The NFL Today” pregame show.
Until that decision, the NFL TV scene was a much quieter place. Most top analysts had held their seats for years.
Simms had served as CBS’ lead analyst for 19 years. Aikman and Buck had reigned as Fox’s No. 1 team since 2002. Collinsworth was entering his ninth season with Michaels at NBC. And Jon Gruden was heading back to the NFL after nine pedestrian years in ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” booth.
Olsen actually announced games for Fox while still an active NFL player. During the 2021 season, he and Burkhardt moved up to the No. 2 team.
When Aikman and Buck both jumped to ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” the duo were promoted to the A Team. As opposed to studio analysis, Olsen enjoys the unscripted nature of calling a game live.
“Yeah, you’re definitely nervous,” Olsen told FOS. “You’re definitely anxious. I mean, you’re gonna be speaking on live television for three hours about a live sporting event that you have no idea what’s really gonna happen. So, you better be prepared for pretty much everything, and be able to rattle it off and spit it out.
“To me, that’s the fun of it. Like that’s the challenge of why I was kind of driven to calling games, as opposed to some of the other stuff, because I think it’s hard to do and I’ve enjoyed that challenge.”
Olsen and Burkhardt will lead a broadcast team of experienced veterans, including sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi and rules analyst Mike Pereira.
They can also rely on Fox NFL lead game director Rich Russo and Richie Zyontz, the network’s lead NFL producer. The duo have been part of 29 Super Bowl productions combined.
“They know the enormity of this event,” Russo said. “I know they haven’t done the game. It’s a bigger audience so, you’ll have to pull back a little bit as far as in-depth analysis, but that’s something Greg does well. He’s a great teacher of the game.”
What About Brady?
This week, Tom Brady told Colin Cowherd he’ll be ready to start his 10-year, $375 million gig as Fox’s No. 1 color analyst in 2024.
That means Brady will presumably call Fox’s next Super Bowl after the 2025 season — while Olsen drops down to No. 2 analyst. He’ll lose his productive on-air partnership with Burkhardt, who will become Brady’s partner. His pay will likely be slashed as well.
Without Burkhardt as his partner, Olsen will have to decide whether he wants to stay at Fox. Or if she should pursue a No. 1 job at another network like NBC or CBS. The wisest move would probably be to play the long game at Fox and see if Brady lasts on TV.
Jimmy Johnson, the Super Bowl-winning Dallas Cowboys coach turned analyst for “Fox NFL Sunday,” thinks Brady will benefit from a year off. As with his football career, he expects the seven-time Super Bowl champion to defy expectations in the booth.
“I think Tom Brady will be outstanding. He will work at it for a year. He’ll prepare himself,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Fletcher Cox, the star defensive tackle of the Eagles, would rather watch Brady on TV than play against him on the field.
“I think he’ll do a really good job. He’s been around for a long, long time. He’s seen a lot of ball — and he knows ball,” Cox said.
While Fox says the legendary QB won’t appear on Sunday’s coverage, Brady told Cowherd he’ll tune in to check out his future colleagues Olsen and Burkhardt this Sunday.
“I will be 50% watching the game. And 50% listening to those two – and hearing the amazing job they’re going to do, along with the whole Fox Sports crew,” Brady said.
