NFL playoff telecasts will include more ads this year. Plus: Mike Tirico and Tony Romo are set to work from home this weekend; Holly Rowe will miss the national championship; and more.
More ads coming to NFL playoff games
The NFL is allowing its broadcast partners to air two additional minutes of ads during playoff games, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The new inventory will replace one minute of in-house promos and another of game broadcast time. NFL telecasts already averaged 36 minutes of advertising time, nine minutes per quarter.
Per the report, a 30-second ad during early round playoff games can garner as much as $1 million. [WSJ 1.8 via Sports Business Journal 1.8]
Tirico, Romo, to work playoff games remotely
NBC Sports play-by-play voice Mike Tirico and CBS NFL analyst Tony Romo are set to call their respective NFL playoff games this weekend remotely due to COVID-19. Tirico is scheduled to work Saturday’s Tampa Bay-Washington game in the home studio he worked from during the early days of sports’ hiatus last year. Per the New York Post, it was not clear whether Romo will work Sunday’s Bears-Saints broadcast from his home or from a studio.
In related news, NFL Network’s Kurt Warner said Friday that he will miss his studio assignments this weekend after testing positive. [NBC Sports PR/Twitter 1.8, NYP 1.8, Awful Announcing 1.8]
Rowe to miss national championship after positive test
ESPN college football reporter Holly Rowe said Friday that she will miss Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship after testing positive for COVID-19. It was to have been her first National Championship game assignment, taking the spot previously occupied by former ESPN colleague Tom Rinaldi. [Rowe/Twitter 1.8]
Plus: G-League, Clement, Golic
The NBA G-League plans to play its games in the same Walt Disney World “bubble” that the NBA used for its summer restart, it was announced Friday. … Former ESPN NHL analyst and NBC studio host Bill Clement, who has been working in recent years on Philadelphia Flyers games, has announced his retirement from broadcasting. … Last weekend’s Fiesta Bowl was the final ESPN assignment for Mike Golic Sr., ending a 25-year run. [NBA, bizjournals.com 1.8]
