America adores its megastars and network executives are no different. For decades, decision makers across the industry have pursued the most famous sports heroes, hoping stardom gained from the playing surface will translate to immediate success on the headset.
It’s a strategy CBS successfully executed when it named Tony Romo its lead NFL game analyst in 2017. After nearly 20 years with Phil Simms on its number-one broadcast crew, CBS decided to freshen up its booth with Romo, who’d had an extraordinary career on and off the field. He’s still the all-time leading passer in the history of the Dallas Cowboys — the league’s most recognizable franchise — and he’d previously dated Jessica Simpson and Carrie Underwood. The man was a star and CBS knew it.
Sharing the booth with the polished Jim Nantz, Romo was unpredictable and unconventional. He called games with a charming buoyancy. After his rookie broadcast season — which led to an Emmy nomination — Romo was described in an NFL.com article as “perhaps the most trusted NFL game analyst since John Madden.”
Romo’s first year at CBS still conspicuously hangs over the industry like a canopy. Producers and executives still believe the more famous a player or coach is, the more prominent their broadcast role should be.
But for every Tony Romo, there’s a Bill Walsh, Joe Namath or Jason Witten. Witten, a former Dallas teammate of Romo, lasted just one forgettable season in the “Monday Night Football” booth. Carrying the label “former player on America’s team” isn’t enough. After the departure of the colorful Jon Gruden in 2018, ESPN was desperate to find its next big name. It needed Witten needed to deliver — he couldn’t.
In 2022, Fox, hungry for its own new press box heavyweight, turned to the brightest football star of all, signing Tom Brady to a mind-numbing 10 year, $375 million contract to become its lead NFL analyst. Although Brady showed very little interest in broadcasting during his career and rarely offered as much as a memorable postgame soundbite, the deal was too monstrous to pass up.
More than three-quarters through Brady’s first season at Fox, the results have been … so-so. When you give someone $37.5 million a year to call the biggest games on your network, you hope for home runs right out of the box. Brady has delivered some singles — even the occasional double — but his performance does not consistently meet the expectation of a chief analyst.
While it would be unrealistic to expect producers and executives to bypass marquee names, Brady’s bumpy season in the booth should challenge network suits to be more prudent in how they position their shiny new hires. If a Hall-of-Fame player turned commentator truly wants to be the best, why not get reps calling lower-level games? Give the analyst an established and respected play-by-player plus a proven production crew and allow the analyst time to become his/her best.
John Madden called his first broadcast for CBS in 1979. The network didn’t elevate him to the lead crew until the 1981-82 season. During those couple years, he worked with a host of play-by-play announcers, including Frank Glieber, Gary Bender and Dick Stockton. While Madden’s talent was undeniable, he was raw and needed a period to learn the mechanics and find his rhythm. The sport and the industry are all the better for it.
Superstar players and coaches who desire to be broadcasters should ask themselves is it really an insult to call the fourth or fifth-best game if it means you’re improving? Networks need to ask themselves if this man or woman can be a top analyst, don’t they deserve a chance to sharpen their skills before thrown onto a broadcast with tens of millions of people judging their every word?
