The NFL is ready to kick off its first Sunday of a new season, but a good part of the game won’t be taking place on the field.
Even as play-by-play stalwarts like Fox’s Greg Olsen, ESPN’s Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and Amazon’s Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit give fans real-time details and analysis for Fox’s Sunday afternoon pigskin sessions, ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” and Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” they may be thinking about something else. Each of these chroniclers of the gridiron knows his contract with the media company backing their prominent perches ends after the current season, according to three people familiar with the situation.
TV networks rushed to line up top talent to call games after the NFL struck a pivotal 11-year rights deal in 2021. At the time, the thought from many TV sports chiefs was that they had to spend money to make money. Tony Romo carved out new terrain at CBS Sports in 2017 after revealing a knack for predicting game play — all but forcing CBS to re-sign the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback to a multi-season pact in 2020 valued at around $17 million a year.
Since that time, most of CBS’ contemporaries have followed suit. When ESPN signed former Fox Sports mainstays Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to deals in 2022 to call “Monday Night Football,” it was seen as a critical move that would help the Disney-backed sports-media giant soothe what had become a troubled relationship with the NFL. Amazon lured NBC Sports’ Al Michaels and ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to serve as the voices for “Thursday Night Football.” And Fox secured the services of none other than Tom Brady, a move that crowded out sportscaster Olsen.
Now Fox Sports, ESPN and Amazon must decide whether they need the services of these popular (and sometimes high-priced) veterans going forward, at a time when the NFL appears keen to gain new cash from its relationships with U.S. media companies.
The focus on the booth is different than in years past, when the bigger sports-TV salaries went to the guys crowded around a round table in studio shows like “The NFL Today” or “Fox NFL Kickoff.” “You would never see a big name call games professionally,” says Gideon Cohen, executive vice president of broadcast and new media at Athletes First, a sports management firm. “Now, you have big names that are considering it because of the profile and the amount of money.”
People familiar with the market estimate top football-booth personnel can earn between $15 million and $20 million per season. Fox Sports, Amazon, ESPN and CBS Sports all declined to make executives available for comment.
With media economics in massive flux, some companies may question how much they can pay top announcing talent — and the end of a contract could give them a chance to examine their cash flow. At Amazon, it’s understood that Al Michaels is on a year-to-year contract, while Herbstreit, who also plays a pivotal role in calling college football games for ESPN and makes regular appearances on the popular “College GameDay,” works a superhuman schedule during football season.
“If they make a change there, they may make a change across the board,” suggests Tim Scanlan, vice president of sports broadcast at Octagon, a sports-management and representation firm that is part of Omnicom Group. Indeed, he says, there’s no guarantee that media companies will continue to pay top dollar as the entire sector grapples with exponential increases in many sports rights fees.
“The price of live events just keeps going up,” says Scanlan. As that happens, he adds, “you start to look for savings in production and talent.”
Some companies may not be able to afford ditching their high-priced football analysts. Inside ESPN, it’s widely acknowledged that the decision to lure Buck and Aikman away from Fox has paid dividends. ESPN and the NFL had a rockier relationship when the network fielded what was considered a weaker group of announcers. During the 2018-2019 season, ESPN even dispatched former NFL defensive tackle Booger McFarland to ride an elevated chair set up on the sidelines at the line of scrimmage.
As a result of signing Buck and Aikman, ESPN “did get better games” on the NFL schedule, says Scanlan. “Ratings went up, and they got a couple of Super Bowls” in their most recent NFL pact. “You could argue that it really paid for itself. And my sense is that they’ll be renewed because they’ve got another Super Bowl to handle.” The first Super Bowl to air on ABC in about two decades is slated for February 14, 2027. ESPN has already entered into negotiations with Buck and Aikman to renew their deals, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A tricky situation at CBS Sports could add more drama. Romo will miss at least the first few games of the new season, owing to his arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated near Milwaukee over the summer. CBS has elevated studio analyst and former NFL player J.J. Watt to sit alongside the venerable Jim Nantz at the start of this year’s cycle, and has not offered any timeline for Romo’s return. If Watt becomes CBS permanent choice on its top NFL team, it could open other developments.
And then there’s Greg Olsen’s situation at Fox. After Buck and Aikman left, Olsen was elevated to the network’s top NFL calling team. Once Brady arrived, however, Olsen was moved back to the second Fox group. Olsen has been open about his desire to be part a top duo, though there is speculation that Brady, who has many different business opportunities, can’t stick to a season-long role at Fox for many years. At Fox Sports, it’s understood that Olsen does good work and executives are mindful that he has been a team player amid personnel changes.
The TV networks still have reason to please the NFL. The league has an option to renew its current 11-year deals starting after the 2029 season. Keeping top talent in the booth clearly helps relationships with the league, and none of the media conglomerates can afford to lose NFL access altogether. “Nobody wants the NFL product to be weakened,” says Scanlan.
Some new announcer candidates might take the field in the not-too-distant future. What if Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end who already has an established media presence with a popular podcast, decides to retire?
Still, the networks’ coffers aren’t infinite. The more sports fees go up, the less cash there is for top salaries, new series and more personnel. Eventually, something has to give. That’s when TV companies stop playing football and start considering financial chess. When it comes to the NFL, says Scanlan, “you want to be careful with any decision you make.”