Inside NFL's insane broadcasting offseason

After the craziest and most lucrative free agency in NFL TV history, the way you watch TV will look familiar and different, all at the same time. While CBS, Fox and NBC will broadcast on Sundays at 1, 4:30 and 8:20 p.m. just as they have traditionally, and ESPN will continue on Monday nights, in

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After the craziest and most lucrative free agency in NFL TV history, the way you watch TV will look familiar and different, all at the same time. 

While CBS, Fox and NBC will broadcast on Sundays at 1, 4:30 and 8:20 p.m. just as they have traditionally, and ESPN will continue on Monday nights, in Week 2 Amazon Prime Video will begin a new era for the most important programming in television history as the streaming service becomes the exclusive home to “Thursday Night Football.” 

The year will end on Fox, which has this year’s Super Bowl in February. In the nutty offseason, Fox may have had the nuttiest as unthinkably Joe Buck is no longer the face of its network, having joined his longtime partner Troy Aikman at ESPN, which set off a chain of events that culminated in the shocking move of Fox Sports hiring current Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady to a 10-year, $375 million contract that is scheduled to go into effect after he is done playing. 

On Super Sunday in Glendale, Ariz., it will be good guy and former Met sideline TV folk hero Kevin Burkhardt and second-year NFL TV analyst Greg Olsen on the call.

Joe Buck (left) and Troy Aikman left Fox for ESPN. FilmMagic

It has created a situation that might force viewers to need network rosters. Besides Buck and Aikman at ESPN and Burkhardt and Olsen at Fox, Mike Tirico replaces Al Michaels as Cris Collinsworth’s partner on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” Michaels, meanwhile, will lend his legendary voice to Amazon’s main feed with college stalwart analyst Kirk Herbstreit joining him. 

After all the fallout, it means CBS’ team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo, entering their sixth season together, are the longest tenured top NFL team for one network. 

The money, the big names have put a brighter spotlight on the booths than ever before, begging the question of how we got here and what it all means. 

How did we get here

NFL games represented 75 of the top 100 shows in 2021, according to Nielsen ratings. This allowed league executives to complete deals with the networks and Amazon that totaled $110 billion and mostly are for 11 years. 

These deals are the most important in television, which is why the value of the contracts of Romo (10 years and $180 million), Aikman (5 years and $90 million), Buck (5 years and $75 million) and Brady’s behemoth $37.5 million per season skyrocketed. The NFL is a TV show and why the current players are the stars and the ex-QBs are valued by the networks. 

ESPN will handle Monday nights with Buck and Aikman’s telecast complemented for a little more than the half the games by the “Manningcast,” Peyton and Eli’s critically acclaimed brother act. The Mannings deal is a bit complicated, but they are making at least $20-plus million between the two of them, meaning ESPN will spend more than $50-plus million on four broadcasters just for this season. 

Meanwhile, Herbstreit might be making the most in the non-Brady division as he will continue with ESPN on its famed “College GameDay” and its top college game broadcast. When combined with his Amazon salary, he is likely clearing the $20 million per year hurdle. 

It is an exclusive club and only certain guys will be asked to join. Some, like Super Bowl-winning coach Sean McVay, even have the luxury of turning down a potential $20 million TV payday from Amazon, knowing that money will probably still be there one day. 

Tom Brady will eventually be in Fox’s top booth. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

But why are these guys being paid so much? 

A combination of power, leverage, competence and incompetence has created an explosion for the men in these positions that led to the tipping point in 2020 when Romo’s salary jumped from a three-year, $10 million rookie TV deal to a 10-year, $180 million contract that set the bar for Brady, Manning and Aikman. 

Romo was a sensation when he showed up in the booth in 2017, making the biggest impact as an analyst since John Madden ruled the booth. His rise was perfectly timed as the networks’ contracts with the NFL were due to be negotiated. As the most important programming in television, any perceived advantage in negotiations is considered a win by network executives. 

Meanwhile, ESPN’s then-president John Skipper allowed Tirico to exit the “Monday Night Football” booth in 2016 as Tirico desired the chance to call Super Bowls, though he’s been stuck in the on-deck circle waiting for Michaels to leave NBC. 

After Tirico, ESPN could not figure out Monday night. It was not that ESPN didn’t have a star booth — it produced nearly unwatchable productions with analysts on cranes, overhyping and, in the end, becoming a distraction and a headache. 

The issues occurred largely prior to current ESPN’s chairman Jimmy Pitaro’s watch. A diehard Yankee fan, Pitaro has been Steinbrenner-esque in rectifying the booth, but he first struck out on Romo. 

On the verge of negotiating the new network NFL deals, ESPN wanted Romo, while CBS failed to lock him up as he approached free agency. 

With ESPN desperate and NFL TV negotiations around the corner, this perfect storm created incredible leverage for Romo. Network executives bought the agent talk: If you are going to pay billions for the most important programming, what is another $18 million per year? 

Tony Romo started a trend with his huge CBS deal. Getty Images

ESPN was prepared to offer Romo 10 years and $140 million, forcing CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus to just blow the competition out of the water with a 10-year, $180 million contract. 

McManus had made a gutsy and career-defining decision in taking Romo off the field and immediately putting him in the top booth and he wasn’t going to lose him with a new NFL deal being so paramount for CBS. McManus had taken a chance, and if Romo has a Madden-like career, it will be known as one of the great decisions in sportscasting history. 

With Romo off the table, Pitaro considered trying to trade with NBC for Michaels, who had Tirico breathing down Michaels’ legendary neck. 

That didn’t work, which left Pitaro with Steve Levy, Louis Riddick and Brian Griese as his top team. As The Post has previously reported, while the league makes a fuss behind the scenes about the quality of announcers, when it comes down to negotiations money wins. While Levy, Riddick and Griese were an upgrade over Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland, the NFL still wasn’t pleased. ESPN forked over $2.6 billion in its new MNF deal with an understanding it would improve its presentation. 

With a new player, Amazon, entering the conversation and wanting credibility and a big time feel, the top announcers and ex-players’ leverage continued. 

Amazon immediately showed interest in Michaels and Manning. Pitaro struck back and let Manning work from home with his brother for untold millions. Then, this winter, with Amazon in serious talks with Aikman, Pitaro swooped in for the longtime Fox analyst. Buck asked Fox to let him out of his contract for a deal that was for half the work (no more baseball) and for a lot more money (a raise from around $9 million-$10 million to $15 million per year). 

This led Fox to turn to Brady as its long-term answer at $37.5 million a year, an old school Fox Sports move that harkened back to when Rupert Murdoch swiped the NFL package from CBS in 1993 

At Fox, the old/new approach is also represented by its second team, with Buck’s replacement on the World Series, Joe Davis, being paired with the veteran Daryl “Moose” Johnston. Meanwhile CBS continues with the stability of Ian Eagle partnering with Charles Davis for a third year at the network. 

So get your announcer rosters, figure out your depth charts, this is how we got here — and the games are just getting started. 

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