PHOENIX — The explanation Super Bowl week brings me back to my days of covering baseball is since it is just like the Winter Meetings with all of the talks, rumors and moves.
Let’s return to simply a 12 months ago in Los Angeles.
The sport was broadcast on NBC, and these were the highest NFL announcing teams on the time:
Fox: Joe Buck and Troy Aikman
NBC: Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth
CBS: Jim Nantz and Tony Romo
ESPN: Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick Jr.
Amazon: TBD
Now they’re:
Fox: Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen
NBC: Mike Tirico and Collinsworth
CBS: Nantz and Romo
ESPN: Buck and Aikman
Amazon: Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit
And the fantastic thing about Super Bowl week is that’s when all of the wheels began really spinning. Aikman was near staying with Fox in a split take care of Amazon. If that had happened, Buck and Aikman can be calling the Super Bowl on Sunday.
As an alternative, ESPN, which had an eye fixed on Michaels, swooped in and swiped Aikman and Buck after the talks first heated up through the lead-up to the massive game. Then dominoes fell in every single place — even the Super Bowl-winning coach Sean McVay entered the image with a possible $20 million per 12 months offer from Amazon.
Last offseason was the craziest in sports broadcasting history. Even before, the wheels were spinning, and little sliding doors — ESPN letting Tirico leave “Monday Night Football” for NBC in 2016 and Romo inking a historic $180 million total value deal in 2020 — led to Amazon entering the image as a recent bidder that loosened things up much more.
Not the entire same dynamics are there immediately. But, as with the Winter Meetings of their prime, the fantastic thing about this week is it’s when the daring executives, broadcasters and agents begin to make industry-changing moves.
It’s loads of fun.
Mets radio’s youth movement
It was essential to WCBS and the Mets that Howie Rose’s recent partners have Mets roots. This was actually something they wanted when Josh Lewin left a couple of years ago, but they might not find someone with those roots and felt Wayne Randazzo was the perfect selection, despite not bleeding blue and orange as a child. This time, though, with Randazzo’s alternative, 29-year-old Keith Raad, and Patrick McCarthy, who turns 28 in March, they’ve found announcers who were Mets fans and who they felt had the chops to be within the booth.
While I don’t think you wish complete homers — and there isn’t any reason to think they will probably be, to be clear — I do consider it is sensible to have individuals who care as much in regards to the team because the people listening on radio do. It gives a real shared passion.
McCarthy, the son of former Mets radio man, Tom, will probably be the third person within the booth, which is more akin to Eddie Coleman’s old role than to Brad Heller, whom McCarthy is replacing and who didn’t do play-by-play. McCarthy was a Mets fan when his dad broadcast their games, but moved his allegiance when his father went to Philadelphia.
Each will probably be lucky to learn from Rose, whom I profiled this past week as he shared his fight with cancer. Rose is the quintessential local radio play-by-player. First off, he nails the small print of each call. Second, he knows the history of the team in addition to anybody, having grown up a Mets fan. Third, this background allows him to relate to the emotion of his listeners. So the Mets and WCBS did it right, in search of homegrown announcers.
That’s the part you may predict. Now they need to just be good at broadcasting.
Yet one more winner in last 12 months’s broadcasting shuffle
You realize who had a very good 12 months from the lists in the highest section? Brian Griese, who selected to depart ESPN to change into the quarterbacks coach under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. How’d that work out?
Griese has to garner some, if not lots, of credit for rookie Brock Purdy looking like Joe Montana during this 12 months. Purdy might find yourself going from Mr. Irrelevant because the last pick within the draft to Offensive Rookie of the 12 months.
Griese would have been a bit of irrelevant if he had stayed at ESPN — perhaps he would’ve gotten assignments on the “extra” MNF games — and now as a substitute could also be in position for potential coaching promotions.
The plan
The plan from Phoenix is to have columns, notes and hopefully some news from you all week. We’ll top it off with a review of the pregame show and the Super Bowl broadcast next Sunday.
We’re also going to have two podcasts this week. The primary one drops Wednesday morning, featuring Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks. The second, on Friday, is ready to incorporate a rare interview scheduled with the NFL’s No. 2 executive, chief media and business officer Brian Rolapp. You may subscribe here.