I am not going to defend this as a rational decision by Fox (I think it’s nuts), but I do think there is some real value to having a signature announcing crew for NFL games. I think it will show up in the ratings (not a $37.5M impact, but some measurable impact). I typically watch all of every game on every Sunday (until I started watching Red Zone some years ago, which disrupted everything), so for fans like me it would not matter who the announcers are. But there is a significant pool of potential viewers who are making week to week and game to game decisions about what and how much to watch, and the announcers make a difference for this group. This is particularly true for younger people, who are often just as happy to be playing video games or hanging out with friends and checking scores on the internet occasionally. I have read there is also some value for networks in getting high profile announcers to do special things for affiliates.
Others here know the details of how games are assigned better than I do. In general Fox Carrie’s NFC games, but there are inter conference games every week to be allocated, and the best games of any kind often go to NBC on Sunday Night. Having a high profile announcing team may help Fox a little fighting to keep their best games, but I can’t imagine this is a big component. The biggest problem is that, while almost certainly there will initially be a ratings impact from curiosity viewing in his first few games, if he sucks at the job, whatever value he has will pretty much vanish outside of New England. But hate Tom Brady, but I assume he is knowledgeable about the game, and charismatic and funny in a jock-culture sort of way. He has demonstrated very little ability to project that on television, but maybe that will change after he is done playing. However, unlike someone like Tony Romo, who had very little to lose by letting his sort of geeky personality flag fly, Brady is unlikely to want to let it all hang out because he is more like Michael Jordan, who has a multi hundred million, maybe even billion dollar brand to protect and nurture. On Fri, 13 May 2022 at 2:36 AM Adam Bowie <[email protected]> wrote: > What I find amazing in all this is that surely most viewers are tuning in > for the game. I know when I decide to watch a sports event, it's on the > basis of the fixture/match-up/event/whatever. Certainly I might prefer one > commentary team over another. Indeed, I might actively dislike some > commentators (announcers). But I'm still going to watch the game. They're > very much secondary in sports where the action is pretty frenetic. > > I will admit that they come much more into their own in slower paced > sports where there are many hours to fill and not much of it is as action > packed. Think of something like cricket (Test Matches run for five days!) > or one of my favourite sports, cycling, where a stage might be six hours on > the road. > > I was listening to Matt Belloni on The Town podcast the other day talking > about this, and his view is that it will all make zero difference to > ratings. I guess the only thing that might happen is that NFL becomes > slightly less profitable for networks - some of whom are already taking a > loss on coverage since they treat it as a promotional vehicle. > > One small thing was mentioned which might have an impact. There was the > suggestion that employing a pricey announcing team might persuade the NFL > to give you better games. Which leads to my question: who decides which > games go where. When, say, Amazon buys Thursday Night Football, where is > that in the pecking order of games when the fixtures are made? > > I do know that for the UK rights to the Premier League, where there are > three rights holders, the packages the rights-holders have entitle them to > choose the fixtures in each given week. The Premier League determines which > match-ups take place in a given week (everyone plays everyone twice in a 19 > game - 19 game pattern, but local considerations happen, like not having > both Manchester teams at home in the same week and so on), and then the > rights-holders of, say, the 4pm Sunday game which is the biggest slot, get > "first pick" of fixtures perhaps 25 times a season. The right-holders of > the 12.30pm Saturday slot might get the remaining first picks. And so on > down the list. You bid for the slot and a set number of > first/second/third/whatever choices of fixtures. Although other things come > into play to ensure every team gets a certain number of TV outings. (Not > every game is televised live in the UK - none of the Saturday 3pm games). > > Does a similar thing happen in the US? Or does the NFL have final say on > what game will be the Sunday Night one etc? > > > Adam > > On Thu, May 12, 2022 at 11:34 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> I continue to be baffled by how much the American public likes what is >> increasingly (to me at least) a series of soap opera stories interrupted by >> games that average 11 minutes of action every hour. >> >> That said, trying to figure out the economics of all this leaves me >> dizzy. If these broadcast outlets are escalating the salaries for their >> (mostly) interchangeable commenting teams, will they still have enough >> money to pay the ridiculous amounts they do for broadcast rights? It >> doesn't seem sustainable to me, but American football fans resemble addicts >> more and more than television viewers. >> >> David >> >> On Thursday, May 12, 2022, 03:14:41 PM PDT, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> >> That’s a hell of a gamble for Fox. One of the drivers of the recent round >> of musical chairs of announcers came from when ESPN tried to poach Tony >> Romo for MNF. CBS kept him but they had to pay him $17 million a year which >> is more than 5 times than any other announcer made. Romo’s deal has now >> become standard and the networks are now evaluating their talent not at >> their current salaries but whether they’re worth keeping at the higher >> rates. >> >> The Brady deal with Fox resets the market. So if Brady flops they not >> only have to pay out his contract, they will also have to pay as much to >> his replacement. I have no idea what due diligence Fox did before closing >> this deal. I know Brady did prerecorded halftime segments for MNF on >> Westwood One radio so he has some media experience they could evaluate. >> >> On Thu, May 12, 2022 at 11:28 AM 'Greg Diener' via TVorNotTV < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> Why do I get the feeling this is gonna be like when Joe Montana flopped >> on NBC? Brady has the chrisma of a wet fart whenever he's interviewed >> despite the press treating him like he's Jesus. >> >> Greg >> >> >> On Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 10:12:42 AM UTC-4 Bob Jersey wrote: >> >> Once he retires. >> >> >> https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/tom-brady-join-fox-nfl-analyst-1235143765/ >> (link) >> >> B >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/1594736023.1541987.1652394868880%40mail.yahoo.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/1594736023.1541987.1652394868880%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGBYmEhmZ7mPc6VMF0tsQwL_0c4UQZgCtHJ76dFJYtn%3DAw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGBYmEhmZ7mPc6VMF0tsQwL_0c4UQZgCtHJ76dFJYtn%3DAw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. 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