The spinning offseason carousel of NFL announcer jobs took another turn Tuesday, as Fox Sports announced Greg Olsen and Kevin Burkhardt as its top broadcast team for the 2022 season.
Olsen and Burkhardt will join with sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi and rules analyst Mike Pereira to form Fox’s new No. 1 announce team.
The former Bears, Panthers, and Seahawks tight end and Burkhardt previously served as Fox’s No. 2 duo behind Troy Aikman and Joe Buck. Now they’ll call Fox’s top games this season, including the network’s telecast of Super Bowl LVII from Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 12, 2023.
The new TV crew will make its regular-season debut on Sept. 11 with their coverage of Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings.
The promotion is a double-edged sword for the 37-year-old Olsen.
Fox has already announced Tom Brady will step into the No. 1 analyst job alongside Burkhardt when he retires from the NFL. At over $25 million a year, Fox is giving Brady the richest deal in sports TV history.
On the other hand, it remains to be seen if the legendary QB will enjoy the weekly grind of traveling to different cities and calling games.
The 44-year-old Brady doesn’t need the money after earning $303 million in on-field salary and bonuses alone over his 22-year playing career. If Brady bails, Olsen would be perfectly situated to inherit the No. 1 job a second time.
The NFL’s TV partners signed new media rights deals last year that will pay the league over $100 billion through 2033. Now that the dust has settled, here’s a rundown on the analyst/announcer changes starting this season:
- Fox: Olsen and Burkhardt will take over as No. 1 broadcast team at Fox, succeeding Aikman and Buck.
- ESPN: Aikman and Buck will take over in the “Monday Night Football” booth, succeeding Louis Riddick, Brian Griese and Steve Levy.
- NBC Sports: Mike Tirico will succeed Al Michaels in the “Sunday Night Football” booth alongside returning analyst Cris Collinsworth.
- Amazon: Michaels will team with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit to call the tech giant’s exclusive streaming coverage of “Thursday Night Football.”
The only NFL TV partner to remain stable is CBS Sports, where Tony Romo and Jim Nantz will return as the network’s top broadcast team.
