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Back in the 1970s, Brent Musburger and Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder were forced to speak in code when they tackled the taboo topic of gambling on CBS Sports’ The NFL Today. Now, the NFL has embraced the $100 billion industry with open arms. After opposing legalized sports betting for decades, the league picked Las Vegas—yes, Las Vegas—to host Super Bowl LVIII.
Vindicated? Sure. But even Musburger is shocked by just how quickly the NFL surrendered to the dark side after fighting legalized betting in court for years.
“It’s stunning that they’ve come full circle,” the 84-year-old TV legend told reporters last week.
What sparked the NFL’s about-face on sports betting and Las Vegas? Blame it on the U.S. Supreme Court, COVID-19, and the league’s inexorable search for new TV viewers and revenue streams. Stung by back-to-back viewership drops of 8% and 10% during the 2016 and ’17 seasons, the NFL eyed gambling as a way to engage younger fans who were already betting on games.
In 2018, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates by striking down a federal law that had effectively banned sports betting in most U.S. states. Then, in ’20, the pandemic forced all leagues, even the invincible NFL, to seek fresh sponsorship dollars. It didn’t take long.
In April ’21, the NFL announced multiyear deals with three “tri-exclusive” betting partners: Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, and FanDuel.
The NFL pockets about $2 billion a year from official sponsors. As sports betting goes mainstream, the league won’t comment on how much it reaps from its gambling partners. But rights fees from “Betting, Lottery and Gaming” sponsors have ballooned into the league’s second biggest category, behind only technology, according to IEG. Meanwhile, the number of sports betting deals brokered by the league’s 32 teams quadrupled between 2019 and ’02, according to research firm SponsorUnited.
Still, you can trace the NFL’s growing sports betting empire back to NFL Today obliquely referencing betting lines on national TV back when Gerald Ford was U.S. president, and Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were fighting the “Thrilla in Manila.”
The Birth of The NFL Today
Five decades ago, pro football was elbowing baseball out of the way as America’s favorite sport. In 1970, ABC Sports’ Roone Arledge launched Monday Night Football. In 1975, CBS’s iconic pregame show, The NFL Today, debuted, and the network asked Musburger, a former sportswriter for The Chicago American-turned news anchor, to lead the program.
The NFL Today was the first live show to take viewers around the country, previewing games and showing highlights. The cast of Musburger, Irv Cross (the first Black sports analyst on national TV), and pioneering female reporter/host Phyllis George, broke new ground for diversity. It was the template for all the live pregame and postgame studio shows to follow, including Fox NFL Sunday, Football Night in America, Sunday NFL Countdown and Inside the NBA.
In 1976, CBS added Snyder, a streetwise Las Vegas gambler/handicapper, to the cast and his weekly game “picks” immediately grabbed viewers. At the request of then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, Snyder and Musburger did not quote point spreads on the air—instead, they spoke in code. Snyder would predict final game scores, while Musburger would add a wink or a nod.
Depending on Snyder’s delivery and phrasing, bettors would know if he was taking the favorite or underdog. (One of Snyder’s secret sources for his NFL picks was late Raiders owner Al Davis, according to Musburger.) Today, when point spreads flicker across the bottom of ESPN studio shows, that sort of tiptoeing would be laughable.
Former host Jim Nantz, who’s poised to call his third Super Bowl, with Tony Romo, calls NFL Today his favorite program of all time, behind only The Andy Griffith Show. Musburger, he says, “set the standard” for every sports studio host since. Even Musburger’s famous catchphrase can be traced to sports betting: A friend of NFL Today producers liked to bet over/unders. He suggested that show-runners cut away to stadium locations before kickoff so bettors could check the weather.
A TV tradition was born. “That’s how we came up with, ‘You are looking Live,’” Musburger recalled. “It’s all because somebody wanted to bet the over/unders back in the day.” That famous line, inspired by gambling, is part of the TV lexicon, said James Brown, the current host of NFL Today. “I hope he got a trademark on it—and is still getting royalties.”
Last of the Cast
NFL Today won its time slot for 18 straight seasons before Rupert Murdoch’s rival Fox swooped in to snatch the NFC package, starting with the 1994 season. Lead game analyst John Madden and NFL Today cohost Terry Bradshaw jumped to Fox. (Bradshaw’s Fox NFL Sunday has been ranked as the No. 1 pregame show ever since.) When CBS won the AFC TV package in ’98, NFL Today returned to the air with Nantz as host.
On April Fools’ Day in 1990, CBS shockingly fired Musburger over a bitter contract dispute. He still called the ’90 NCAA men’s championship between UNLV and Duke, where he said goodbye on-air to viewers. Musburger was replaced on NFL Today by Greg Gumbel. But he bounced back, joining ABC Sports and ESPN, where he hosted Monday Night Football and called ESPN’s biggest college football games until 2017.
Musburger is the last survivor from the original cast of NFL Today (which is getting a CBS special, You Are Looking Live!: The Show That Changed Sports Television Forever, on Super Bowl Sunday). Snyder was fired by CBS in 1988 for making racist comments, and he died in 1997. George, a former Miss America, died in 2020, and Cross died in ’21.
The broadcast legend seemed to be speaking for all of his NFL Today colleagues when he addressed the irony of the league’s finally embracing the gambling capital of the world. Said Musburger:
“Viva Las Vegas.”
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