ESPN Elevates Super Bowl Plans by Hiring Fox NFL Director

ESPN’s Burke Magnus has pledged to cover the Super Bowl like it’s never been covered before. His network just made a move that reinforces that commitment.

ESPN’s president of content is hiring award-winning director Artie Kempner away from Fox Sports. The 12-time Emmy Award–winner director will take over Monday Night Football from Derek Mobley. But ESPN is hiring Kempner with an eye toward him directing its first-ever Super Bowls after the 2026 and 2030 NFL seasons.

The 30-year sports TV veteran previously worked closely with ESPN’s MNF broadcast duo of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck at Fox. He directed Fox’s coverage of Super Bowls XXXIX and XLII with Aikman and Buck. During his career at Fox, CBS, and NBC, Kempner has directed everything from the Super Bowl, NFL playoff games, and Thursday Night Football to NASCAR, golf, tennis, college sports, and Olympic coverage.

“There’s only 12 people currently walking the Planet Earth who’ve ever directed a Super Bowl—and Artie’s done two of them. Not to mention Daytona 500s and US Open tennis and a whole bunch of stuff over the years,” Magnus told Front Office Sports Monday night. “He’s a very decorated guy who just dropped into our laps as we were getting into hard-core preparation for Super Bowl 61. To bring on a unique talent like Artie, who has done big events, who’s done multiple Super Bowls, that’s our responsibility to the company. To put ourselves in the best possible position to absolutely crush the Super Bowl.”

ESPN has dreamed of showing the Big Game since its founding in 1979. All of the major NFL talent moves by Magnus and chairman Jimmy Pitaro in recent years have been made with an eye toward the company’s first Super Bowl telecast on Feb. 14, 2027, in parent Walt Disney Co.’s backyard of Los Angeles. The now-defunct ABC Sports showed Disney’s last Super Bowl in 2006. 

Statement of Intent

Since ESPN muscled its way into the Super Bowl TV rotation in 2021, with an 11-year deal worth $2.7 billion a year, the network has been upgrading its talent in preparation for the Big Game. 

In 2022, ESPN raided Fox to hire away Aikman and Buck with staggering five-year deals of $95 million and $65 million apiece, respectively. But the duo called six Super Bowls previously at Fox. In my eyes, their hire transformed the MNF booth from worst to first. With Aikman and Buck at the helm, ESPN also received improved MNF game schedules from NFL brass on Park Avenue.

Then there’s Peyton and Eli Manning and their popular MNF ManningCast. In April 2024, ESPN announced a 10-year contract extension with Peyton’s Omaha Productions. That means the Mannings will offer alt-casts for both of ESPN’s Super Bowl telecasts.

Finally, there’s Magnus and Pitaro’s recent moves with NFL pregame shows. Over the past two years, ESPN elevated two of its most accomplished, popular anchors to boost its Sunday and Monday NFL studio shows. 

Scott Van Pelt replaced the laid-off Suzy Kolber as host of Monday Night Countdown in 2023. A year later, First Take host Mike Greenberg succeeded the ousted Samantha Ponder as host of Sunday NFL Countdown (Greenberg was also named lead host of ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage last year). ESPN added hotshot free agent Jason Kelce to Monday Night Countdown in 2024. It just announced a long-term contract extension with NFL Live host Laura Rutledge. Don’t forget Stephen A. Smith. As part of his monster five-year, $100 million contract extension, he’s expected to appear on Monday Night Countdown this season.

At our Tuned In sports media summit last September, Magnus told FOS the media giant was seeking a “vice president of the Super Bowl,” whose only job will be anything and everything related to ESPN/Disney’s production of Super Bowl LXI. ESPN got its man in January, tapping longtime producer Andy Tennant for the job. 

“We want to redefine what covering a Super Bowl looks like,” Magnus said at Tuned In. “We have, in many ways, the luxury of not having an imprint in people’s minds of what that might look like since we haven’t ever been there.”