• Loading stock data...
Sunday, June 1, 2025

How Much Longer Can Fox Sports Keep the Top-Rated Pregame Crew Together?

Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, and Howie Long address how much longer Fox Sports can keep the top-rated pregame gang together.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

NEW ORLEANS — There aren’t many constants in the sports media business, but one of them has been the dominance of Fox Sports’ NFL pregame show. 

For 31 consecutive years, Fox NFL Sunday has led all networks in pregame studio show viewership. The show features a trio of stalwarts—Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, and Howie Long—who have been on the program since its inception in 1994 (Johnson had a hiatus for six years in between), while host Curt Menefee has been there since 2007. Rob Gronkowski and Michael Strahan fill out the show. 

One of the questions popping around the media members at the Fox Sports press conference leading up to Super Bowl LIX was how much longer Fox will be able to keep the crew together. 

“I told my wife before I left the hotel room, I was sitting there, I said, ‘I’ve got two years left at Fox. I’m 76,’” Bradshaw said. “It’s a young man’s game. I get that. Everybody wants their new [people]. I said, if we can get to the next Super Bowl, I’ll be 80. I think that’s time. That’s pushing it.” 

Long, one of the youngest-looking 65-year-olds on the planet, was asked how much longer he could envision continuity with the same crew. 

“I think one of us is going to die on the set,” Long deadpanned, declining to specify who before acknowledging the marvel of the run lasting several decades.

“We enjoy it every year. We talk about it all the time, actually, how much we enjoy being here. I think they pay us to fly and stay in hotels — the rest of it we’d do for free,” he said. 

Asked how much longer he thought he could go with Fox Sports, Johnson, 81, said, “Oh, I really have no idea. Really, for the last five or six years at least, I’ve been going day by day rather than year by year.”

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

breaking

Pacers-Thunder Is Lowest-Payroll NBA Finals in Years

Neither team is in the luxury tax, despite rosters with multiple All-Stars.
exclusive

Newly American-Owned Italian Hoops Team Hires Ex-Pelicans Exec as GM

Napoli Basketball is hiring the Pelicans’ former chief of staff as GM.

Featured Today

PSG and the City of Paris Can Join European Soccer’s Elite

What a maiden Champions League title would mean for the French club.
May 30, 2025

How the Champions League Anthem Took on a Life of Its Own

The composer didn’t know he wrote a timeless hit three decades ago.
May 25, 2025

How Rolex Paved the Way for Luxury’s Love Affair With Tennis

“It’s almost impossible to think about tennis without thinking about Rolex.”
Mar 23, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Alexandra Eala (PHI) reacts after winning a point against Madison Keys (USA)(not pictured) on day six of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium.
May 24, 2025

Alex Eala Is Defying Her Country’s Odds to Make French Open History

The Philippines native has overcome a unique set of financial odds.
May 30, 2025

Panthers-Oilers Rematch Could Be Big in Canada. Will U.S. Ratings Dip?

Likely viewership declines in the U.S. are countered by robust Canadian audiences.
May 30, 2025

French Open Scheduling Sparks Backlash Over Women’s Time Slots

Coco Gauff has also said the French Open schedule could be improved.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

In Episode 7 of Portfolio Players, go inside the boardroom with Avenue Capital CEO and former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry on Giannis’s future, women’s sports, and upstart leagues like TGL and Unrivaled. 
May 28, 2025

NBA East Finals Delivers Strong TV Ratings, but West Is Struggling

The Pacers and Thunder are both up 3–1 in their conference finals series.
Around the Horn
May 23, 2025

Behind the Scenes of Around the Horn’s Final Days

FOS followed Tony Reali at the penultimate taping of the ESPN icon.
Around the Horn - October 26, 2020
May 23, 2025

‘Quirky, Nutty, Bombastic’: 10 ‘Around the Horn’ Faces on Their Top Moments

“A quirky, nutty, bombastic, mostly wrong, sometimes right, crazy sports family.”
May 22, 2025

NBC Eyes MLB Rights, Looks to Own Sunday Nights Year-Round

The league continues to shop media rights being forfeited by ESPN.