• Loading stock data...
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Tuned In returns to NYC on September 16. Hear from the biggest names in sports media. Click here to get your spot

How One Hotel’s $40,000 Mistake Birthed the Super Bowl’s Radio Row

  • Five days of players and personalities and agents, each with something to sell—it’s all part of the NFL machine.
  • And it all goes back to Mike and the Mad Dog getting bumped from the Hyatt to the Holiday Inn.
radio row a the Super Bowl LVII
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

LAS VEGAS — “Seventy-five radio producers begging you for five minutes of [your time].” That’s how San Diego radio personality Darren Smith describes the frenzied scene when a VIP ambles through the Super Bowl’s Radio Row—or Media Row, as it is now known, given new mediums such as podcasts and the inundation of influencers.

The five-day event is both a longstanding tradition and a crucial part of the economic engine that drives business for the NFL and the Super Bowl host city, as a parade of athletes and celebs (almost always with something to sell), agents and league officials trample through dozens and dozens of stations in the media center. Agent Leigh Steinberg says he personally did 71 interviews last year.

This year’s Row has its unique Vegas flashes, including three slot machines emblazoned with NFL logos standing guard in front of the expansive bullpen of radio desks. Outside that radio area are stages and sets for national programs, including those from DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fox Sports Radio, plus the likes of The Pat McAfee Show. It was Tuesday when I visited so the brand-shilling scrum had yet to begin in full.

But it wasn’t always like this. The story starts in 1992, at Super Bowl XXVI in Minneapolis. Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, then star radio personalities with WFAN in New York City, asked to broadcast from the lobby of the hotel where the league had set up its headquarters, the Hyatt. Jim Steeg was the NFL’s head of events at the time, and he says this marked the first instance of talent of this magnitude wanting to broadcast from the host city.

“The Hyatt said they could [do it]—if they paid $40,000,” says Steeg. (That’s nearly $87,000 today, adjusted for inflation.) “I remember talking to the GM of the hotel, saying, ‘Don’t do that. That’s a major mistake. They’ve got a bigger voice than you realize.’” Alas, the Hyatt wouldn’t budge, so Francesa and Russo—Mike and the Mad Dog—set up in a Holiday Inn across the street, at no charge, Steeg recalls.

The incident got Steeg thinking: Radio stations, which provided the NFL great exposure, needed a place to set up during the week of the Big Game. And so, in 1993, in Pasadena, Calif., Radio Row was born. By Steeg’s estimation, it all started with 10 to 12 stations—“the first guys of any consequence wanting to broadcast a radio show out of there.”

Russo, for his part, doesn’t remember much about Minneapolis—the $40,000 demand, he’d never heard that before. But he remembers the next year well, right down to the days before, when he says he and Francesa flew in from a golf excursion at Pebble Beach and Francesca got ill on the plane. “In ’93, I believe it was in a [hotel] conference room … where there were eight to 10 radio stations,” Russo says. “Now you are in a convention center with 500.”

In actuality, the number today is likely in the high double digits. (The NFL would not share an exact figure.) But Russo’s hyperbole underscores the growth of the league as a business boomlet that generates big bucks not just for owners but for the commercial interests, like radio, that feed off the sport. “It’s not about Radio Row as much as it is about driving audience and driving finances,” says Don Martin, executive vice president for iHeartMedia Sports. “The NFL is a solid business for audio companies. So [you’ll travel to] the Super Bowl if you have a choice to be there with one of your shows.” Such is the allure that even Audacy, the digital radio platform that operates CBS Sports Radio, still sent stations to the Super Bowl—even as it is in bankruptcy.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

More Like Skid Row?

Of course, there are those, like Smith, the San Diego radio host, who say Radio Row is on the decline—that it has turned into one long conga line of product pitches. In fact, ESPN Radio did not even make the trip this year. Even Russo, the Godfather of the event, admits it’s a problem. “Spot after spot after spot after spot, and it gets a little monotonous,” he says. “You got a guy … and this is his eighth radio station that he has done in three hours … and he’s not going to be as peppy for you as he was for station number three.”

Still, Russo (above, right, with Rich Eisen on Radio Row before Super Bowl LIII) is a believer in onsite radio, because it leads to in-person interviews. Annually, he says, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt and Falcons owner Arthur Blank speak to him.

“They’re not coming on [my show if they’re] at the Super Bowl and I’m back in New York,” he says. But “if I’m in the building, and [they’re] walking around … I’ve got a good chance to get [them].” 

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

breaking

Disney Buying NFL Network, NFL Getting 10% Stake in ESPN

The deal rewrites the playbook for pro leagues and their TV partners.

NFL Bans Smelling Salts Over Concussion-Masking Risk

George Kittle broke the news of the ban Tuesday.
A general view as athletes compete in the women’s 10,000m final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Stade de France in Saint-Deanis, France, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024.

Trump Order Leads to Visa Ban for Trans Athletes in Women’s Sports

“Men do not belong in women’s sports,” a USCIS spokesperson said.
Jul 28, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) and guard DiJonai Carrington (21) during the game between the Dallas Wings and the New York Liberty at College Park Center.

WNBA Trade Deadline Hits Ahead of Looming CBA Chaos

The trade deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.

Featured Today

Inked Under Anesthesia: Athletes Getting $50,000 Tattoos

High-end studios, elite artist teams, and hours under anesthesia.
Coco Gauff at New York Liberty
August 2, 2025

How the New York Liberty Became the Hottest Ticket in Town

Once banished to the burbs, the Libs are now Brooklyn’s marquee attraction.
Las Vegas sign
July 29, 2025

College Sports Embracing Vegas After Years of Cold Shoulder

The Big Ten became the latest newcomer to Sin City.
2000, Jupiter, FL, USA; FILE PHOTO; Montreal Expos pitcher Hideki Irabu in action on the mound against the New York Mets at Roger Dean Stadium during Spring Training
July 28, 2025

Dead Sports Franchises Are Alive and Well on Twitter

The Expos, Sonics, and Whalers have active social media accounts.

NFL’s Hall of Fame Game Draws 6.9M TV Viewers, Highest Since 2021

The Lions and Chargers played this year’s game in Canton, Ohio.
NASCAR Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace (23) celebrates winning Sunday, July 27, 2025, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
July 30, 2025

Amazon, TNT Post Near-Identical NASCAR Ratings in Debut Season

The cable channel is a new media-rights partner this season.
Jul 15, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts to the crowd as they take on the Connecticut Sun in the first quarter at TD Garden.
July 30, 2025

WNBA Viewership Up Across All Networks Compared to 2024

Non-Fever games are up 37% compared to the full 2024 season.
Sponsored

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

Dealmaker Jeffrey Kaplan maps the evolution of sports as an asset class
Jul 27, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Sky guard Kia Nurse (11) drives to the basket against Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) during the second half at United Center.
July 29, 2025

Fever-Sky Draws 1.5M Viewers Despite Clark, Reese Absences

Clark and Reese both missed the game due to injury.
July 29, 2025

WBD Restructuring Shows What’s Old Is New Again

WBD will become Warner Bros. and Discovery Global as two separate entities.
HAPPY GILMORE 2. BTS - (L to R) Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore and Rory McIlroy as himself on the set of Happy Gilmore2.
July 26, 2025

‘Cool As Hell’: How ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Hooked Golf’s Top Stars

The process was “cool as hell,” Adam Sandler tells FOS.
July 24, 2025

CBS Sports to Get New Owner As Skydance Merger Clears FCC Hurdle

The long-awaited, but highly debated, merger gains regulatory approval.