• Loading stock data...
Friday, March 29, 2024
2024 Best Venues nominations are open now through April 8! Submit Now

‘Hello, Friends’: ESPN Interested in CBS’s Jim Nantz

  • Nantz is seen as a possible face of ESPN’s NFL and Masters coverage.
  • ‘We expect Jim to be at CBS for many years to come,’ counters CBS.
Jim Nantz
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The impasse in contract negotiations between Super Bowl broadcaster Jim Nantz and CBS Sports is attracting the attention of a big possible bidder: ESPN.

If Nantz hits free agency this summer, ESPN is interested in possibly making him the face of its NFL and Masters golf coverage, said sources. With ESPN parent Walt Disney Co. poised to land one — if not two — NFL TV packages, Nantz could be on the mic as ABC/ESPN broadcast future Super Bowls. 

But a CBS Sports spokeswoman made clear the network wants to retain its longtime star. “We expect Jim to be at CBS Sports for many years to come,” she told FOS in a statement. ESPN declined to comment.

This Sunday, the 61-year-old Nantz is poised to call his second Super Bowl with Tony Romo and sixth overall. 

As CBS’s top play-by-play announcer for the NFL, PGA Tour/Masters and NCAA basketball, Nantz has won three Emmys and been named National Sportscaster of the Year five times since joining the network in 1985. 

Over the next three months, he’s set to broadcast a triple-play of the Super Bowl (Feb. 7), Final Four (April 3-5) and Masters (April 8-11). In 2019, he called five big events — the AFC Championship, Super Bowl, Final Four, Masters and PGA Championship — within 120 days. 

Under Nantz’s tutelage, Romo has become the most popular and highest-paid sports analyst on TV. 

Romo told The Athletic he’s “fortunate” to have Nantz. And so is CBS: “He’s as rare as there is in this industry in many capacities. He means the world to me. I love the guy.”

ESPN and other rivals have long viewed Nantz as a CBS lifer. In November, he talked movingly about wanting to become the first broadcaster to call 50 Masters tournaments for CBS, which would take him through age 75 in 2035.

Synonymous With The Masters, Jim Nantz Looks To Broadcast Many More

CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz says he wants to call well over 50…
November 13, 2020

But No. 1 announcer/hosts like Nantz don’t come on the market very often. ESPN hasn’t had a play-by-play caller on his level since Mike Tirico left for NBC Sports in 2016. 

After shedding the salaries of expensive talents like Dan Le Batard, Mike Golic Sr., Trey Wingo and Michelle Beadle, the cost-cutting Disney/ESPN is going all-in on the NFL. Nantz could headline live NFL coverage if games return to ABC, the original home of “Monday Night Football.” 

ESPN and CBS split Masters coverage, with ESPN showing weekday rounds and CBS airing the higher-rated weekend coverage.  

ESPN could use Nantz’s strong relationships with the green-jacketed members at Augusta National Golf Club to score the Masters’ Saturday-Sunday coverage, which has been held by CBS for 65 years.

Nantz “is the CBS Sports brand,” warned LeslieAnne Wade, the former senior vice president of CBS turned founder of Wade Media Management. 

“Any competitor can take Jim Nantz for far less than a rights fee — and genuinely elevate their portfolio of media assets. It would also leave an immeasurable void at CBS,” she said.

Nantz currently makes about $6 million per year, said sources. For his next contract, he wants “Tony Romo money,” reported the New York Post, alluding to the ex-Dallas Cowboys quarterback’s $180 million, 10-year deal inked in 2020.

Will he get it? We’ll see. Star play-by-play announcers don’t typically make as much as star game analysts. 

But Nantz is not just a play-caller. He’s the face and voice of CBS Sports the way Tirico and Al Michaels are NBC Sports, Joe Buck is Fox Sports and Charles Barkley is Turner Sports.  

Off the air, Nantz has deep relationships with the biggest sports rights holders, including the Masters, NCAA and NFL.

It was Nantz’s idea to highlight deaf African-American golfer Kevin Hall at the crowd-less Masters this fall. He even wrote the TV opening, said sources.

Entering his 36th year of NCAA basketball coverage, Nantz has called more network broadcasts of the Final Four and championship game than any announcer in history, according to CBS.

NFL TV Networks View Philip Rivers As ‘Next Tony Romo’

NFL TV networks are eying loquacious Philip Rivers as the ‘next Tony…
December 31, 2020

According to Back Nine Ventures founder David Levy — the ex-Turner Sports president who worked with Nantz when Turner and CBS teamed up to televise March Madness — Nantz is a master of the vanishing art of play-by-play.

“Through my relationship with CBS, I got to know Jim Nantz. He’s one of the best play-by-play guys in the industry coupled with the people that we had at Turner,” said the head of the new investment and consulting firm.

One solution to the standoff may be for CBS to pay Nantz more than Michaels, Tirico or Buck, but less than Romo.

CBS just extended play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle’s contract, according to the New York Post. Eagle is a highly regarded play-by-play star who’ll contribute to the network’s Super Bowl pregame coverage Sunday. But CBS miscalculated if they think they can use Eagle as leverage in the Nantz negotiations, warned one source.

“Could [Eagle] call the Final Four? Sure. But I don’t think there’s any real play where Ian Eagle becomes Jim Nantz for CBS.”

The thought of Nantz hosting the NFL or golf in an ESPN or ABC blazer seems bizarre, but stranger things have happened in sports TV. John Madden started his legendary TV career at CBS then landed increasingly lucrative gigs at Fox, ABC and NBC, eventually working for all four networks. 

Both Nantz and Madden are represented by super-agent Sandy Montag of The Montag Group. The longer the two sides play chicken, the greater the chance Nantz leans toward leaving CBS after more than three decades.

“Nobody thought John Madden would ever go to Fox,” said a source. “But he did.” 

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Spring Football’s Big Bet: An Unlikely TV Marriage, and Crazy Rules

The United Football League launches this weekend on ESPN and Fox.

NFL Executive Questions Logic Behind Streaming Giants’ Joint Venture

The ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox alliance is expected to launch this fall.

Ukraine’s Improbable Soccer Run Continues With Euros Qualification

The country reaches its first major soccer tournament since Russia’s invasion began.
podcast thumbnail mobile
Front Office Sports Today

Why the Timberwolves Sale was Called Off

0:00
0:00

Featured Today

March 22, 2024, Brooklyn, NY, USA; Northwestern Wildcats guard Brooks Barnhizer (13) and Northwestern Wildcats guard Boo Buie (0) react in overtime against the Florida Atlantic Owls in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at the Barclays Center.

‘An Expensive Game’: March Madness and NIL Collectives Are Intertwined

At schools nationwide, collectives are fueling NCAA tournament runs and vice versa.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark (22) waits to be announced in the starting lineup against West Virginia in a NCAA Tournament round of 32 game Monday, March 25, 2024 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.
March 26, 2024

The Women’s Trading Card Market Is Overlooked. Can Caitlin Clark Change That?

Traditionally, women’s sports cards have been a marginal part of collectibles.
The Sports Illustrated cover signed by Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, February 27, 2019, at Don & Charlie's, 7501 E. Camelback Road, Scottsdale. Don Charlie S
March 24, 2024

Everything You Need to Know About the Ongoing ‘Sports Illustrated’ Saga

Understanding the strange state of affairs for the nearly 70-year-old publication.
March 23, 2024

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Inside the Big East’s Bizarre Online Subculture

Peeling back the curtain on the ‘phenomenally weird’ Big East online ecosystem.

Careers

Powered By

Careers in Sports

Looking for a new job? Check out these featured listings and search for openings all over the world.
Live Nation
Multiple - USA Careers
Adidas
Multiple - USA Careers
Spotify
Multiple - USA Careers

‘Good Morning Football’ Beginning Mysterious Timeout Before L.A. Move

Friday is the final broadcast of ‘Good Morning Football’ from New York.
March 28, 2024

Jets Owner Blasts ‘False’ Reporting From League-Owned Outlet

League owners and NFL Media rarely criticize each other.
March 28, 2024

NBA Wants to Cash in With Foreign Investors in More Ways Than One

Sovereign wealth funds can invest in NBA teams.
Sponsored

How Daily Fantasy Sports Solved NBA Fantasy

The remarkable growth of the #1 Discord sports server in the world.
March 28, 2024

Late Rush Keeps Three MLB Teams on TV, but Revenue Issues Linger

The Diamondbacks, Padres, and Rockies continue to navigate a post-RSN landscape.
exclusive
March 26, 2024

Threats, Demands, a Lawsuit, and a Website in Limbo: Inside the Chaos at ‘SI’

‘Sports Illustrated’ has new publishers, but the transition has been messy at best.
March 25, 2024

Inside the Proxy Fight for the Future of Disney (and ESPN)

Dissident investor Nelson Peltz is seeking two board seats in an upcoming election.
March 25, 2024

The Brian Kelly ‘Hit Job’ Kim Mulkey Ripped Is Barely About Brian Kelly at All

The article was hardly about Kelly at all.