Netflix delivered a seamless doubleheader on Christmas in 2024, lacking many of the critical buffering issues the platform had just a month earlier for the Mike Tyson–Jake Paul fight.
But behind the scenes, the experience was a scramble in the broadcast booth, color analyst Greg Olsen says.
Olsen reminisced about the game Tuesday at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit in New York. He said he looks back on the experience fondly, but it was uncharted territory for him, because the broadcast team and production crew didn’t meet until the night before the game.
“You talk about really good learning lessons and some stuff going on behind the scenes, how I do telestrator and how I communicate with the truck, was a real-time lesson with me and my producer, Greg, as the game’s unfolding,” Olsen said. “We didn’t get a test run. We didn’t get a, ‘Hey, we’re going to ease into this and in five weeks you’re going to be good at it.’ It was national TV, Christmas day, ball’s kicked off and go.”
The former NFL tight end began his analyst duties at Fox while he was still active in the league, and eventually joined the network full-time after his 2021 retirement. He joined the No. 1 team in 2022 and called the Super Bowl in 2023, but was eventually demoted to the No. 2 spot behind Tom Brady, a move expected for years. He called the Christmas game with Noah Eagle of NBC Sports and Jamie Erdahl and Steve Wyche of NFL Network.
Olsen said the Ravens’ 31–2 win over the Texans on Christmas Day was “the least competitive game maybe I’ve ever called in the NFL in my life,” which is “a nightmare scenario for the booth.”
“I’d say the biggest difference was you’re not with your crew, you’re not with the people you know, you’re not relying on any past shared experiences because every experience that you’re making is the first time in real time in the moment, and oh by the way, you’re on live television,” Olsen said.
FOS previously reported this summer that Fox and ESPN aren’t keen on gifting their talent to Netflix again for Christmas. The father-son duo of Ian Eagle and Noah Eagle will again call Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL doubleheader again this year, they confirmed at Front Office Sports’s Tuned In sports media conference in New York on Tuesday. Ian Eagle will handle play-by-play for the stream of Cowboys-Commanders at 1 p.m. ET, along with CBS colleagues Nate Burleson and Matt Ryan. Noah Eagle is set to call Lions-Vikings at 4:30 p.m. ET with Drew Brees.
The streamer has yet to announce the broadcasting lineup for this year’s doubleheader, Cowboys–Commanders and Lions–Vikings. Prime Video will also have a Christmas game between the Broncos and Chiefs.
